A CONTESTED CLANWILLIAM FARM: THE HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF WARMHOEK1873-1933

摘要

On a small farm, Warmhoek, near to Clanwilliam, 250 km northwest of Cape Town, agrarian structures, the standing ruins of a farmhouse, and the foundations of a small building, were present on the werf (farmyard). Archaeological fieldwork and research signalled an ambiguous relationship between the two buildings, and their relationship to and the chronology of the agrarian structures was problematic. Deeds Office property transfers recorded several owners between 1896 and 1933. Clanwilliam Quitrent records identified a Crown leaseholder from 1873 for twenty-one years, but in 1889 the Surveyor-General approved a sub-lease to two 'Coloured' men. This history offered a chronology that could be compared to material culture, and genealogical records and personal testimonies gave insight into the agencies of owners and occupiers. I argue that the 1889 sub-lease was the pivotal event in the history of the property as it led to an application to purchase land which was contested by the Afrikaner owners of contiguous farms, one of whom subsequently acquired a small portion of the property on which he constructed the farmhouse. These events are explained with reference to area politics and contemporary laws governing the disposal of land in the Cape Colony.