Even with the new road
and the hotel with its skittles and pigeons, there were still very
few residents to take advantage of the area once the carts
containing groups of holiday makers and picknickers had vanished
from the summer sun. The only permanent resident was Captain William
W. Glendinning who owned "a vast tract of land in Camps Bay on
which were a house and outbuildings erected by Somerset during his
term of office and said to have been used as a hunting lodge, fully
stocked with game brought from the country."
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...it was to be another century before before the
"gold" in Camps Bay was to be exploited by merchants,
restaurateurs and property agents... |
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in history |
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He thought his land
had considerable potential for development and in 1855 decided to
offer forty building lots in Camps bay for sale, one of which had a
"substantial building" on it called Camps Bay House - this
had been Somersets House. He announced that he was selling because
he intended to leave the colony but he seems to have changed his
mind when he was unable to sell and decided to build instead. In
1859 Glendinning was advertising again. This time he announced he
had found gold in Camps Bay ! There
was a brief flurry of excitement, but even this does not appear to
have stimulated prospective home owners or prospectors to buy his
forty plots and it was to be another century before before the
"gold" in Camps Bay was to be exploited by merchants,
restaurateurs and property agents. Camps
Bay by now was a popular picknick spot. Because the area was
relatively uninhabited and the beach was large and secluded, the
Victorian family could picknick and frolic there in seclusion and
privacy. descipription:
by Mr. Andres de Smidt
"Green streches of turf under the oak trees, with a running
stream and well within easy reach of sand and sea, make it an ideal
rendezvous for camping and picnics." For
a long time Camps Bay, which was so close to the city and had such
dramatic views, remained undeveloped. As accessibility to the town
was poor, very few people live there. Enormous
profit could be seen for the property developer who could see the
potential and would be farsighted enough to buy up these vast tracts
of cheap land, and lay it out into townships, if only accessibility
could be improved. Eventually
a syndicate was formed to buy up all the freehold land in Camps Bay.
They intended to construct roads into Camps Bay and install a
tramway to bring Camps bay into easy reach from the city. Once this
was done they anticipated that home owners would flock to the newly
opened suburb. The syndicate would subdivide Camps Bay into building
lots, sell the tramway and reap the benefits of their planning. Camps
Bay entered the Twentieth Century with a state of the art tourist
attraction - a spectacular tram ride whose route gave enthralled
visitors glimpses of unsurpassed views of mountain and sea. Next
Page : Property Boom If
you have any queries or any information / pictures to contribute to
this site please email: webedit@campsbay.com |
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