Brackenfell is a town in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

at the gateway to the

Cape Winelands The Boland (Afrikaans for "top country" or "land above") is a region of the Western Cape province of South Africa, situated to the northeast of Cape Town in the middle and upper courses of the Berg and Breede Rivers, around the Boland Mountains ...

. Organisationally and administratively it is included in the

City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality The City of Cape Town ( af, Stad Kaapstad; xh, IsiXeko saseKapa) is the metropolitan municipality which governs the city of Cape Town, South Africa and its suburbs and exurbs. As of the 2011 census, it had a population of 3,740,026. The remot ...

as a Northern Suburb and is about 30 kilometres (19 mi) east of Cape Town City Bowl. In Brackenfell a variety of property situated on the slopes of the Bottelary Hills can be found. The

Bracken Nature Reserve Bracken Nature Reserve is a piece of protected land in Brackenfell in the Western Cape, South Africa. This park preserves badly threatened Cape Flats Sand Fynbos and Swartland Granite Renosterveld vegetation. A diverse array of orchids, succu ...

, situated in the Ruwari suburban area, was once a quarry site and was later declared a nature reserve after some negotiations between the Cape Town City Council and the Stellenbosch Divisional Council. Brackenfell offers schools, shopping malls and medical services, and many different sporting facilities.

History

The earliest activity on what today is known as Brackenfell was when the "de Clapmuts" was a refreshment post. Brackenfell specifically form part of Klapmutsberg, better known as de Bottelarij. In 1712 the area known as "Kruispad" was transferred to Selie, J. Kruispad was owned by Brink, A. and in 1901 he sold it to a Scottish Immigrant Walton, G.H. The flora on this farm reminded him of the same in Scotland. He called it Brackenfell (Bracken means fern; Fell means hill). The richness of granite in the area let to the farm being sold to a Brick company in 1903 and a granite quarry was established. Activity here stopped in 1948. In 1904 a railway station was established. Brackenfell used to be a major road crossing during the earlier days of Cape Town, but today it is a well-known suburb located behind the 'boerewors gordyn' which translates to sausage curtain, meaning; people living in this area, braai (barbecue) boerewors very often. "Gordyn" curtain is just by figure of speech. It's all said tongue-in-the-cheek. Due to the rising numbers of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

cases in the

, the Western Cape Health Department constructed a

field hospital A field hospital is a temporary hospital or mobile medical unit that takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent facilities. This term was initially used in military medicine (such as the Mobile A ...

in the Brackengate industrial area. It opened on 20 July 2020 with 10 patients. The field hospital has capacity 300 beds for COVID-19 patients from hospitals struggling with capacity. The field hospital became the central COVID-19 dedicated hospital for the Western Cape in September as the

Cape Town International Convention Centre The Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) is a convention centre in Cape Town, South Africa. The centre opened in June 2003. It is run as a partnership between the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape government. Venues The c ...

's field hospital which was the central COVID-19 dedicated hospital was decommissioned in September due to declining COVID-19 cases in the

City of Cape Town The City of Cape Town ( af, Stad Kaapstad; xh, IsiXeko saseKapa) is the metropolitan municipality which governs the city of Cape Town, South Africa and its suburbs and exurbs. As of the 2011 census, it had a population of 3,740,026. The remo ...

Geography

Brackenfell is located on the north-eastern outskirts of the Cape Metropole (Cape Town metropolitan area). Being on the outskirts of the city and at the gateway of the Cape Winelands means that

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronounc ...

Paarl Paarl (; Afrikaans: ; derived from ''Parel'', meaning "pearl" in Dutch) is a town with 112,045 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the third-oldest city and European settlement in the Republic of South Africa (after ...

and Durbanville's wine farms are in easy access. Located more or less halfway between the

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

and

, Brackenfell is approximately 30 km north-east of Cape Town and 35 km south-west of Paarl. The town is bordered by

Kraaifontein Kraaifontein is a town in the Western Cape, Western Cape province of South Africa. Organisationally and administratively it is included in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality as a Northern Suburbs, Cape Town, Northern Suburb. The name o ...

in the north-east,

Kuilsrivier Kuils River (Afrikaans: Kuilsrivier) is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa, 25 km (15 miles) east of Cape Town CBD at the gateway of the Cape Winelands. It is also the name of the main tributary of the Eerste River, and forms part of the ...

in the south,

Durbanville Durbanville is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, part of the greater Cape Town metropolitan area. Durbanville is a semi-rural residential suburb on the north-eastern outskirts of the metropolis and is surrounded by farms prod ...

in the north-west and Bellville in the west.

Suburban areas

Brackenfell is divided into three suburban clusters namely Brackenfell North, Central and South. ''Brackenfell North'' is located north of the N1 and includes the following suburbs: *Cape Gate (retail) *Chamonix (residential) *De Tuin (residential) *Kleinbron Estate (residential) *Kleinbron Park (residential) *Marlborough Park (residential) *Vredekloof (residential) *Vredekloof Glen (residential) *Vredekloof Heights (residential) *Vredekloof Rand (residential) *Welgeleë (residential) ''Brackenfell Central'' is located between the N1 and R101 Old Paarl Road and includes following suburbs: *Arauna (residential) *Brackenfell Industria (industrial) *Eden Park (residential) *Ferndale (residential) *Hoogstede (residential) *Morgenster (residential) *Morgenster Heights (residential) *Okavango Park (industrial) *Springbokpark (residential) *St Michaels (residential) ''Brackenfell South'' is located between the

R101 R101 was one of a pair of British rigid airships completed in 1929 as part of a British government programme to develop civil airships capable of service on long-distance routes within the British Empire. It was designed and built by an Air Mi ...

O''ld Paarl Road'' and the M23 ''Bottelary Road'' is presently the centre of property development in Brackenfell. Brackenfell South includes the following suburbs: *Birgundy (residential) *Brackenfell South (residential) *De Oude Spruit (residential) *Kaapsig (residential) *Klaradyn Retirement Village (residential) *Protea Heights (residential) *Protea Village (residential) *Ruwari (residential) *Sonkring (residential)

Schools

* Bastion Primary School * Brackenfell High School * Brackenfell Primary School * Brooklands Primary School * Curro Brackenfell (private primary school) * Curro Castle (private nursery / pre-primary school)
Destinatus Private School
* Northpine Primary School * Northpine Technical High School * Paarl School * Protea Heights Academy (high school) * Vredekloof Primary School

Economy

Brackenfell is home to many retail companies' head offices such as Shoprite,

Checkers Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; British English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers ...

(falls under Shoprite) as well as Food Lover's Market. Shoprite-Checkers have a new distribution centre which was completed in 2019 at the Brackengate 2 Business Park named the Cilmor Distribution Centre.

Retail

With the development of the Cape Gate shopping precinct, Brackenfell has become one of the most important retail hubs in the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town and in Greater Cape Town as a whole. Within the precinct is the Cape Gate Shopping Centre which is the largest shopping centre in Brackenfell and adjacent to the shopping centre is the Cape Gate Lifestyle Centre. In ''Brackenfell North'', the Glengarry Shopping Centre serves the neighbourhood of Vredekloof and even the neighbouring parts of

. In ''Brackenfell South'', the Boulevard Square Shopping Centre serves the neighbourhood of Protea Heights and Brackenfell South as a whole. In ''Brackenfell Central'' there are four shopping centres which include the Fairbridge Mall owned by Shoprite Checkers, Brackenfell Centre, the newly revamped Brackenfell Corner (previously Paradys Park) and the newly revamped Brackenfell Shopping Centre.

Transport

Bus & Taxi Transit

Brackenfell is one of the very few towns in the Cape Town metropolitan area that is not served by the

Golden Arrow Bus Services Golden Arrow Bus Services (GABS) is the major public transport bus service operator for Cape Town, South Africa, providing commuter bus services throughout a large part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan area. Founded in 1861, and owned ...

. Brackenfell is served two kinds of taxis: metered taxis and minibus taxis. Unlike many cities and towns in South Africa, metered taxis are not allowed to drive around the town to solicit fares and instead must be called to a specific location. Metered taxi companies operating around Brackenfell include

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), package ...

, Bolt, InDriver and

DiDi Didi may refer to: Arts and entertainment * "Didi" (song), a song by Khaled * Didi, the principal character in '' Didi's Comedy Show'', a German comedy television show * Didi Pickles, mother of Tommy and Dil in the cartoons ''Rugrats'' and ''Al ...

. Minibus taxi services to Brackenfell are also relatively limited and the town itself does not have a taxi terminus. There are, however, a few taxi routes to the neighbouring towns of Bellville and

Rail

Brackenfell lies on the ''Northern Line'' of the

Metrorail Western Cape Metrorail Western Cape is a network of commuter and suburban rail services in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality (metropolitan area of Cape Town) and in the surrounding towns of Malmesbury, Paarl, Stellenbosch and Wellington in the ...

commuter rail system. The rail system links the town to

in the south-west via Bellville and to

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

via

Klapmuts Klapmuts is the name of both a hill, and a town which formed at its foot. They are located in Cape Winelands District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Klapmuts town Klapmuts is a little town just off the R45 road betwe ...

and

. Due to the limited public transport services by buses or taxis in Brackenfell, the town is largely dependent on Metrorail to commute to other parts of the Cape Metropole.

Roads

Brackenfell's main road is the

which is the original N1 and served the same function before the construction of the highway. Similarly to the current N1, the R101 was the main road between

and

and thus the name of the road being ''Old Paarl Road''. The R101 runs through the

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

(CBD) of Brackenfell and links the town to Cape Town in the south-west via Bellville, Parow and Goodwood and to Paarl in the north-east via

and

. Brackenfell also has access to two major freeways in the Cape Metropole, the N1 and R300. The N1 highway runs through Brackenfell separating ''Brackenfell North'' from the rest of Brackenfell including the CBD in the south. The N1 connects Brackenfell with Cape Town in the south-west and Paarl in the north-east with two accessible off-ramps within Brackenfell including the Brackenfell Boulevard (Exit 28) and the Okavango Road (Exit 29) off-ramps. The

R300 The R300 GPU, introduced in August 2002 and developed by ATI Technologies, is its third generation of GPU used in '' Radeon'' graphics cards. This GPU features 3D acceleration based upon Direct3D 9.0 and OpenGL 2.0, a major improvement in featur ...

(Kuils River Freeway) begins at the interchange with the N1 highway named the "Stellenberg Interchange" bordering between Bellville and Brackenfell. From the N1, R300 connects Brackenfell to the

Cape Town International Airport Cape Town International Airport is the primary international airport serving the city of Cape Town, and is the second-busiest airport in South Africa and fourth-busiest in Africa. Located approximately from the city center, the airport wa ...

(via the N2) and

Mitchells Plain Mitchells Plain is a large township located within the City of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa and situated about from the Cape Town city centre. It is one of South Africa's largest residential areas and contains multiple smaller suburbs ...

in the south with two accessible off-ramps within Brackenfell including the Old Paarl Road (Exit 29) and Bottelary Road (Exit 26) off-ramps. Brackenfell is also served by a large network of metropolitan routes within the

including the M23 (Bottelary Road) to

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronounc ...

(via the R304) and Bellville, M25 (Frans Conradie Drive) to Bellville and Kraaifontein, M73 (De Bron Road) to

and Kraaifontein, M100 (Brackenfell Boulevard) to the R302 intersection (to

Malmesbury Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the up ...

), Durbanville and

and the M137 (Okavango Road) to the R302 intersection, Durbanville and Kraaifontein.

Coat of arms

Brackenfell was a municipality from 1970 to 1996. In November 1971, the council registered a coat of arms at the

Bureau of Heraldry Bureau ( ) may refer to: Agencies and organizations *Government agency *Public administration * News bureau, an office for gathering or distributing news, generally for a given geographical location * Bureau (European Parliament), the administrat ...

.http://www.national.archsrch.gov.za The arms, designed by

Cornelis Pama Cornelis Pama (1916 - 1994) was a Dutch bookseller, publisher, heraldist and genealogist, who spent the second half of his life in South Africa. He was born in Rotterdam. During World War II, when the Netherlands were under German occupation, he ...

, were ''Per chevron embowed Or and Vert, three shot balls counterchanged'', i.e. a shield divided by a curved chevron-shaped line into gold and green, with two green balls at the top and a golden ball at the bottom. The crest was three ferns with the motto ''Tenax in fide''.

Trivia

* Currently, Brackenfell (together with

) uses the prefix "CFR-" in their registered motor vehicles (since approximately 2000 the prefix "CF-" which had formerly been allocated to

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...

has also been allocated to these suburbs). * Kanonkop (directly translated to cannon head) Brackenfell's highest point in Ruwari, was used as a signal point with its signal cannons in the 1700s. Cannons can be seen at Brackenfell High School and Bastion Primary School. * In Vredekloof Street in Vredekloof (a residential area of Brackenfell) the bird, the Cape Robin nest and is commonly known as Jan Frederik. * The popular cooking and grill sauce Jimmy's Sauces CC is produced in Brackenfell and is sold not only in South Africa but also all over the world.

External links

Brackenfell Directory

References

{{Cape Town suburbs Suburbs of Cape Town