Harfield Village, also known as Lower Claremont, is a neighbourhood in the south of

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 ...

. It is located between the suburbs of

Kenilworth Kenilworth ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Warwick (district), Warwick District in Warwickshire, England, south-west of Coventry, north of Warwick and north-west of London. It lies on Finham Brook, a ...

and

Claremont, Cape Town Claremont is a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. It is situated 9 kilometres south of the city, and is one of the so-called " Southern Suburbs", it is situated alongside Lansdowne. It is an important commercial and residential area, which is cur ...

. The

Arderne Gardens Arderne Gardens is a public park and arboretum in Claremont, Cape Town, located in the Western Cape of South Africa. It was established by in 1845 by Ralph Henry Arderne, a timber merchant originally from Cheshire, England. In 1979, the park w ...

are located to the area's immediate north on the other side of Harfield Station. Although it is typically regarded as being part of Claremont, parts of the village overlap with areas commonly regarded as being parts of lower Kenilworth.

Features

The area has a number of

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

and

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

era cottages. Most streets are named after counties in England such as Surrey, Suffolk and Norfolk. Harfield Village possibly got its name from the original Harfield Cottage, built by Thomas Mathew, one of the initial residents of

Claremont Claremont may refer to: Places Australia *Claremont, Ipswich, a heritage-listed house in Queensland * Claremont, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart * Claremont, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth ** Claremont Football Club, West Australian Footba ...

. The area hosts 4 parks (Hampstead, Purley, Surrey, and Princes), two primary schools (Rosmead Primary and De Heide School for the disabled), and one high school ( Livingston High School). A number of restaurants and other businesses are concentrated along 2nd Avenue, notably Banana Jam Café and Oblivion Wine Bar. Three churches are located within the community, including

Saint James Church St James Church, St. James' Church or St. James Chapel or St. James Parish Church may refer to: Australia *St. James's Church, a historic church in Morpeth, New South Wales *St James' Church, Sydney, New South Wales *St James Anglican Church, Toowo ...

which is located within the overlap area with Kenilworth. It has one Metrorail train station, Harfield Road Railway Station, that is located on the Southern Line.

History

Following the Battle of Blaauwberg in 1814 and the resulting British acquisition of the Cape Colony a number of British nationals settled in the area. The area remained rural and largely under developed until the arrival of the railway connecting nearby Wynberg to Cape Town in 1864. In 1881 the businessman and politician,

John Molteno Sir John Charles Molteno (5 June 1814 – 1 September 1886) was a soldier, businessman, champion of responsible government and the first Prime Minister of the Cape Colony. Early life Born in London into a large Anglo-Italian family, Molten ...

, bought, subdivided and sold-on land parcels in the area now known as Claremont and Harfield Village. Prior to the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

era Group Areas Act the area was home to around 19,000

Coloured Coloureds ( af, Kleurlinge or , ) refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in Southern Africa who may have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, including African, European, and Asian. South ...

residents. All of whom were evicted or forced to sell their property when the area was declared a whites only area in 1969.

References

Suburbs of Cape Town {{WesternCape-geo-stub