Marydale is a town in the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...

province in western

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 ...

. Established in 1903 by the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

, Marydale was named after Mary Snyman, the wife of Mr GP Snyman, owner of the farm on which the town was laid out. The town is 76 km north-west of

Prieska Prieska is a town on the south bank of the Orange River, in the province of the Northern Cape, in western South Africa. It is located on the southern bank of the Orange River, 130 km north-west of Britstown and 75 km south-east of Mary ...

and lies near the N10 national road. Marydale is 75 km north-west of Prieska and 120 km south-east of Upington. It was established in 1902 on the farm Kalkput.

History

Marydale was donated as 11 undeveloped plots to the NGK by GP Snyman after he finished surveying his farm, Kalkput, in 1903. In 1904, a delegation from Marydale visited the council meeting of the Prieska Reformed Church to explore setting up the Marydale Reformed Church as a separate congregation. The council demurred, but in 1905, Prieska began offering quarterly services in Marydale. They were so well-attended that an extra one had to be added the same day. From 1915 onward, the Prieska pastor came by train. In 1916, proponent C.J. Brink was appointed curate and ministered for six months in Marydale, until the congregation was granted independence on November 10, 1916 by the

Britstown Britstown is a small farming town situated in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, in the Pixley ka Seme District Municipality, Emthanjeni Local Municipality. The town is named after Hans Brits who settled here after he accompanied David Li ...

Ring Committee. The Marydale council was invested on December 23 and acquired the remaining 108 plots of the town for £950 from Snyman. The school building was originally a church. Marydale was officially proclaimed a town in 1917 and boasted 9,000 morgans of grazing land. It was 2 miles from the Draghoender Railroad Station.

Economy

Sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

and

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...

farming are the main agricultural activities in an area where

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

was once common. The Koegas

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

mine, 24 km from town, was the largest blue asbestos mine in the world. The mining offices in Westerberg were quite large and formed an oasis where

orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

s and other fruits were grown. The decline in demand for asbestos and lingering health effects on miners cast a long shadow over the area's future. The Marydale congregation was absorbed by that of Prieska, and the Boegoeberg Dam stands nearby.

Sources

* Bulpin, T.V. (2001). ''Discovering Southern Africa''. Cape Town: Discovering Southern Africa Publications cc, 2001. * Maeder, Rev. G.A., and Zinn, Christian (1917). ''Ons Kerk Album''. Cape Town: Ons Kerk Album Maatschappij Bpkt. * Olivier, Rev. P.L. (compiler) (1952) '' Ons gemeentelike feesalbum''. Cape Town/Pretoria: N.G. Kerk-uitgewers, 1952.
Synod History from Northern Cape Synod website
URL accessed 10 December 2019.

References

External links

Marydale's website
{{Pixley ka Seme District Municipality Populated places established in 1903 Populated places in the Siyathemba Local Municipality Karoo 1903 establishments in Cape Colony