Paarl (; Afrikaans: ; derived from ''Parel'', meaning "pearl" in Dutch) is a town with 112,045 inhabitants 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 202 ...

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 coun ...

. It is the third-oldest city and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an settlement in the Republic of

(after

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 Stellenbosch) and the largest town in the Cape Winelands. Due to the growth of the Mbekweni township, it is now a

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with '' de jure'' ("by l ...

urban unit In France, an urban unit (''fr: "unité urbaine"'') is a statistical area defined by INSEE, the French national statistics office, for the measurement of contiguously built-up areas. According to the INSEE definition , an "unité urbaine" is a ...

with

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 ...

. It is situated about northeast of

in the

Western Cape Province 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 ...

and is known for its scenic environment and

viticulture Viticulture (from the Latin word for '' vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of '' Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, r ...

and fruit-growing heritage. Paarl is the seat of the Drakenstein Local Municipality; although not part of the Cape Town metropolitan area, it falls within its economic catchment. Paarl is unusual among South African place-names, in being pronounced differently in English than in Afrikaans; likewise unusual about the town's name is Afrikaners customary attachment to it, saying not ''in Paarl'', but rather ''in die Paarl'', or ''in die Pêrel'' (literally, "in the Paarl"). Paarl gained additional international attention when, on 11 February 1990,

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

walked, with live international television coverage, out of Victor Verster Correctional Centre (now known as Drakenstein Correctional Centre) in Paarl ending his 27 years of imprisonment, and beginning a course to South Africa's post-apartheid era and, notably, to multi-racial elections. Mandela spent three years in prison here living in a private house within the walls. Today, a bronze statue of Mandela stands outside the prison. Paarl hosted a match from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003. The headquarters of

Ceres Fruit Juices Ceres Fruit Juices Pty Ltd, trading as The Ceres Beverage Company, is a beverage company based in Paarl, South Africa. It produces fruit juice and other fruit based products and is a subsidiary of Pioneer Foods. Ceres advertises their products ...

is located in the city, although its namesake and source of much of the fruit, Ceres Valley, lies around one hour's drive to the northeast. The district is particularly well known for its Pearl Mountain or "Paarl Rock". This huge

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...

rock consists of three rounded outcrops and has been compared in majesty to

Uluru Uluru (; pjt, Uluṟu ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone formation in the centre of Australia. It is in the southern part of the Northern Territory, southwest of Alice Spring ...

(Ayers Rock) in Australia. (However, they are not geologically similar. Paarl Rock consists of intrusive

igneous rock Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma o ...

, while Uluru is composed of

arkose Arkose () or arkosic sandstone is a detrital sedimentary rock, specifically a type of sandstone containing at least 25% feldspar. Arkosic sand is sand that is similarly rich in feldspar, and thus the potential precursor of arkose. Quartz is c ...

and is a sedimentary remnant.)

History

The area that is now known as Paarl was first and is still inhabited by the

Khoikhoi Khoekhoen (singular Khoekhoe) (or Khoikhoi in the former orthography; formerly also '' Hottentots''"Hottentot, n. and adj." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, March 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88829. Accessed 13 May 2018. Citing G. S. ...

. The Peninsular Khoikhoi people and the Cocoqua people live in this area divided by the Berg River Valley. The Cocoqua were cattle-herding people and among the richest of the Khoi tribes. They had between 16,000 and 18,000 members and originally called Paarl Mountain, ''"!hom ǃnāb/s"'' which means Tortoise Mountain . The

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

, under the leadership of

Jan van Riebeeck Johan Anthoniszoon "Jan" van Riebeeck (21 April 1619 – 18 January 1677) was a Dutch navigator and colonial administrator of the Dutch East India Company. Life Early life Jan van Riebeeck was born in Culemborg, as the son of a surgeon. ...

, established meat-trading relationships with the Khoikhoi people on the

Table Bay Table Bay (Afrikaans: ''Tafelbaai'') is a natural bay on the Atlantic Ocean overlooked by Cape Town (founded 1652 by Van Riebeeck) and is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, which stretches south to the Cape of Good Hope. It was named b ...

coastline. In 1657, in search of new trading relationships inland, Abraham Gabemma saw a giant granite rock glistening in the sun after a rainstorm and named it "de Diamondt en de Peerlberg" (Diamond and Pearl Mountain), from which Paarl is derived.''The concise illustrated South African Encyclopaedia.'' P. Schirmer, 1980. Central News Agency, Johannesburg. First edition, about 211pp Gabemma (often also spelt Gabbema) was the Fiscal (public treasurer) for the settlement on the shores of Table Bay. The "diamonds" disappeared from the name, and it became known simply as Pearl Rock or Pearl Mountain. In 1687, Governor Simon van der Stel gave the title to the first colonial farms in the area to "free burghers". The following year, the French

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster B ...

arrived in the

and began to settle on farms in the area. The fertile soil and the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

-like climate of this region provided perfect conditions for farming. The settlers planted

orchards An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of lar ...

vegetable Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the edible flower, flowers, ...

gardens and, above all,

vineyards A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

.A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels in All Parts of the World, Vol XVI.
John Pinkerton, 1814. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme. Thus began Paarl's long and continuing history as a major wine- and fruit-producing area of South Africa. In 1875 a congregation was formed out of a desire to be educated in their mother tongue. This was the result of a Reverend GWA van der Lingen idea who tried to motivate and convince people of his principles. The congregation would raise funds and begin construction of a church that would later be known as the "Toring Kerk" (Tower Church). Construction finished in 1905. The church contains materials imported from London and Egypt. The arrival of the European settlers brought on a conflict with the

people, as land and water resources began to be contested and the Khoi traditions of communal land use came in conflict with the settler's concept of private property. The Khoi peoples were defeated in local war and were further decimated by European diseases. The population scattered inland toward the

Orange River The Orange River (from Afrikaans/Dutch: ''Oranjerivier'') is a river in Southern Africa. It is the longest river in South Africa. With a total length of , the Orange River Basin extends from Lesotho into South Africa and Namibia to the north ...

or became labourers on settler farms.

Demographics

In the 2001 census Paarl's population was recorded as being 82,713 people in 20,138 households, in a land area of . A total of 67.8% of the inhabitants described themselves as "

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 ...

", 21.2% as "

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

", 10.5% as "

Black African Black is a Racialization, racialized classification of people, usually a Politics, political and Human skin color, skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have ...

", and 0.5% as "

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

or Asian". Regarding language, 85.6% spoke

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gr ...

as their

first language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother to ...

, 8.5% spoke Xhosa, and 5.2% spoke

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

Tourist attractions

Like many towns in the Cape Winelands, Paarl is home to a prosperous community, with many well maintained Cape Dutch houses, gardens and streets lined with old oak trees. Paarl boasts a unique cultural attraction: it was here that the foundations of the

Afrikaans language Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gr ...

were laid by the Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners. The " Afrikaanse Taalmonument" (monument to the Afrikaans language) on the slopes of Paarl Mountain, the Language Museum (Taalmuseum) and the Afrikaans Language Route through Dal Josaphat are memorials to this achievement. The former headquarters of the

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented grapes. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different ...

industry in South Africa is also situated here. This was the "Co-operative Wine Growers' Association" (better known by its Afrikaans initials KWV).

KWV KWV South Africa (Proprietary) Limited (founded as ''Ko-operatiewe Wijnbouwers Vereniging van Zuid-Afrika'') is one of the leading wine and spirits producers in South Africa. Its brands include Roodeberg, KWV Wines & KWV Brandies, and Laborie. Hi ...

became a South African institution that has acquired an international reputation based on its unique achievements and its imprint of quality on the local wine industry. Over the past decade, however, KWV has been privatized and no longer has an administrative role in the South African wine industry. (KWV's main wine production and maturation facilities are on its Paarl premises, while its

brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with ...

production takes place in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

and grape juice concentrate production in

Upington Upington ( Nama: //Khara hais) is a town founded in 1873 and located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, on the banks of the Orange River. The town was originally called Olijvenhoutsdrift ('Olive wood drift'), due to the abundance of ...

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 ...

.) The town and its surroundings attract many visitors with an array of activities and interests. There are magnificent Cape Dutch buildings (17-19th Century), scenic drives, hiking trails, excellent restaurants and the Paarl wine route, with its many

wine tasting Wine tasting is the sensory examination and evaluation of wine. While the practice of wine tasting is as ancient as its production, a more formalized methodology has slowly become established from the 14th century onward. Modern, professional w ...

opportunities. The old Spice Route Paarl, which was initiated in 1997 by Charles Back, the owner of this estate as well as of Fairview, provides an opportunity for visitors to appreciate and taste local delicacies from the

, like biltong, draft beer or red and white wines from the surrounding wine yards in Malmesbury and Darling. Back's vision was "to offer local and international tourists a selection of hand-picked artisanal producers who put as much thought, skill and passion into their products as Spice Route winemaker, Charl du Plessis, puts into his wines". In addition to that, a range of art galleries and the traditional way of organic dark chocolate production can be explored. The heritage of the Spice Route farm goes back to the historical mariners who used to trade Eastern spices to Europe along the "Spice Route" for spice trade in the 15th century. The Paarl Rock itself is these days a common destination for rock climbers. However, in the pioneering period of

rock climbing Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically a ...

in South Africa, the mountain was ignored or shunned because its steep faces were so smooth and unfissured that climbers could find no place to attach "runners" or anchor points for belays. The first climbing routes up the rock were pioneered in 1969 by J. W. Marchant and G. Athiros, the former from the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

Mountain and Ski Club. Soon afterwards Marchant and John Knight established a few routes on which the rope was run out for or more with no protection whatsoever.''Annual Bulletin.'' University of Cape Town Mountain and Ski Club (UCTMSC), 1970. This was in the days before bolting was possible, and these achievements are still held in high regard today. Nowadays protection is afforded by bolts in the granite, and there are on Paarl Rock a few dozen routes that attract the best climbers of the current generation. (All of these climbs remain dangerous for the inexperienced.) A guidebook for these routes was written in 2006 by Stewart & Scott Noy, who lived at the foot of the mountain and were developing many of the new routes at the time.

Districts

Amongst the neighbourhoods are De Zoete Inval (a middle-class suburb in the south); Courtrai (a wealthy suburb in the southern part of town); Central Paarl (generally known as Upper-Paarl and also containing a lot of wealthy suburbs, popular area for local Jewish people ); Lemoenkloof (a wealthy suburb between the central and northern parts of town); Northern Paarl (middle-class suburb, including the area of Groenvlei); Denneburg (a middle class suburb) as well as Klein Parys (both in the south-east of the town); Vrykyk (in the south), Charleston Hill (east of the Railway line) and areas in the eastern part of the town such as New Orleans, New York, Amstelhof, Lantana and Klein Nederburg. There are also large gated communities developed towards the South of the town on the way to Franschhoek, such as Boschenmeer (golf estate),

Val de Vie Estate Val de Vie Estate (Fr Valley of Life) is a secure, luxury residential and outdoor lifestyle estate occupying situated between Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek in the Cape Winelands of South Africa. The estate encompasses various neighbour ...

(polo estate) and Pearl Valley (golf estate).

Education

The town boasts some of the best governmental academic high schools in the country including Paarl Gimnasium High School,

La Rochelle Girls' High School La Rochelle Girls' High School, ( af, Hoër Meisieskool La Rochelle) in Paarl is the oldest girls' school in South Africa (tied with Rhenish Girls' High School in Stellenbosch). History The school was established in 1860 with 40 girls together wit ...

, Paarl Boys' High School, Paarl Girls’ High School, Boland Agricultural High, Paulus Joubert High, New Orleans Secondary and Klein Nederburg Secondary. Paarl Girls' High was placed 17th in the National Senior Certificate's "Excellence in academic performance" awards in 2012. New Orleans Secondary is the school where the Miss South Africa (2018), Tamaryn Green, completed her secondary education. Independent schools such as Simond Private School (est. 1852) and Bridge House also feature in this region. Bridge House, listed as one of the most expensive independent schools in South Africa, offers boarding facilities. These schools offer the IEB examinations as distinct from the National Senior Certificate offered by government schools.

Climate

Notable residents

* Kathleen Aerts - Belgian singer *

Keegan Petersen Keegan Darryl Petersen (born 8 August 1993) is a South African cricketer. A right-handed batsman, occasional wicket-keeper and occasional leg break bowler, he has played for Boland, Cape Cobras, Knights and Northern Cape in South African domest ...

- South African cricketer *

Lynne Brown Lynne Brown (born 26 September 1961) is a South African politician who is a former Minister of Public Enterprises and former Premier of the Western Cape Province. She was born in Cape Town and grew up in Mitchells Plain. She was appointed Pre ...

- former

Premier of the Western Cape The Premier of the Western Cape is the head of government of the Western Cape province of South Africa. The current Premier of the Western Cape is Alan Winde, a member of the Democratic Alliance, who was elected in the 2019 election. He took o ...

* Archie Crail - writer * Willem de Waal - rugby union player * Jean de Villiers - rugby union player *

Peter de Villiers Peter de Villiers (born 3 June 1957) is a South African professional rugby union coach and Good Party politician. He was coach of the South Africa national rugby union team from 2008 to 2011, after successes with the South African U19 and U21 ...

- former coach of the

South Africa national rugby union team The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jerse ...

(Springboks) *

Deetlefs du Toit Nicolaas Deetlefs du Toit is a retired South African politician now residing in New Jersey, United States. Du Toit was born in Worcester in the former Cape Province, now the Western Cape. He attended and matriculated from Paarl Gimnasium in the ...

– former South African politician * Stephanus Jacobus du Toit - ''Taalstryder'' (language warrior) * Jacob Daniël du Toit (Totius) - (Born Paarl 1877) poet and ''Taalstryder'' *

David James Dewi, Dai, Dafydd or David James may refer to: Performers *David James (actor, born 1839) (1839–1893), English stage comic and a founder of London's Vaudeville Theatre *David James (actor, born 1967) (born 1967), Australian presenter of ABC's ''P ...

- actor *

Wilmot James Wilmot Godfrey James (born 5 July 1953) is a South African academic who served as the country's opposition spokesperson of health and Member of Parliament for the opposition Democratic Alliance. His constituencies were Mitchells Plain and Rondeb ...

- former Member of Parliament *

Elsa Joubert Elsabé Antoinette Murray Joubert OIS (19 October 1922 – 14 June 2020) was a Sestigers Afrikaans-language writer. She rose to prominence with her novel '' Die swerfjare van Poppie Nongena'' (The Long Journey of Poppie Nongena), which was tra ...

- author * Marius Charl Joubert - rugby union player * Wayne Julies - rugby union player * Margaret Lawder - botanist *

- released from Victor Vester Prison in Paarl on 11 February 1990 *

Eugène Marais Eugène Nielen Marais (; 9 January 1871 – 29 March 1936) was a South African lawyer, naturalist, poet and writer. He has been hailed as an intellectual genius and an Afrikaner hero. His early years, before and during the Boer War Marais w ...

- author and poet *

Deon Meyer Deon Godfrey Meyer is a South African thriller novelist, writing in Afrikaans. His books have been translated into more than 20 languages. He has also written numerous scripts for television and film. Life and career Meyer was born on 4 July 1 ...

- thriller novelist *

Ryk Neethling Ryk Neethling OIS (born 17 November 1977) is a South African businessman who rose to prominence as the three-times World Champion and four-times World Record Breaking Olympic swimming champion. He is known as one of the most accomplished swim ...

- swimmer and Olympian * Justin Lee Ontong - cricketer

Cape Cobras The Six Gun Grill Cape Cobras are a franchise cricket team representing the Western Province, Boland, and South Western Districts areas in South African domestic cricket. The team's home venues are Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town, Bola ...

* Wendy Philander - Member of the Western Cape Provincial ParliamentBearing Drakenstein flag in the provincial legislature
/ref> * Conrad Poole – mayor of the Drakenstein * Karel Schoeman - author * Gurthro Steenkamp - rugby union player * Louis Theodor Weichardt - founder and leader of the

Greyshirts Greyshirts or ''Gryshemde'' is the common short-form name given to the South African Gentile National Socialist Movement, a South African Nazi movement that existed during the 1930s and 1940s. Initially referring only to a paramilitary group, it ...

* Chester Mornay Williams - rugby union player *

Lee-Anne Pace Lee-Anne Pace (born 15 February 1981) is a South African professional golfer. Career Pace was born in Paarl, Western Cape. She had a successful amateur collegiate career in the United States, where she attended Murray State University and the U ...

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf p ...

Coats of arms

Municipality (1) — On 18 July 1905, the municipal council accepted a coat of arms presented by .Western Cape Archives : Paarl Municipal Minutes (18 July 1905). It was the arms of Hendrik van Reede van Drakenstein : a silver shield charged with two dancetty black bars and crowned with a golden coronet. The supporters were two golden gryphons. The motto was ''Pour le salut du peuple'' ("For the wellbeing of the people"). Sometimes, th
arms
were depicted as silver dancetty bars on a blue shield. Municipality (2) — The arms were re-designed in 1950 by Colin Graham Botha, and granted by the

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the British Sover ...

on 22 January 1951. They were published in the Cape Province's ''Official Gazette'' in 1955, re-granted by the provincial administrator in 1967, and certified by the Bureau of Heraldry in 1969.National Archives of South Africa : Data of the Bureau of Heraldry
/ref> In the new version, each of the dancetty bars on the shield displayed two pearls; the supporters were red with blue wings dotted with golden fleurs de lis; and the crest was a red demi-gryphon with blue wings holding a bunch of grapes. Divisional Council — The divisional council was the local authority which administered the rural areas outside the town. It registered a coat of arms at the Bureau of Heraldry on 20 October 1978. Once again, the Van Reede shield formed the basis of the design. Down the middle of the shield was a red pale displaying a bunch of grapes between two pearls. The crest was a fleur de lis. The motto was ''Animus et fata'' ("Courage and fortune"). Mbekweni — The local authority for the Black township of Mbekweni registered arms at the Bureau on 5 May 1989. The shield is divided per chevron into red and green, with a golden chevron rompu across the centre and a silver cross pommy below it. Above the arms was a green mural crown decorated with a band of red edged in gold. The motto was ''uXolo neMpulelelo''.

References

External links

Official Paarl Tourist information guideCape Winelands Tourism guide to Winelands accommodation, holiday and visitor informationEverything in Paarl
*
Paarl Directory
{{Authority control Wine regions of South Africa Populated places in the Drakenstein Local Municipality Populated places established in 1657 1657 establishments in the Dutch Empire Populated places established by the Dutch East India Company