Sedgefield, Western Cape
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Sedgefield is a coastal town on the
Garden Route The Garden Route (Afrikaans: ''Tuinroete'') is a stretch of the south-eastern coast of South Africa which extends from Witsand in the Western Cape to the border of Tsitsikamma Storms River in the Eastern Cape. The name comes from the verdant ...
in the
Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...
province of
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
. It is situated on the N2 national road, between George and
Knysna Knysna (; ) is a town with 76,150 inhabitants (2019 mid-year estimates) in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is one of the destinations on the loosely defined Garden Route tourist route. It is situated 60 kilometres east of the c ...
. The town was proclaimed in 1929 on the farm Sedgefield, which in turn was named in 1894 after the village of the same name in the UK where the father (Henry Barrington) of the then farm owner was born.


History

The farm Ruigtevlei was granted to the widow Meeding by
Lord Charles Somerset Lord Charles Henry Somerset PC (12 December 1767 – 18 February 1831), born in Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it ma ...
and upon her death in 1878, the farm was divided into 9 lots. Lots A and B were first bought by individual farmers, before eventually being purchased in 1894 by John Barrington, son of then-famous politician, farmer and industrialist Henry Barrington (referred to as ‘Henry Barrington of Portland’ in the novel ‘Circles in a forest’ by
Dalene Matthee Dalene Matthee (13 October 1938 – 20 February 2005) was a South African author best known for her four "Forest Novels", written in and around the Knysna Forest. Her books have been translated into fourteen languages, including English, Fre ...
). John named the town in honour of his father's birthplace
Sedgefield Sedgefield is a market town and civil parish in County Durham, England. It had a population of 4,986 in the 2021 census. It has the only operating racecourse in County Durham. Etymology The name ''Sedgefield'' is of Old English origin. It ...
in the United Kingdom. Kate Maurice (née Barrington) inherited the farm Sedgefield from her brother upon his death in 1901. Kate sold the farm in 1911 to Salmon Terblans. A part of the farm Sedgefield was subsequently sold as Middelplaas, but was reincorporated in 1926. Terblans and Thomas Moodie investigated the possibility of proclaiming a town on the farm. Eventually, Moodie invested a lot of work into developing a town plan after securing an option to buy the farm but due to an oversight by Moodie's lawyer, Terblans was able to step back out of their agreement at the last moment and sell the ground to Thesen and Company. However, Charlie Thesen decided to compensate Moodie for his invested effort and allowed him to name the newly proclaimed town. The name of Sedgefield was but one of a number of names considered by Moodie. In the end, the fact that it translated well to the original
Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...
name of Ruigtevlei as well as the observation that it was very descriptive of the environment gave sway in favour of the name. After proclamation, the town experienced organic growth by attracting families who were attracted by the ‘new winter resort’ advertised in the George and
Knysna Knysna (; ) is a town with 76,150 inhabitants (2019 mid-year estimates) in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is one of the destinations on the loosely defined Garden Route tourist route. It is situated 60 kilometres east of the c ...
Herald from 1927 onwards. The first families to settle were the Salts, Schumachers, Browns, Barnards and Mullers. In 1921 a railway connection between George and Knysna was planned and the project was completed in 1928 by routing the line over a new bridge crossing the adjacent Swartvlei (‘Black lake’). In 1940, the town was given a postal service outlet and in 1947 the road through Sedgefield was completed, thus fully integrating the town into the commercial route between George and Knysna. A library was opened in 1962 and the town expanded further during the next four decades to comprise a central business district with supermarkets, pharmacies, filling stations, curio shops and other undertakings. Fresh water has been supplied from nearby Karatara River Municipal water extraction plant run by Sedgefield Municipality then Knysna Municipality, but being pressed by an unusually dry summer a desalination plant was erected in 2009 to make the town totally self-sufficient in terms of water supply. Until the end of the 20th century, Sedgefield was an independent local authority. When the ANC came to power nationally, for a variety of reasons, they decided to reduce the total of such local authorities country-wide and Sedgefield became part of Knysna. This was a decision that was opposed by many of the residents.


Sedgefield today

The central area of Sedgefield (The Village) together with the Island (Extension 1) form part of the original town area. Since then, the extensions of Smutsville, Sizamile, Meedingsride, Groenvallei, Myoli Beach and Cola Beach were added to provide residences for the approximately 15 000 permanent inhabitants of Sedgefield. The town's main economic activity revolves around tourism, with secondary activities centered on serving the needs of local residents and regional farmers. The laid-back rustic village atmosphere is reflected in the town's motto of being a place where ‘the tortoise sets the pace’. Sedgefield was the first African member of the
Cittaslow Cittaslow is an organisation founded in Italy and inspired by the slow food movement. Cittaslow's goals include improving the quality of life in towns by slowing down its overall pace, especially in a city's use of spaces and the flow of life ...
movement. A popular attraction is the Wild-Oats Mosaic & Scarab Markets which attract large numbers of tourists and residents from the region, and further afield, every Saturday morning with fresh produce, local crafts & tasty homemade foods to suit everyone. A golf course (the ‘Fynbos Links’), tennis court and bowls field caters to the significant portion of retired permanent residents of the town. Local natural attractions include Gericke's lookout point which resembles the profile of a resting lion and the protected natural dune areas which harbours Cape
Fynbos Fynbos (; , ) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. The area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean climate. The fynbos ...
plantations and rare bird species.


Notable people

* Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters
Miss Universe 2017 Miss Universe 2017 was the 66th Miss Universe pageant, held at The AXIS in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States on 26 November 2017. At the end of the event, Iris Mittenaere of France crowned Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters of South Africa as Miss Unive ...


References

{{Authority control Populated places in the Knysna Local Municipality Cittaslow