Simon's Town (), sometimes spelled Simonstown, is a town 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 ...

, South Africa and is home to Naval Base Simon's Town, the

South African Navy The South African Navy (SA Navy) is the naval warfare branch of the South African National Defence Force. The Navy is primarily engaged in maintaining a conventional military deterrent, participating in counter-piracy operations, fishery prote ...

's largest base. It is located on the shores of Simon's Bay in

False Bay False Bay (Afrikaans: ''Valsbaai'') is a body of water in the Atlantic Ocean between the mountainous Cape Peninsula and the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the extreme south-west of South Africa. The mouth of the bay faces south and is demarc ...

, on the eastern side of the

Cape Peninsula The Cape Peninsula () of South Africa is a generally mountainous peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean at the south-western extremity of the African continent. At the southern end of the peninsula are Cape Point and the Cape of Good ...

. For more than two centuries, it has been a naval base and harbour (first for the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

and now the

). The town is named after

Simon van der Stel Simon van der Stel (14 October 1639 – 24 June 1712) was the first Governor of the Dutch Cape Colony (1691), the settlement at the Cape of Good Hope. He was interested in botany, establishing vineyards Groot Constantia, Groot and Klein C ...

, an early governor of the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

Topography

The land rises steeply from near the water's edge and the town is boxed in along the shoreline by the heights above. The small harbour itself is protected from swells by a breakwater that was built with thousands of huge blocks of sandstone quarried out of the face of the mountain above. Simon's Town is now in effect a suburb of the

City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality The City of Cape Town (; ) is a metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of Cape Town and surrounding areas. As of 2022 it has a population of 4,772,846. History Cape Town first received local self-government in 1839, wit ...

. The Simon's Town railway station is the terminus of the Southern Line, a railway line that runs south of the central business district of Cape Town. In places, the railway line runs along the steep eastern shore of False Bay, and in bad weather waves and foam from some heavy swells wet the trains.

Attractions and amenities

Boulders Beach

Boulders Beach Boulders Beach is a sheltered beach made up of inlets between granite boulders, from which the name originated. It is located on the Cape Peninsula, in Simon's Town, in the southern region of Cape Town, South Africa. It is also commonly known as ...

is located a few kilometres to the south of Simon's Town, in the direction of Miller's Point. Here small coves and beaches are interspersed between boulders of Cape granite. There has been a colony of

African penguin The African penguin (''Spheniscus demersus''), also known as Cape penguin or South African penguin, is a species of penguin confined to southern African waters. It is the only penguin found in the Old World. Like all penguins, it is flightless, ...

s at Boulders Beach since 1982. There is no record of the birds having lived here prior to that date. They are shown, with scenes from the town, in the 2021 series, Penguin Town. There are only three penguin populations on the mainland in southern Africa; the others are close to

Hermanus Hermanus (; originally called ''Hermanuspietersfontein'', but shortened in 1902 as the name was too long for the postal service

at Stoney Point and Betty's Bay.

Martello Tower

In the last weeks of 1795 or the first weeks of 1796, the British built a

round tower A fortified tower (also defensive tower or castle tower or, in context, just tower) is one of the defensive structures used in fortifications, such as castles, along with defensive walls such as curtain wall (fortification), curtain walls. Castle ...

on a site that today falls within the Naval Base. Britain had just annexed the Dutch colony at the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

and wanted to establish some defences to ward off possible Dutch or French attacks. The resulting tower was high, had a base diameter of , and walls thick, though there is no evidence that the British ever installed the guns the tower was designed to hold. In front of the tower, the British also constructed a battery that they did arm with cannons. The

Martello tower Martello towers are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts. They stand up to high (with two floors) and typica ...

was used as a navigational beacon for ships entering Simon's Bay and was consequently white-washed in about 1843. The tower was restored in 1972 by the Simon's Town Historical Society (in conjunction with the

), and proclaimed a provincial heritage site; today it houses a small museum.

South African Naval Museum

The South African Naval Museum is a

maritime museum A maritime museum (sometimes nautical museum) is a museum specializing in the display of objects relating to ships and travel on large bodies of water. A subcategory of maritime museums are naval museums, which focus on navy, navies and the m ...

, which contains collections and artefacts related to the maritime history of South Africa and the South African Navy. The Residency built in 1777

Simon's Town Museum

Simon's Town Museum is a community museum established in 1977 and located in The Residency, a historical building erected by Governor Joachim van Plettenberg in 1777. The museum records and preserves all aspects of the history of Simon's Town community.

Simon's Town Heritage Museum

Simon's Town Heritage Museum is a house museum established by Zainab Davidson after the Amlay family home was returned following apartheid. After Davidson's retirement, nephew Sheribeen Amlay took over the running of the museum. Collections include photographs, newspapers, artifacts, ephemera, and genealogical resources for the inhabitants of Simon's Town pre-apartheid. Significant collections include those related to the history of Muslim settlement in the region.

Public art

In 1985, a statue of Just Nuisance, the only dog ever to be officially enlisted in the

, was erected in a position overlooking the harbour. The Simon's Town Museum has an exhibition dedicated to his story.

Notable inhabitants

* Georgia Papageorge,

installation art Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific art, site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior intervent ...

ist * Hendrik Vermeulen, couturier *

Simon Peyton Jones Simon Peyton Jones (born 18 January 1958) is a British computer scientist who researches the implementation and applications of functional programming languages, particularly lazy functional programming. Education Peyton Jones graduated fro ...

computer scientist A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...

born in (and named after) Simonstown

Economy

Simon's Town became a

free port A free-trade zone (FTZ) is a class of special economic zone. It is a geographic area where goods may be imported, stored, handled, manufactured, or reconfigured and re-exported under specific customs regulation and generally not subject to ...

in 1832.

Coat of arms

The Simon's Town municipal council assumed a coat of arms, designed by Adelbert Bonn, in September 1905.Chapman, F.P. 'How the town obtained its coat of arms' in ''Simon's Town Historical Society Bulletin'' (July 1973). It was granted by the

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

on 27 September 1957. The design is described as ''Quarterly: I and IV, per pale, the dexter Argent, three towers placed 2 and 1 Gules, the sinister per fess Or and Azure, in chief on a mount Vert a peacock in his pride proper and in base three plates placed 2 and 1 Argent; II and III, Azure, an estoile and in chief three crescents Argent; over all an oval cartouche with scrolled edges Or, charged with a demi-lion rampant Gules, issuant from three barrulets wavy Vert''. In layman's terms, the shield is divided into four quarters. The first quarter is divided vertically, one half depicting three red towers on a silver background, the other a peacock on a gold background above three silver discs on a red background; the second quarter is blue, with three silver crescents at the top and a wavy star below on a blue background; the third quarter is the same as the second and the fourth the same as the first; in the centre is an oval with a decorative edge displaying a red lion emerging from wavy green stripes on a golden background. These were a slightly modified version of the arms of Willem Adriaan van der Stel, which Bonn mistakenly thought were those of his father

. The crest was the figure of

Britannia The image of Britannia () is the national personification of United Kingdom, Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used by the Romans in classical antiquity, the Latin was the name variously appli ...

resting on a golden naval crown. Two golden anchors were placed behind the shield. The motto was ''Fac et spera''. When the municipality was dissolved in 1996, the council placed its regalia, including the letters patent from the College of Arms, in the custody of the Simon's Town Historical Society.''Simons' Town Historical Society Bulletin'' (July 1997). The society registered the arms in its own name at the Bureau of Heraldry in October 1999.National Archives of South Africa : Data of the Bureau of Heraldry
Department of Arts and Culture, Republic of South Africa

Gallery

N.N. (1806) p046 VIEW OF SIMONS BAY.jpg, Simon's Bay - Naval Base, 1806 Lt Humphrey John Julian - The Admiral House, Simon^s Town, Cape of Good Hope - B1975.4.1304 - Yale Center for British Art.jpg, The Admiral House, Simon's Town, Cape of Good Hope, 1844 SAS Isandlwana F146 Simon's Town.jpg, The South African Naval Base in Simon's Town. Kalk Bay, Sudáfrica, 2018-07-23, DD 06.jpg, View of the bay from the railway line. Simons Town station.JPG, Simon's Town station Wikimania by Rehman - 2018-07-18 - B015 - Simon's Town.jpg, Simon's Town station was also visited by Wikimania attendees in July 2018. Simon's Town Harbor.jpg, Boats in Simon's Town harbour. Admiralty House St Georges Street Simonstown Cape Town - Side view 1.JPG, Admiralty House Simonstown.jpg, The historical centre of Simon's Town Simon's Town 2008-08-16.jpg, View of the harbour with the civilian yacht moorings in the foreground and the naval base to the right in the background. Just Nuisance at Jubilee Square - panoramio.jpg, Statue of Just Nuisance in Simon's Town. Middle North Battery Simon's Town 9 inch Gun firing 24th September 2014 v2.jpg, A restored 9 Inch MLR Gun being fired at the Middle North Battery overlooking the town. Roman Rock Lighthouse.webm, A flight around Roman Rock Lighthouse just outside Simon's Town harbour.

References

External links

Simon's Town Historical SocietyThe British naval base
{{Authority control Maritime history of South Africa Ports and harbours of South Africa Suburbs of Cape Town Populated places established in 1680 Articles containing video clips 1680 establishments in the Dutch Empire Populated places established by the Dutch East India Company