GUIDED COMBINED ARCHSOC & UCT AFC EXCURSION: Paradijs Ruins Hike and Picnic with Informative Briefing

This March excursion has been put forward to February to allow for the participation by members and visitors who will be observing Ramadan from 1 March.

Details about the outing: Pack a picnic to share and a light-weighted picnic blanket, and join us for a hike to the Paradijs Ruins. Wear sturdy shoes and do not forget a (party) hat, sunscreen, and water. 

 

Date: Saturday, 22 February 2025

 

Time: 10:00 – 14:00

 

Distance of Hike: 4.2 km in total (approximately 20 min to half an hour one-way)

 

RSVP Deadline: before 21 February 2025 to either:

•⁠ ⁠Patricia 083 469 4695     or   •⁠ ⁠⁠Mabeth 076 838 1573

Meet at Newlands Forest Parking Lot: 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/Vh1grHMAbgMmdEJr7?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

 

During the picnic, Dr Antonia Malan will chat about the history of the VOC Post of Paradijs, which was originally a military outpost on the frontier of European settlement at the Cape. It became the chief forester's home with terraced gardens and outbuildings for horses, soldiers and slaves and woodcutters from 1720 for the next 100 years. In 1798 Lady Anne Barnard and her husband, Secretary to the first British Governor of the Cape, lived there for a few months before building their own house at the Vineyard in Newlands. 

 

When archaeologists from the Archaeology Department at UCT began excavation work there in 1980 as a project under Prof Andy Smith, the ruined stone walls and terracing were almost completely covered in earth and vegetation. The excavations were also used to teach practical fieldwork skills to archaeology students, as well as to non-archaeologist volunteers through UCT Summer School courses.

 

WC ArchSoc Branch members know Antonia Malan especially well for pioneering the use of archival documents such as household inventories as a method for studying the material culture of historical archaeological sites in the Cape. She has served as Vice President of ArchSoc and as a member of various statuary heritage committees, as Chairperson of Heritage Western Cape.