This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Brackenfell" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Brackenfell
Brackenfell Central Business District with its main road, Old Paarl Road
Brackenfell Show map of Western Cape Brackenfell Show map of South Africa Brackenfell Show map of Africa
Coordinates: 33°52′00″S 18°41′00″E / 33.86667°S 18.68333°E / -33.86667; 18.68333Coordinates: 33°52′00″S 18°41′00″E / 33.86667°S 18.68333°E / -33.86667; 18.68333
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
Municipality	City of Cape Town
Established	1913
Area [1]
• Total	25.27 km2 (9.76 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[1]
• Total	44,842
• Density	1,800/km2 (4,600/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [1]
• Black African	9.8%
• Coloured	9.0%
• Indian/Asian	0.8%
• White	79.0%
• Other	1.4%
First languages (2011) [1]
• Afrikaans	71.1%
• English	20.8%
• Xhosa	3.4%
• Other	4.7%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)	7560, 7561, 7562
PO box	7561
Area code	021

Brackenfell is a railway town in the Western Cape province of South Africa at the gateway to the Cape Winelands. Formerly an independent municipality, Brackenfell is now a part of the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality and is about 30 kilometres (19 mi) east of Cape Town City Bowl. In Brackenfell a variety of property situated on the slopes of the Bottelary Hills can be found.^[2][3][4]

The Bracken Nature Reserve, situated in the Ruwari suburban area, was once a quarry site and was later declared a nature reserve after some negotiations between the Cape Town City Council and the Stellenbosch Divisional Council.

Brackenfell offers schools, shopping malls and medical services, and many different sporting facilities.

History

The earliest activity on what today is known as Brackenfell was when the "de Clapmuts" was a refreshment post. Brackenfell specifically form part of Klapmutsberg, better known as de Bottelarij. In 1712 the area known as "Kruispad" was transferred to Selie, J. Kruispad was owned by Brink, A. and in 1901 he sold it to a Scottish Immigrant Walton, G.H. The flora on this farm reminded him of the same in Scotland. He called it Brackenfell (Bracken means fern; Fell means hill). The richness of granite in the area let to the farm being sold to a Brick company in 1903 and a granite quarry was established. Activity here stopped in 1948. In 1904 a railway station was established.^[5][6][7]

Brackenfell used to be a major road crossing during the earlier days of Cape Town, but today it is a well-known suburb located behind the 'boerewors gordyn' which translates to sausage curtain, meaning; people living in this area, braai (barbecue) boerewors very often. "Gordyn" curtain is just by figure of speech. It's all said tongue-in-the-cheek.

Due to the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases in the Western Cape, the Western Cape Health Department constructed a field hospital in the Brackengate industrial area. It opened on 20 July 2020 with 10 patients. The field hospital has capacity 300 beds for COVID-19 patients from hospitals struggling with capacity.^[8][9][10]

The field hospital became the central COVID-19 dedicated hospital for the Western Cape in September as the Cape Town International Convention Centre's field hospital which was the central COVID-19 dedicated hospital was decommissioned in September due to declining COVID-19 cases in the City of Cape Town.^[11][12]

Geography

A view of the Vredekloof neighbourhood of Brackenfell and the N1 in the foreground and Table Mountain in the background.

Brackenfell is located on the north-eastern outskirts of the Greater Cape Town metropolitan area and lies on the western flanks of the Bottelary Hills. Brackenfell is located at the start of the Bottelary Hills Wine Route on Bottelary Road, forming part of the greater network of the Stellenbosch Wine Routes.

Located more or less halfway between the Cape Town and Paarl, Brackenfell is approximately 30 km north-east of Cape Town and 35 km south-west of Paarl and is bounded by Kraaifontein to the north-east, Kuilsrivier to the south, Durbanville to the north-west and Bellville to the west.^[13][14] Its proximity to the larger commercial centres of Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Paarl and the winelands of the two latter towns and Durbanville makes it an extremely popular suburb to live in for commuter purposes and to feel part of the countryside.

Suburban areas

Brackenfell is divided into three suburban clusters namely Brackenfell North, Central and South.^[15]

Brackenfell North is located north of the N1 and includes the following suburbs:

• Cape Gate (retail)
• Chamonix (residential)
• De Tuin (residential)
• Kleinbron Estate (residential)
• Kleinbron Park (residential)
• Marlborough Park (residential)
• Vredekloof (residential)
• Vredekloof Glen (residential)
• Vredekloof Heights (residential)
• Vredekloof Rand (residential)
• Welgeleë (residential)

Brackenfell Central is located between the N1 and R101 Old Paarl Road and includes following suburbs:

• Arauna (residential)
• Brackenfell Industria (industrial)
• Eden Park (residential)
• Ferndale (residential)
• Hoogstede (residential)
• Morgenster (residential)
• Morgenster Heights (residential)
• Okavango Park (industrial)
• Springbokpark (residential)
• St Michaels (residential)

Brackenfell South is located between the R101 Old Paarl Road and the M23 Bottelary Road is presently the centre of property development in Brackenfell. Brackenfell South includes the following suburbs:

• Birgundy (residential)
• Brackenfell South (residential)
• De Oude Spruit (residential)
• Kaapsig (residential)
• Klaradyn Retirement Village (residential)
• Protea Heights (residential)
• Protea Village (residential)
• Ruwari (residential)
• Sonkring (residential)

Schools

• Bastion Primary School
• Brackenfell High School
• Brackenfell Primary School
• Brooklands Primary School
• Curro Brackenfell (private primary school)
• Curro Castle (private nursery / pre-primary school)
• Destinatus Private School
• Northpine Primary School
• Northpine Technical High School
• Paarl School
• Protea Heights Academy (high school)
• Vredekloof Primary School

Economy

Brackenfell is home to many retail companies' head offices such as Shoprite, Checkers (falls under Shoprite) as well as Food Lover's Market. Shoprite-Checkers have a new distribution centre which was completed in 2019 at the Brackengate 2 Business Park named the Cilmor Distribution Centre.^[16][17][18] In recent years most of the older residences along Brackenfell Boulevard (the section between the N1 and Old Paarl Road) have been renovated and converted into service-related businesses such as dentists, lawyers and real estate agents amongst others.

Retail

With the development of the Cape Gate shopping precinct, Brackenfell has become one of the most important retail hubs in the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town and in Greater Cape Town as a whole. Within the precinct is the Cape Gate Shopping Centre which is the largest shopping centre in Brackenfell and adjacent to the shopping centre is the Cape Gate Lifestyle Centre.^[19][20]

In Brackenfell North, the Glengarry Shopping Centre serves the neighbourhood of Vredekloof and even the neighbouring parts of Durbanville. In Brackenfell South, the Boulevard Square Shopping Centre serves the neighbourhood of Protea Heights and Brackenfell South as a whole.^[21][22]

In Brackenfell Central there are four shopping centres which include the Fairbridge Mall owned by Shoprite Checkers, Brackenfell Centre, the newly revamped Brackenfell Corner (previously Paradys Park) and the newly revamped Brackenfell Shopping Centre.^{[23][24][25][26]}

Transport

Bus & Taxi Transit

Brackenfell is one of the very few towns in the Cape Town metropolitan area that is not served by the Golden Arrow Bus Services.

Brackenfell is served two kinds of taxis: metered taxis and minibus taxis. Unlike many cities and towns in South Africa, metered taxis are not allowed to drive around the town to solicit fares and instead must be called to a specific location. Metered taxi companies operating around Brackenfell include Uber, Bolt, InDriver and DiDi.

Minibus taxi services to Brackenfell are also relatively limited and the town itself does not have a taxi terminus. There are, however, a few taxi routes to the neighbouring towns of Bellville and Kraaifontein.

Rail

Metrorail Western Cape's Northern Line (Cape Town- Bellville-Wellington Line) passes through Brackenfell and it's railway station. The Northern Line connects commuters from Brackenfell to Cape Town via Bellville and to Wellington via Kraaifontein, Klapmuts and Paarl. As a result of Brackenfell being a commuter suburb and having limited public transport services by buses or taxis, the town is largely dependent on Metrorail to commute to other parts of the Greater Cape Town metropolis.

Roads

Brackenfell's main thoroughfare is the R101 which is the original N1 and served the same function before the construction of the highway. Similarly to the current N1, the R101 was the main road between Cape Town and Paarl and thus the name of the road being Old Paarl Road. The R101 runs through the town centre of Brackenfell and connects the town with Bellville and Cape Town to the south-west and with Kraaifontein, Klapmuts and Paarl to the north-east.

Brackenfell is also served by two freeways that service the Greater Cape Town region. The N1 freeway, cutting through Brackenfell, is an east–west freeway connecting the town with Cape Town to the south-west and with Paarl to the north-east. The R300 (Kuils River Freeway), with its terminal at the Stellenberg Interchange (west of Brackenfell), is a north–south freeway skirting Brackenfell to the west, connecting the town with Mitchells Plain on the Cape Flats.

Brackenfell is also served by a large network of metropolitan routes within the City of Cape Town. These include the east–west M23 (Bottelary Road) connecting to Stellenbosch and Bellville, the east–west M25 (Frans Conradie Drive) connecting to Bellville and Kraaifontein, the east–west M73 (De Bron Road) connecting to Durbanville and Kraaifontein, the north–south M100 (Brackenfell Boulevard) connecting to Durbanville and Kuilsrivier and the north–south M137 (Okavango Road) connecting to Durbanville and Kraaifontein.

Coat of arms

Brackenfell was a municipality from 1970 to 1996. In November 1971, the council registered a coat of arms at the Bureau of Heraldry.^[27]

The arms, designed by Cornelis Pama, were Per chevron embowed Or and Vert, three shot balls counterchanged, i.e. a shield divided by a curved chevron-shaped line into gold and green, with two green balls at the top and a golden ball at the bottom. The crest was three ferns with the motto Tenax in fide.

Trivia

• Currently, Brackenfell (together with Kuilsrivier) uses the prefix "CFR-" in their registered motor vehicles (since approximately 2000 the prefix "CF-" which had formerly been allocated to Grahamstown has also been allocated to these suburbs).
• Kanonkop (directly translated to cannon head) Brackenfell's highest point in Ruwari, was used as a signal point with its signal cannons in the 1700s. Cannons can be seen at Brackenfell High School and Bastion Primary School.
• In Vredekloof Street in Vredekloof (a residential area of Brackenfell) the bird, the Cape Robin nest and is commonly known as Jan Frederik.
• The popular cooking and grill sauce Jimmy's Sauces CC is produced in Brackenfell and is sold not only in South Africa but also all over the world.

External links

• Brackenfell Directory

References