Somerset West Central at a glance
The town of Somerset West is located in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Set in the Helderberg area which is formerly called Hottentots Holland, Somerset West is about 50 km east of Cape Town and 10 km from the ocean side suburb of Strand. Somerset West is overlooked by the imposing Helderberg which forms a part of the Hottentots-Holland mountain range. The world Helderberg means 'clear mountain'.
History of Somerset West, Western Province (South Africa)
The land was initially bought from local people and a cattle post was established in this region of South Africa by Dutch soldiers in 1672. A town was set up around the Lourens River and the farm of Vergelegen. The beautiful farm of Vergelegen consists of a large estate and an 18th century farmhouse which was built in the historic Cape Dutch style by Willem Adriaan van der Stel.
Willem Adriaan van der Stel was the governor of the Cape and son of Simon van der Stel, who gave his name to the nearby town of Stellenbosch. Today, the Vergelegen Estate is a prestigious wine estate which offers magnificent rose gardens, wine tasting tours as well as gourmet restaurants. The Vergelegen Wine Estate in Somerset West is now owned by a subsidiary of the large mining company Anglo American, who have restored the farmhouse to its original magnificence and continue to produce some of South Africa's best wines there.
Origin of the name: Somerset West, South Africa
The town of Somerset West was named Somerset after an English governor of the Cape Colony during the 1800s, Lord Charles Henry Somerset. The suffix 'West' was added after 1825 to differentiate it from Somerset East which is another South African town in the Eastern Cape. In the 1830s, Sir Lowry's Pass, named after later governor Sir Lowry Cole, was constructed to link the town with outposts further east over the Hottentots-Holland mountains.
The historic town of Stellenbosch is reachable via the R44 motorway which is about 18 km inlands from Somerset West. The area between Somerset West and Stellenbosch also encompasses many vineyards and wineries such as Rust-en-Vrede, Alto, J.P. Bredell and the Blaauwklippen Wine Estate where visitors can sample and purchase wine. The oldest remaining vineyard in South Africa, Vergelegen, is situated on the outskirts of Somerset West.
Strand's name has changed a grand total of seven times since the 17th century: Melkbaai (ca 1655), Vlooibaai (1714), Mostertsbaai (1718), Van Ryneveldsdorp (1850), Somerset Strand (1882), The Strand (1918) and finally, simply Strand (1937) as we now know it.
Somerset West was founded in 1822 as "Somerset". The suffix "West" was only added later, in order to distinguish it from Somerset East in the Eastern Cape. Both towns are named after Lord Charles Somerset.
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