’n Paar van Stanford se buurdorpe - Hermanus en Greyton -het oor die afgelope twee jaar hul 150ste bestaansjaar gevier - 2007 is die jaar vir Stanford.

Dié mooi dorpie op die oewer van die Kleinrivier het ’n vroeë geskiedenis van boerderybedrywighede wat terugdateer na 1729.

Juriaan Appel van die Warmbad by Caledon was die eerste boer wat by Akkedisberg in Kleinrivierskloof ’n weidingspermit ontvang het. Nadat hy met sy veetroppe na elders vertrek het, het verskeie permithouers hom gevolg. In 1801 het die De Villiers familie by Modderrivier, digby vandag se dorp, gevestig. In dieselfde jaar het Christoffel Brand die plaas Kleinrivier Vallei van die regering ontvang.

The Klein River originates as the Hartebees River, 300 metres above mean average sea level on the northern slopes of the Kleinriver Mountain range.  The catchment divide between the headwaters of the Onrus River (flowing west) and the Hartebees/Klein River (flowing east) is clearly visible when traveling along the Hermel-en-Aarde road from Hermanus to Caledon (on the farm Diepgat).

From the confluence of the Hartebees and Klein Rivers (refer to map), the river is officially known as the Klein River.  Three other rivers flow into the Klein River before it curves south and then west to flow into the Atlantic Ocean at the Klein River lagoon.  Although the Klein River is 80 km long, it is the river with the shortest distance between its origin and mouth in the world (5 km as the crow flies)! 

PRE-1857

Waving grasslands and a strong stream of fresh water attracted farmers to the Kleijne River Valleij in the old days.  One of them was Christoffel Brand, who built the first farmstead on the farm Kleine Rivier’s Valley.  This was the house in which Lady Anne Barnard stayed over during her inland journey in 1798.

In 1801 the farm was granted by the British Government to Brand.  The farm changed hands several times until it was bought in 1838 by a prosperous Irish farmer, Robert Stanford.  He made many improvements and built the mill (for grinding wheat) close to the stream that ran close to his farm house.

Being an entrepreneurial spirit, he transported products by sea from a small bay (now known as Stanford’s Cove, close to De Kelders), to Cape Town – rather than using the time-consuming route over the Hottentots-Holland Mountain.  Robert Stanford lost his farm after the Neptune tragedy (read more about this in Stanford Stories II) when, being a half-pay officer, he had to supply the British government in Cape Town with produce from his farm.

Philippus de Bruyn bought the farm in 1855, laid out the village and sold plots of which the first was registered in the name of Duncan McFarlane on 30 September 1857.  The village of Stanford was born.

One of the holiday-makers who will never be forgotten is William Hoy. Like many other great South African settlers, Hoy was born in Scotland. At the age of 12 he left school and set off to Edinburgh where he found work as a junior clerk on the North British Railways, earning twelve shillings per week. Hoy, who had a beautiful copperplate handwriting, started learning Pitman’s shorthand and soon was earning extra pocket money teaching shorthand at night school.

In 1890, a recruiting officer of the Cape Government Railways arrived in Edinburgh. Hoy successfully applied and soon after, arrived in Cape Town. After only two years in the country, he became chief clerk to the Traffic Manager in Kroonstad and a year later, when he was 27 he was the Transvaal agent for the Railways.  During the Anglo-Boer war, Hoy was in charge of Military Railways, co-ordinating the movement of troops, supplies, horses, etcetera. The Scots claim the three R’s as their decree. Hoy’s were the three D’s: Determination, dedication and domination.