I have often driven past this monument on the way to/from work and these days on my way to/from a cache over lunch time. Whilst I have often wandered what it was I never took the time to stop and check it out (or look it up) until I started caching and realised it was a great place to hide a cache. Little did I know the history that has magically been preserved.
The following information on the fort itself was taken directly from this article on the City of Cape Town website. Below that you'll find some more info on the destructor buildings next to the old fort. Many thanks to tomtwogates who kindly forwarded the information on them to me. If you have/find out any more info please send it on to me I'll update the listing.
History
In Trafalgar Park stands the French Redoubt, also known as the Central or Frederick William Redoubt. It was part of the hastily constructed French line of defence built by a French garrison at the Cape in 1781. The VOC, fearing an attack by the British, realized that they were extremely vulnerable to an overland attack from False Bay. The line consisted of four forts stretching from Knokke (where Woodstock Railway Station stands), to the Hollandse Redoubt, the Burger Redoubt and the French Redoubt.
Five years after it was built the line fell into a poor state of repair and after the British occupation in 1795 the earthworks which connected the redoubts and the forts were restored. They helped form a defence line with the British blockhouses on Devil’s Peak. The line eventually fell into disuse in 1827 when instructions were given to demolish the forts. Fortunately, the site was proclaimed a National Monument in 1968. The French Redoubt has earth banks and a stone entrance. There is an interesting structure in this fort, a brick kilnlike chimney, about which there has been much speculation. Theories have ranged from this being an oven in which cannon balls were heated before being fired onto the decks of wooden ships, to the suggestion that this was a miniature roast-house for the making of beer. As imaginative as the stories have been, it seems that this was a brick-kiln used for the making of bricks after the fort was de-militarised.
The Park Today
Instead of Trafalgar Park being a safe place for children to play or nearby workers to take a leisurely stroll during a lunch break, it has become a place to avoid. During 2006 the City of Cape Town noticed serious deterioration of the structures and surrounds and a serious misuse of the area by vagrants and drug elements inside Trafalgar Park. There appeared to be active drug dealing inside the fort structure and on many occasions uniformed learners were observed visiting the fort. The City Council realised that urgent action was needed and a plan to overcome the abovementioned problems was instituted. Funding was secured from the City Environmental Management Branch and the following actions were implemented: the children’s playground has been relocated to a more safe and “in the eye” area.
- removal of the old broken concrete palisade and steel fence on the southern side below the swimming pool, cleaning up of the area, cutting of the grass and it now has a pleasant embankment as background to the fort. A small section was also fenced off with steel palisade fence to secure the rear section of the Park.
- a new steel palisade fence has been installed below the fort to secure the French Redoubt and Destructor buildings - separately from the rest of the Park. This we believe will keep vagrants out and reduce vandalism and damage to both structures and surrounds.
- Mr. Tim Hart from the Department of Archaeology at UCT was instructed to investigate, research and produce a conservation plan to Council regarding the future of these historical buildings and area. This conservation plan will be used to determine what actions need to be taken to preserve and restore the structures and the plan will serve as a basis to determine cost estimates for repair and reinstatement work to follow! On the advice of Tim Hart the City Council have done temporary repairs to the fort structure and the kiln chimney structure to prevent immediate collapse of the building during heavy winter rain and wind storms. At the same time the large cavity in the brick wall made by vagrants and/or drug dealers where the steel door used to be was bricked up again.
The Post Office Destructor
The destructor buildings were the result of many a failed attempt by the Post Office to properly dispose of records in the early 19th century.
Back in 1899, the disposal of records was done by burning them in a clay pit in the Green Point Commons. Sacks of telegraph forms containing everything from birthday greetings to matrimonial annoncements were carted down to the commons and then set alight. Due to the wind several hands were needed to rush around the commons, as far as Mouille Point lighthouse to collect any documents that were whisked away before being burnt. When the residents of Green Point objected to all the ash that was being spread around the common, the operations were moved to an old quarry adjoining the Malay cemetry at the top of Strand St.
Operations went well at the Strand St base for a few years barring the same old problems with the south easter redistributing unburnt documents around the city bowl. However, as with the Green Point operation eventually the residents pressured the council into forcing the operations to move once again.
They briefly operated out of an elongated stable that belonged to a local blacksmith until the smith became more interested in disposing of bodies rather than paper documents. It was then that the most hair brained scheme of all began and under the assurance of a local skipper they steamed out towards Saldanha to despose of the documents in currents that would set them on a course towards the Gulf Stream!?! Needless to say, the Benguela brought them right back to Cape Town and the following week reports were received of telegrams were washing up on Blaauwberg beach.
It was at this point that operations were set up in the destructor you see before you at the cache site - "a monument to that experiment in the deep blue waters of the South Atlantic" - until the decision was made to move the operations to Pretoria.
FTF Honours go to SawaSawa, Zambesiboy, MnCo and Eagelise. Congrats!