Bulshoek Clanwilliam

Situated near Clanwilliam in the Cederberg mountain range. This amazing place is where you go to completely switch off. The beauty is the river/ dam that you camp on as this place is very hot. You will spend most of your time here in the water and if you like me in the shade. A great place for boating, fishing, mountain bike riding ect ect. We have just spent 2 weeks at this amazing place and even if I say so myself it was enough time spent in one long session. The nights are lit up with stars as far as the eyes can see and the competition becomes who see the most shooting stars. Why I love this place is that you dont really need to do anything and if you wish you pick up a fishing rod have a few casts into the river and sometimes you get that lucky fish. There are 3 types of fish here. Yellow ,carp and bass, I mostly fish for bass as this has over the years become my passion. Cows roam freely here and you might have to move out the way of one or two when they go out of their camp. There are some lovely houses to rent but we prefer to camp in our caravan right on the waters edge. The history of Clanwilliam One of the ten oldest towns, Clanwilliam's beginnings goes back to 1660 when a team of Dutch explorers who were sent out by Jan van Riebeeck first reached the Olifants River. When they entered the valley, the saw a large number of elephants on the riverbank. Jan Danckaert, the Dutch cadet in charge of the party, then named the river.

In 1732 the first farm in the Olifants River valley was awarded to Pieter van Zyl. The Town was originally known as Jan Disselsvlei , after Jan Dissel, a local pioneer and a botanist who lived in the Rhenosterbosch at Piquetbergen.

The area first formed part of the district of Stellenbosch, but was declared a sub-district of its own in 1808 by the Earl of Caledon, then Governor of the Cape.

A new name: On 1 January 1814, Caledon's successor, Sir John Cradock, renamed the area after his father-in-law, the Earl of Clanwilliam. It cannot be said with certainty when the town originated, but according to the available information it must have been between 1804 and 1808.

ARRIVAL OF THE 1820 SETTLERS

Lord Charles Somerset (Governor of the Cape Colony from 1814) wanted more people to be sent out to the Cape and to be settled in the Eastern Cape. As a result of his idea of an immigration scheme the British Government decided in July 1819 to go forward with the scheme which for them had a three-fold purpose:
* To populate the eastern frontier of the Cape of Good Hope
* To increase the English-speaking community in their new Colony.
* To ease political tensions in Britain that had been stretched to breaking point with post-war unemployment, industrialisation and poor trade.

On 12 February 1820 the ships "East Indian" and "Fanny" left Cork with four, mainly Irish, groups of immigrants and reached Simons Bay on 30 April and 1 May respectively. From there they sailed to Saldanha Bay. Although Lord Charles Somerset was planning to settle all the settlers in the Zuurveld in the Eastern Cape, the acting Governor, Sir Rufane Donkin, decided to grant land in the vicinity of Clanwilliam to four groups of Irish Settlers to keep them separate from the other Settlers.

The four groups were led by William Parker, Captain Walter Synnot, Captain Thomas Butler and Mnr. John Ingram and consisted of 126 men, 73 women and 159 children. Rev. Francis McCleland, paid by the Colonial Government, accompanied them while Parker was the leader.
Every male immigrant older than eighteen would receive one hundred acres to cultivate and after three years ownership would be transferred to them. The land they would receive was marked out for each group as follows:
Parker: Kleine Valley (1 600 morgen)
Ingram: Groote-en Kleine Patryse Valley (1 350 morgen)
Butler: Taaybosch Kraal (600 morgen)
Synnot: The present farm De Vlei (500 morgen)

When Parker heard that he had to go to Clanwilliam and not Knysna, as he had thought, he continued to cause problems for the authorities and demanded to be settled in Saldanha Bay, but eventually returned to Ireland in 1822.
The rest of the Settlers decided to move to Clanwilliam.

After a short while in Clanwilliam, the Settlers realised that they would not be able to make a living here. The arable land was not enough and the heat necessitated irrigation. Most of them were skilled labourers anyway and even the farmers among them did not understand the South African conditions. They requested a transfer and were taken to the Eastern Cape where they settled.

However, Ingram remained and he was able to buy the land of those who left at a very low price. Also Synnot remained and on 30 November 1821 he was appointed the assistant magistrate of the area.

When, in 1825, Rev. McCleland had only six families left in his congregation he was transferred to Port Elizabeth. The small group who settled here permanently included surnames like Foster, Freyer, Shaw, McMahon, and others. Even though they were a small group, they played a leading role in the area until the first half of the previous century.