Malmesbury, Western Cape

Malmesbury
Malmesbury Location in the Western Cape
Malmesbury
Coordinates: 33°27′S 18°44′E
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
District	West Coast
Municipality	Swartland
Area
• Total	12.95 km2 (5.00 sq mi)
Population (2001)
• Total	20,074
• Density	1,550/km2 (4,000/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2001)
• Black African	5.7%
• Coloured	69.4%
• Indian/Asian	0.8%
• White	24.1%
First languages (2001)
• Afrikaans	91.9%
• Xhosa	3.9%
• English	3.2%
• Other	1%
Time zone	SAST (UTC+2)
Postal code	7300
Area code(s)	022

Malmesbury is a town with 37,529 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa, about 65 km north of Cape Town.

The town is the largest in the Swartland (‘black land’) due to the dark "Renosterbos" ('rhino bush'), an indigenous plant that turns black in the warm, dry summers. The area is especially known for its grain and wine cultivation as well as sheep and poultry farming.

Malmesbury was named after Sir Lowry Cole's father-in-law, the Earl of Malmesbury. Settlers were encouraged to make their home here because of a tepid sulphur chloride mineral spring that was renowned for curing rheumatism. The first farms were allocated in 1703. When the fifth Dutch Reformed congregation in the Cape was established here, it became known as Zwartlands-kerk (Black Land Church) but was renamed Malmesbury in 1829. The town acquired municipal status in 1860.

It no longer attracts the ailing, because it was never developed by the local authority, and in fact today a shopping centre is located on top of the site with only a decorative fountain marking the location of the original spring.

Notable people from Malmesbury

• McNeil Hendricks
• Maggie Laubser

External links

• Malmesbury, South Africa