Plumstead, Cape Town

Plumstead is one of the larger southern suburbs just south of Wynberg, and divided in two by Main Road and the railway line, into what some call Plumstead Upper (or Plumstantia) and Plumstead ‘proper’. Plumstead has easy access to the M3, the M5 and False Bay’s beaches. The suburb is also close to Constantia, Kirstenbosch and Wynberg.

Plumstead was first mentioned when, in 1762, a large portion of the land beyond Wynberg and the Constantia Valley was granted to the free burghers Hendrick Jergens and Johan Barrens, who were Dutch settlers. They called the land ‘Rust’ (Rest) and ‘Werk’ (Work).  Twenty years later the land was granted to Hendrick Bouman Brigeraad.  After the decline of the Dutch East India Company, the British occupied the Cape.

An Englishman, Henry Batt, arrived in 1807 and bought ‘Rust and Werk’ and renamed it Plumstead, after a district of London. He farmed the area for twenty six years, and died in 1833. The farm Plumstead was sub-divided and bought by Messrs. Higgs, Loubscher and Southey.

Today, Plumstead consists mostly of a mix of houses built in the 1940s and 1950s and more modern residences and apartment blocks.

Plumstead has multiple small shopping centers within its boundaries;  Pick n Pay Centre,  Gabriel Place,  The Village Square,  Checkers Centre,  Richmond Centre,  Prospur Centre.  Plumstead incorporates the Cape Town Cricket Club and Plumstead Tennis Club, both located on Victoria Road.