Somerset West Somerset-Wes
From top: Aerial view of Somerset West with Helderberg Mountain; left: Vergelegen Estate; during the winter; Left: The Old Lourens River Bridge is a provincial heritage site; Right: Erinvale Estate.
Motto:  Prorsum Sursum (Latin: Straight Up)
Somerset West Show map of Western Cape Somerset West Show map of South Africa Somerset West Show map of Africa
Coordinates: 34°05′S 18°51′E / 34.083°S 18.850°E / -34.083; 18.850
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
Municipality	City of Cape Town
Established	1822
Government
• Councillors	Benedicta van Minnen (Ward 15); Stuart Bruce Pringle (Ward 84)
Area [1]
• Total	61.37 km2 (23.70 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[1]
• Total	55,166
• Density	900/km2 (2,300/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [1]
• Black African	13.0%
• Coloured	24.5%
• Indian/Asian	0.9%
• White	60.1%
• Other	1.6%
First languages (2011) [1]
• Afrikaans	52.3%
• English	37.5%
• Xhosa	4.8%
• Other	5.3%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)	7130
PO box	7129
Area code	+27 (0)21

Somerset West (Afrikaans: Somerset-Wes) is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa. Organisationally and administratively it is included in the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality as a suburb of the Helderberg region (formerly called Hottentots Holland).^[2] The vehicle registration code for Somerset West is CFM and the post code is 7130 for street addresses, and 7129 for post office boxes.

History

Main Road Somerset West in 1909.

A cattle post was established here by Dutch soldiers in 1672.

A town developed around the Lourens River (originally "Tweederivier", which means "Second River"; "Eersterivier", meaning "First River" passes through Stellenbosch, some 16 km (9.9 mi) to the north) and the farm of Vergelegen (Dutch: "remotely situated"), an 18th-century farmhouse built in the historic Cape Dutch style by Willem Adriaan van der Stel, governor of the Cape and son of Simon van der Stel, who gave his name to the nearby town of Stellenbosch. Willem Adriaan was later sent back to Holland after being charged with corruption and cruelty towards local Dutch farmers. The farm is now owned by a subsidiary of the large mining company Anglo American, who have restored the farmhouse to its original magnificence and continue to produce some of South Africa's best wines there. The farm is open to tourists.

Somerset West was founded in 1822 on part of the historic farm, Vergelegen.^[3] The town was named Somerset after a British governor of the Cape Colony during the 1800s, Lord Charles Somerset, with the suffix 'West' being added after 1825 to differentiate it from Somerset East, another South African town in the Eastern Cape. In the 1830s, Sir Lowry's Pass, named after later governor Sir Lowry Cole, was constructed to link the town with outposts further east over the Hottentots-Holland mountains.

In the 1960s, the AECI factory between Somerset West and Strand was the second largest dynamite factory in the world.

Geography

Somerset West is located on the N2 about 45 kilometres (30 mi) east of Cape Town and 20 kilometres (10 mi) kilometres south of Stellenbosch. The town borders Strand and Gordon's Bay and is overlooked by the Helderberg Mountain (meaning "clear mountain"), a part of the Hottentots-Holland range of mountains. The Hottentots-Holland mountains surround Somerset West in an amphitheatre shape.

Retail

Somerset West as a large town is not only the main retail centre for the Helderberg region but for further surrounding towns such as Grabouw, Botrivier and Stellenbosch too.

Somerset West is largely served by Somerset Mall situated adjacent the N2 freeway and serves the largest shopping centre in the Helderberg region. A number of other local retail shopping centres can be found in Somerset West’s suburbs and surroundings, including: Helderberg Mall, Somerset Value Centre and The Sanctuary which are situated in the vicinity of Somerset Mall as well as Waterstone Village Shopping Centre, Vergelegen Plein and Sitari Village Mall.^{[5][6][7][8][9]}

Tourism

Somerset West offers several tourist attractions due to its position on the Hottentots-Holland mountains and between the Cape Winelands and the nearby beaches of Strand and Gordon's Bay.

Growth

In recent years, Somerset West has become a much sought-after town to live in the Greater Cape Town metropolitan area, experiencing growing demand for secure country living and as a result the town has significantly expanded with new gated communities to the west and east.

The most notable developments are situated west of Somerset West (eg. Sitari Country Estate, Croydon Vineyard and Olive Estates and Kelderhof Country Village) which have largely occupied what was once vast open land, slowly closing the gap isolating Somerset West from the rest of the metro.^[12][13][14]

Another notable development in Somerset West, is the mixed-use precicnt of Paardevlei situated on the southern periphery of the town and includes a new private hospital owned by Busamed.^[15]

The major attraction and reason why property is sought-after in Somerset West is because it is an self-sustained area, offers a semi-rural lifestyle and sweeping views over False Bay, is within commuting distance from Cape Town (approx. 40 min) and Stellenbosch (approx. 20 min) and is in close proximity to the beaches of Strand and Gordon’s Bay and the wine farms of Stellenbosch.

Education

The town has a range of primary and secondary educational facilities.

Primary schools

High schools

Higher Education

• Helderberg College of Higher Education

Transport

Notable people

Coats of arms

Municipality (1) — Somerset West was a municipality in its own right from 1904 to 1996. The council approved its first coat of arms on 23 April 1935.^[17]

Municipality (2) — In 1953, the council approved a new design, by Ivan Mitford-Barberton and H. Ellis Tomlinson. This was in response to a Cape Provincial Administration circular calling on municipalities to have their arms checked and, if necessary, re-designed to make them heraldically correct. The arms were granted by the College of Arms on 25 November 1953. They were registered at the Bureau of Heraldry in June 1994.^[18]

The arms were: Azure, a portcullis chained Or; on a chief of the last a setting sun Gules (i.e. a blue shield displaying a red setting sun on a golden stripe across the top, and a golden portcullis with chains below it). The crest was a golden demi-lion holding a vine, issuing from a red mural crown charged with three golden rings. The motto was Prorsum sursum. The design is canting: the portcullis comes from the Somerset family arms, and the setting sun denotes the west.

Gallery

References

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Somerset West.