The historical development of farmstead architecture in the Brandwater Basin of the Eastern Free State up to union

Abstract

English: Shelter forms part of the means of maintaining oneself within a landscape. Temporary forms of shelter often develop into a house, as a more permanent form of shelter. Once the house has taken form, it also acts as a sign of a foothold on the landscape from where influence can be furthered. A farmhouse is a part of that tradition but agriculturally based. A farmstead usually includes the most important house on the farm and its associated structures. It forms the centre from where control is exercised over a demarcated part of the landscape, which is the farm. Early farmhouses are therefore associated with a series of ideas like settlement, social interaction, control, ownership, farms, farmsteads, houses and shelter. These ideas are viewed conceptually differently by different cultures. Within a culture the ideas change as time goes by and are influenced on the most basic level by the resources found in the landscape. This study endeavors to collect and document the physical evidence of the early farmhouses in the Brandwater Basin area. It is a vernacular architecture particular to the Eastern Free State, unified by the use of the sandstone that is available on the landscape as building material. The collection is limited to houses built before the end of the Orange River Colony in 1910. The architectural development that followed on the initial structures is also considered. The purpose of this study is to extend knowledge of this critical phase of the development of the area. It is the phase in which a new tradition was introduced to the area, which up to this day forms the basis on which control over the physical landscape is regulated.

Afrikaans: ‘n Skuiling is een van die maniere waarmee ‘n mens homself kan handhaaf op ‘n landskap. Die tydelike vorms van skuilings ontwikkel gewoonlik in ‘n huis, wat dan meer permanente skuiling bied. Sodra ‘n huis eers vorm aangeneem het, is dit ‘n teken van ‘n vastrapplek op die landskap waarvandaan invloed uitgeoefen kan word. 'n Plaashuis is deel van daardie tradisie maar steun op landbou. 'n Plaasopstal sluit gewoonlik die belangrikste huis op die plaas en aanliggende strukture in. Dit is die sentrum waarvandaan 'n afgebakende gedeelte van die landskap, die plaas, beheer word. Vroeë plaashuise word daarom geassosieer met 'n reeks begrippe soos vestiging, sosiale interaksie, beheer, eienaarskap, plase, opstalle, huise en skuiling. Hierdie idees word konseptueel anders gesien deur verskillende kulture. Die idees verander ook binne ‘n kultuur met die verloop van tyd en word op die mees basiese vlak beïnvloed deur die hulpbronne wat beskikbaar is op die landskap. Hierdie studie poog om binne die afgebakende gebied van die Brandwaterkom die fisiese getuienis te versamel van die vroeë plaashuise en dit te dokumenteer. Dit is ‘n volksargitektuur wat eie is aan die Oos-Vrystaat. Die gebruik van die sandsteen wat op die landskap beskikbaar is as boumateriaal onderskei hierdie volksargitektuur. Die versameling word beperk tot huise wat gebou was voor die einde van die Oranjerivierkolonie in 1910. Verder word die argitektoniese ontwikkeling ingesluit wat op die aanvanklike strukture gevolg het. Die studie poog om kennis uit te brei van hierdie kritiese fase van die ontwikkeling van die gebied. Dit is die fase waarin 'n nuwe tradisie in die gebied gevestig geraak het, wat vandag nog die basis vorm waarop beheer oor die fisiese landskap gereguleer word.