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Malta House Swellendam, Western Cape

Date: 1750 Type: Mill Style: Victorian Status: Extant Street: 9 Glen Barry Street   Click to view map Coordinates: 34°00'44.28" S 20°26'56.06" E Alt: 167m

This house stands on tile outskirts of Swellendam, at the end of Van Oudtshoorn Rd. It was the Drostdy's second mill. When it was built is unknown because of the destruction of the Drostdy records by fire in 1865, but it is mentioned in 1798, and was then evidently nearing the end its usefulness as a mill. In 1802 it was granted to the widow Wotkij, whose husband had been messenger at the Drostdy. She was Maria Martha du Preez, born in 1731. Obviously she lived in the miller's quarters (as was very often the case, he lived under the same roof as the mill-house). How long the mill remained in actual use we do not know; but even if she hired a man to run it for her, it cannot have been for long: she was 71 when she got the property. The explanation for the curious name 'Malta' is as follows. Maria Martha du Preez was evidently known to her family and neighbours as 'Martha', which English-speaking settlers changed to Malta. People in the vicinity still call the place 'Martha'. (Cp. Malta at Observatory, Cape Town, originally called Uiterwyk until, at the end of the 18th century, it fell into the hands of a man called Martheze, who changed the name to Martha. From the early 19th century we find this farm called Malta.) About the middle of the 19th century, Malta in Swellendam had the woodwork of the living part renewed and early-Victorianised. It now has a door with a fine spoke-fanlight above it and windows to correspond. The beams at this end are moulded, whereas the beams at the mill end are rough. The old square hole in the left end, where the axle of the wheel entered (it was an overdrive mill) still exists. There is a fishtail gable at the right end, but the left end is plain and straight. The house is in sympathetic hands. [Fransen p463.] All truncated references not fully cited below are those of Joanna Walker's original text and cited in full in the 'Bibliography' entry of the Lexicon. Books and articles that reference Malta House Fransen, Hans. 2004. The old buildings of the Cape. A survey of extant architecture from before c1910 in the area of Cape Town - Calvinia - Colesberg - Uitenhage. Johannesburg & Cape Town: Jonathan Ball Publishers. pg 463 Swellendam Heritage Association. 2018. Treasures of Swellendam. Swellendam: Swellendam Heritage Association. pg 23