Salt River, a suburb of Cape Town, started out as a swamp at the confluence of the Liesbeek and Swart (Black) Rivers that drained into Table Bay, near Cape Town's harbour. The plaque at the Van Riebeeck Hedge memorial (on my previous post) stated that the hedge ran along Wynberg Hill to somewhere near present day Newlands. "Beyond this the barrier continued as a pole fence to the mouth of the Salt River". The Salt River and swamp was only properly bridged in 1844, almost 200 years after Van Riebeeck landed, when Charles Michell built a causeway and a bridge (below - in a painting by Thomas Bowler) that opened up the "Hard Road" to Stellenbosch. These two images must be on pretty much the same spot as this circle is the confluence of several roads that radiate out in all directions - one of them being the "old" route to Stellenbosch. 
The bridge is called Montagu's Bridge after John Montagu, the Government Secretary of the Cape Colony. I am at a loss as to whether it still stands for the river is now a hideous concrete canal that runs through an equally hideous industrial area.For more glimpses into other worlds, click here.
Cape Town Time
