Three of the Rev Francis McCleland’s grandsons all married Beckley girls who were raised in a unprepossessing house on the hill along Draaifontein Road which still exists today.

Whether this house was built in 1803, as is now supposed, or in 1815 when Capt. Francis Evatt was granted this property, is irrelevant in the oldest extant house stakes. On either count, no. 7 Castle Hill is the lame donkey to the virile horse. Yet few people are aware of this building’s historical significance.

 Main picture: Photo of the Title Deeds taken by Tony Beckley

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