Sephton Manor - the making of a type

Abstract

The essay attempts to determine the significant contributions to the making of a type, that is the fortified frontier farmstead, in the annals of South African architectural history. It is associated with a specific time - the C19 -, place - the Eastern Cape -, and historical episode - British colonial occupation and expansion in South Africa. This essay is considered important in that it helps isolate and determine those factors, whether through tradition or by design, which influence the evolution of an architectural type. In it an etymological link between "kraal" and "coral tree" is proposed, a conjectural demonstration of Sephton manor presented, and the importance of associations with the type and the changing of circumstance of its origins in terms of the emblematic and symbolic qualities in speculated.