Brackenfell

Brackenfell is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, situated on the N1 about 30 km (17 mi) north-east of Cape Town and 35 km (22 mi) south-west of Paarl.

Regarded as the “gateway” to the Cape Winelands, the town marks the start of the Bottelary Hills Wine Route which follows the scenic Bottelary Road to Stellenbosch, about 22 kilometres (14 mi) to the south-east.

The earliest activity on what today is known as Brackenfell was when the "de Clapmuts" was a refreshment post. Brackenfell specifically form part of Klapmutsberg, better known as de Bottelarij. In 1712 the area known as "Kruispad" was transferred to Selie, J. Kruispad was owned by Brink, A. and in 1901 he sold it to a Scottish Immigrant Walton, G.H. The flora on this farm reminded him of the same in Scotland. He called it Brackenfell (Bracken means fern; Fell means hill). The richness of granite in the area let to the farm being sold to a Brick company in 1903 and a granite quarry was established. Activity here stopped in 1948. In 1904 a railway station was established.

Brackenfell used to be a rural area centred on a major road crossing during the earlier days of Cape Town, but today it is a well-known suburb located behind the 'boerewors gordyn' which translates to sausage curtain, meaning; people living in this area, braai (barbecue) boerewors very often. "Gordyn" curtain is just by figure of speech. It is all said tongue-in-the-cheek.

In 1976, a large investment was made by retail giant, Pick n Pay, when it opened a Hypermarket in Brackenfell, which still stands today. At the time, the Hypermarket was regarded as an ultra-modern decentralised shopping centre which had a crucial role in the development of then-small town of Brackenfell, lying just outside Cape Town.

In 1996, Brackenfell lost its municipal status and was dissolved into the Oostenberg Municipality along with Kraaifontein, Kuilsrivier and Blue Downs/Eersterivier as part of the transition in local government. As of 2000, Brackenfell was integrated into the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality, or the Greater Cape Town area and is effectively a suburb of the City of Cape Town.

Due to the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases in the Western Cape, the Western Cape Health Department constructed a field hospital in the Brackengate industrial area. It opened on 20 July 2020 with 10 patients. The field hospital has capacity 300 beds for COVID-19 patients from hospitals struggling with capacity.

The field hospital became the central COVID-19 dedicated hospital for the Western Cape in September as the Cape Town International Convention Centre's field hospital which was the central COVID-19 dedicated hospital was decommissioned in September due to declining COVID-19 cases in the City of Cape Town.