The suburb of Kensington is one of the oldest suburbs in Johannesburg.
The suburb to date is 117 years old and was founded by Max Langermann who lived on the road which is named after him - Langermann Drive.
It was proclaimed a heritage suburb in 2011.
Kensington plays host to many a historical and/or commemorative area. You can view a list of some of these places HERE but this post is about one in particular, the 119-year old Kensington Castle
Kensington Castle was built as a gift of love for Kate MacKirdie by Scott Samuel Wilson as she would apparently only agree to marry him if he built her a castle. Building began in 1910 and a year later they moved in.
According to documents found about the castle, Kate’s father worked at the Rothesay Castle in Scotland and it’s believed the Kensington Castle was modeled on that.
The walls are one-metre thick each and encompass ten rooms. There are two walk-on roofs with a view over Kensington and surrounding areas.
The Wilsons lived in the castle for only a few years and eventually had to sell it as they had fallen on hard times. The castle then saw a number of owners through the years, of which the last known are/were the van der/den Spek family.
I grew up often visiting the castle with my parents - or at least the outside of it. At the time it was still someone’s home and thus not open to the public and I secretly hoped that one day I would get the chance to walk its passages.
Now, here’s where the mystery comes in, the castle has been abandoned since about 2014 and the family has all but disappeared.
As with my typing above nobody is even sure of the spelling of the last known owner’s name. According to the Kensington Heritage Trust, an organisation orientated around the preserving and maintenance of landmarks in the Kensington community, they received an email in 2014 from the owner’s half-sister who also could not locate him.
The email quotes to say "I am the youngest sibling of Marius van der Spek (he is my half-brother) and the late WJ van der Spek is my father too. I was a mere five years old when my father bought the castle and started renovating it. Our family resided in Cyrildene and over the weekends we would stay at the castle until my father retired from the transport business. We, as a family relocated to the Western Cape to live at Klein Vredenburg, 155 Main street in Paarl, another heritage site which my father lovingly renovated into a family home.
Is there any update on the whereabouts of my brother who I last saw at my sister’s wedding in 1986 and last spoke to on my wedding day in October of 1995?"
Rumours have spread that he is alive and living in Cape Town but none of this has concrete proof. His sister added that she was shocked he would abandon his inheritance and asked to be kept up-to-date with any new information.
I’ve personally been researching and trying to find further information but have had no luck as yet aside from a page on Facebook entitled “Kensington Castle”. The page however does not have a set location and the last post on it is from 2018, but it does show photos of two people renovating a castle and updating the public as they go along - so there’s hope that my beloved and this particular castle are one and the same. I’ve sent a message to the page but have had no response as yet.
In the meantime I’ve emailed the Heritage Portal and asked for leads from them as it would be wonderful to be able to photograph the interior of the property and show you fellow Guides, not to mention make a tick on my proverbial Bucket List.
The interior of the castle hosted a bronze lion statue in the garden as well as a cannon on one of the roofs. There is a swimming pool and the double garage (seen in the photo above) is said to have been built for a horse-drawn carriage.
I’ll be sure to keep you all informed if I get any new leads.
#ConnectWritingChallenge
Much love
