On June 07 1848 Bishop Gray obtained a grant  from the Cape Government of the 56 square roods of the Bellen Alliance Farm, which included Van Papen’s old home, probably called by this time the Treaty House.
It was on in 1849 that the Mission Chapel and was first named Papendorp District Chapel and then St. Mary the Virgin’s Mission Chapelwas opened.  One of the Cathedral clergy rode or walked out on most days (from Cape Town), and taught basic at the Mission Chapel Christian truths to adults and children alike and held a service on Thursday evenings.  Either search in our main search page or browse through the records. Transcribed by Marion O’Riordan.

The church community (110 Coloureds, 35 Afrikaners, 80 English, 6 Dutch, 6 Irish and 6 Americans) steadily increased, partly through a discreet form of bribery which consisted of gifts of clothes and tabacco to the grown-ups and sweets for the children.

Woodstock was originally named Papendorp, after Pieter van Papendorp, who lived there toward the end of the 18th century. More dwellings were built along the main road, near Van Papendorp’s house, in the first half of the 19th century, and by 1845 there were an English church and school. In the second half of the century development accelerated, especially after the coming of the railway early in the 18605, and Papendorp became a fashionable residential town. Amalgamation with Salt River took place in 1881, the inhabitants voting for the name Woodstock. A tollgate was set at  one of the oldest roads into the City up in 1812 at Papendorp.

The first permanent fort was erected in Table Bay. To protect the settlement from an attack from the sea, a series of coastal batteries was erected along the beach from Papendorp (now Woodstock) westwards as far as Green Point. To repulse an attack from the rear, Hout Bay was fortified and a line of forts built from Fort Knokke at Papendorp to the Windberg (Devil’s Peak).In Papendorp also stands the ancient milkwood tree and it was here that the Treaty of Blouberg was signed.