Bellville, Western Cape

It was founded as "12 Mile Post" (Afrikaans: "12-Myl-Pos") because it is located 12 miles (20 km) from Cape Town city centre. It was first known as "Hardekraaltjie". Founded as a railway station on the line from Cape Town to Stellenbosch and Strand, it was renamed Bellville in 1861 after the surveyor-general Charles Bell. The motor registration number bears the number CY.

12-mile stone

The Karl Bremer Hospital Hospital functioned as the Academic Hospital for the University of Stellenbosch Medical School, but now the adjacent Tygerberg Hospital houses the medical school. Other hospitals in Bellville are: Mediclinic International Louis Leipoldt and Melomed.[2] The Cape Peninsula University of Technology, University of the Western Cape, University of Stellenbosch Business School and Northlink College are also situated in Bellville. D.F. Malan High School, Bellville High School, Westcliff School of Skills, The Settlers High School and Stellenberg High School are located in the area. Primary Schools are: Bellpark,[3] Bellville, Bellville-North, Boston, Eversdal,[4] Excelsior, Kenridge,[5] Mimosa, Totius,[6] Belville Islamic Primary School, Vredelust and Welgemoed.

The Bellville Velodrome is located in the Tyger Valley area of Bellville. The Bellville Velodrome has an indoor cycling track and is next to the Bellville athletics track that used to host the annual MTBS athletics competition. Bellville Mall,[7] Tygervalley Shopping centre[8] and Willow Bridge[9] are shopping centres in Bellville. The last two shopping centres were built on the grounds that used to be a quarry and a jail.

Bellville Library 2018

Sanlam's head office is also located in Strand Road, Bellville.

Other sports an entertainment includes: Bellville Golf Course,[10] Bellville library,[11] Bellville swimming pool[12] , Cool runnings,[13] Jack Muller Danie Uys Park[14] (The Parkrun in Bellville is done here) and PP Smit Sport fields[15]

The head office of the Bible society of South Africa is situated in the city[16]

Tygerberg Nature Reserve is just above Welgemoed, one of Bellville's suburbs.

Suburbs that form part of Bellville are: Amanda Glen, Belhar, Bellair, Bellville South, Beroma, Bloemhof, Blommendal, Blomtuin, Bosbell, Boston, Chrismar, De la Haye, Door de Kraal, Eversdal Glenhaven, Greenlands, Groenvallei, Heemstede, Hoheizen, Kanonberg, Kenridge, La Rochelle, Labiance, Loevenstein, Mimosa, Oakdale, Oakglen, Oude Westhof, Protea Valley, Ridgeworth, Rosendal, Stellenberg, Stellenridge, Stellenryk, Stikland, Tygerberg Hills, van Riebeeckshof, Vredelust, Vredenburg and Welgemoed.

The town was a constituency in the Cape Peninsula, Cape Town, Cape Province in the South African House of Assembly starting in 1933. The first elected member was FHP Creswell (b. 13 November 1866, d. 28 August 1948).[17][18] In 1939 it was not a constituency any more. In 1953 it regained constituency status and JFW Haak won. Haak retained this until 1970, when Louis Pienaar took over from him. In 1975 AT van der Merwe took over from him.[19]

Bellville was a municipality from 1940 to 1996, and was given the status of a city on 7 September 1979.

Bellville civic coat of arms

The municipal council assumed a coat of arms on 18 June 1947.[24] It later altered the arms, three times, before settling on the final version in 1979. The shield was divided into twelve horizontal bars of red and gold, representing the original village name of "Twaalfmyl". A black vertical band ("pale") down the centre displayed two silver hawk's bells, between which was a small blue shield displaying a golden sheaf of wheat. The crest was a black eagle, and the motto Prendre sa belle. Some time later, the blue shield was removed, and the wheatsheaf was placed directly on the black pale. In 1957, the wheatsheaf was replaced with a third hawk's bell. This version of the arms, re-drawn by Ivan Mitford-Barberton, was registered with the Cape Provincial Administration in February 1959.[25]

The final version of the arms, as amended by Cornelis Pama in 1979, replaced the hawk's bells with church bells.[26] In this form, the arms were registered at the Bureau of Heraldry in February 1980.[27] The registered blazon was : Barry of twelve Gules and Or, on a pale Sable three church bells Argent.

• In May 2007, Meg Ryan and William H. Macy completed the last day of photography for their movie, The Deal, at the Bellville Civic Centre.
• The novel 2 Dae in Mei (English: 2 Days in May) by Jaco Fouché takes place in Bellville.[28]

• Bellville Directory
• University of the Western Cape
• Bellville Business Directory