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- His tombstone indicates his birth as being 21 April 1791 (Tessa King and Cemetery Recording CD from the GSSA ) - Pringles of the Valleys has his dob as 21 April 1787.
John and his brother Thomas started their farm in Eildon which they were allocated as part of the 1820 Settlers scheme. As Grant's party from Scotland decided to go to America rather than South Africa, and the sinking of the Aboena due to fire with loss of almost all the emigrant settler passengers, a lot of the surrounding farm land was not taken up by those potential settlers. The Pringles therefore had the opportunity to acquire more land to expand their farming enterprises. John did not get on with his younger brother, and went to assist Robert Hart in running the Somerset Government farm, and to learn the 'tricks' of farming in South Africa from Robert Hart. It was while he was there, that he met Susan Parr nee Stretch, a recent widow, and sister of Charles Lennox Stretch who had married Robert Hart's eldest daughter, Anna.
Herald, date unknown.
Settler family angry as home consigned rubble history
by Andrew Unsworth
Glenthorn, an 1820 Settler farmhouse in the Eastern Cape which belonged to the PRINGLE family for more than 150 years, is destined for demolition.
The loss of the home seven years ago upset surviving members of the prominent family, but it could disappear forever as the new owner cannot afford to keep it standing.
The National Monuments Council regards the house as historic but can do little to save it as it was never declared a national monument - a step that can be taken only with the owner's consent.
The farm was established north of Adelaide, Eastern Cape in 1824 by John PRINGLE, one of four brothers who led the 1820 British settlers, on land granted to him by Lord Charles SOMERSET. His brother, Thomas, went on to tackle the colonial authorities over the settlers' plight by founding a newspaper in Cape Town. His name is still linked to the freedom of the press in South Africa.
Built in 1841, the house was burnt to the ground and rebuilt three times in the frontier wars between the settlers and Xhosas. It was spared only after two women related to a chief were allowed to settle on the farm. Although it was altered and extended over the years, it remained in the PRINGLE family until it was sold by Errol PRINGLE seven years ago to settle debts.
The controversial sale left bitter divisions. One of Errol's brothers, Crighton PRINGLE of Bedford, said talk of the home in which he grew up opened old wounds and he was not prepared to discuss it. Another brother, Denzil PRINGLE of Grahamstown, was resigned to the house's fate. "One has to forget the past, but I would love to see it kept as a national monument."
The present owner, Louw DE BEER, lives on an adjoining farm, 'Marshall Vale', also once owned by a branch of the PRINGLE family. He has spent thousands on restoring the turn-of-the-century farm house, but the older homestead on Glenthorn has stood abandoned. "It's been vandalised and would cost too much to restore," he said. "I use and maintain the outbuildings, but the house has no economic use in a remote area like this. "One is sad to do it but there is really no choice."
The farm is in the heart of "settler country", nestling in a valley of the Winterberg mountains. Today, the house stands in what was once a magnificent garden. Its large rooms are long empty, save for stray sheep droppings, and the billiards room is marked only by a rectangle cut in the floor for the table. Pages of the family history, 'The Pringles of the Valley', lie scattered in what was once the study of Eric PRINGLE, its author and the father of the last owner.
The outbuildings served as a fort in the Frontier Wars and the window openings are angled to facilitate defensive gunfire. Nearby is a chapel built in 1840 by John PRINGLE and surrounded by the graves of generations of PRINGLEs. It's a national monument.
The demise of an old farmhouse is nothing new on the platteland. Ironically, the relics of pre-colonial human settlements have been protected by law since 1911, but buildings put up since 1652 were not, unless they were declared monuments. A relatively unknown clause of the National Monuments Act has, since 1986, extended some protection to any building more than 50 years old. But the National Monuments Council says the law is so wide that it is dependent on local authorities to refer sensitive cases to it. Many do, but the "50-year clause" has never really been applied and many suburban renovators are breaking the law.
Brian JACKSON, Eastern Cape head of the National Monuments Council, was horrified to hear of Glenthorn's planned demolition, but was not prepared to comment until he had seen the house. His intervention is all that stands between Glenthorn and the demolisher's hammer.
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