Oorspronklike plaas opstal

The original homestead of Van der Bylskraal.

Merweville was founded on the farm Van der Bylskraal, which Jacobus Johannes Le Sueur van der Byl owned. This is the original farmstead, built in 1887. However, the map and conveyance were only received in 1902.

The first religious services in the Koup were held in this homestead. A few children were also baptized here. Van der Byl was also the local justice of the peace. Part of the homestead served as a prison. During the Anglo-Boer War, a Boer commando had some kind of dispute with Van der Byl and then locked him in his own prison and drove away with the key.

Van der Byl died on 1 January 1904, and the farm was sold at a foreclosure auction to the newly established Dutch Reformed Church for £4500 with the aim of dividing the farm into town plots. With the transfer of the farm to the Dutch Reformed Church, there were already about ten buildings or single rooms on the farm.

The original farm included the present-day farms Mooileegte, Koch se Dam, Dappersfontein, and part of Bokrivier, and it was 9 449 acres in size.

Behind the house are still the original stone kraals and the dipping trough for his animals.

The house is still inhabited today. 

Information provided by: Leef Merweville Raak