Fish Hoek, Cape Town

Fish Hoek Vishoek
An aerial photograph of Fish Hoek
Fish Hoek Show map of Western Cape Fish Hoek Show map of South Africa Fish Hoek Show map of Africa  Fish Hoek shown within Western Cape
Location within Cape Town  Fish Hoek
Coordinates: 34°08′10″S 18°25′48″E / 34.136°S 18.430°E / -34.136; 18.430Coordinates: 34°08′10″S 18°25′48″E / 34.136°S 18.430°E / -34.136; 18.430
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
Municipality	City of Cape Town
Established	1660
Area
• Total	13.45 km2 (5.19 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	11,890
• Density	880/km2 (2,300/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
• Black African	9.7%
• Coloured	5.1%
• Indian/Asian	1.2%
• White	82.2%
• Other	1.9%
First languages (2011)
• English	83.0%
• Afrikaans	12.6%
• Other	4.4%
Postal code (street)	7975
PO box	7974

Fish Hoek (Afrikaans: Vishoek, meaning either Fish Corner or Fish Glen) is a coastal town at the eastern end of the Fish Hoek Valley on the False Bay side of the Cape Peninsula in Cape Town, South Africa. Previously a separate municipality, Fish Hoek is now part of the City of Cape Town. As a coastal suburb of Cape Town, Fish Hoek is popular as a residence for commuters, retired people and holidaymakers alike. The traditional industries of 'trek' fishing and angling coexist with the leisure pursuits of surfing, sailing and sunbathing.

Fish Hoek, Vissers Baay or Visch Hoek appears on the earliest maps of the Cape.

Fish Hoek beach was used on an informal basis for whaling and fishing, but it was not until 1918 that it was laid out as a township. Diplomat Edmund Roberts visited Fish Hoek in 1833. He described it as a "poor village" with a whaling industry.

The first grant of Crown land in Fish Hoek was granted to Andries Bruins in 1818. The land was sold several times before being bought by Hester Sophia de Kock in 1883. She was then a spinster of 51 years old. In 1901, late in life, she married a local farmer, one Jacob Isaac de Villiers, who came to live with her on the farm. Although she farmed wheat and vegetables, she started providing accommodation for people who wanted to stay in Fish Hoek, and so became the first local tourist entrepreneur. Having realized that Fish Hoek was becoming popular, she left instructions in her will that the farm was to be surveyed and the land sold as building plots.

After the deaths of Hester and Jacob, the land was sold off, the first sale taking place in 1918. The oldest house on the bay, now named Uitkyk, was bought as a fisherman's cottage in 1918 by the Mossop family of Mossop Leathers, and is still in the Mossop family. There had been a building on that site since the 1690s; a poshuis or post house and a whaling station office is all that is known of its history.

This was the beginning of the town of Fish Hoek. Initially people built holiday cottages, but as there was a good train service to Cape Town a more permanent community soon arose. By 1940 it was big enough to be declared a municipality and was administered by the Town Council until 1996. Hester and Isaac de Villiers, with other members of their family, are buried in the small graveyard next to the NG Kerk (Dutch Reformed Church) in Kommetjie Road. The farmhouse on the site of the present Homestead Naval Mess near the railway crossing became a hotel. The original building subsequently burned down in 1947.