In 1995, an informal cemetery was found around Cobern Street that was used in the 1750s and into the nineteenth century. 120 individuals were excavated by archaeologists. One individual carried a broken buoy to chain hands or legs. Dr. Linda Mbebi dedicated her dissertation to this cemetery, using both colonial history, archaeology, and chemical analysis to gain insight into the people buried at this site and other nearby sites. More than half of the people buried here were migrants in the Cape Colony. Nearby was the Old Somerset Hospital, which cared for the poor and enslaved. Research showed that the men buried here came from more different places around the world than the women. Nearby cemeteries included the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront and Fort Knokke. In the latter place, they found young, enslaved people who went from Mozambique to Brazil and were stranded along the Cape coast.

Sources

• Humphreys, Robyn; Schasiepen, Sophie; Burnett, Andri; Moretlwe, Tshiamo & Makheta, Mamello. (2024). Prestwich Street Burial Ground: Memory Contestations in Cape Town. [podcast] https://open.spotify.com/episode/28j504hqdTe0YZFGB495ww?si=aQhcqVZLQ3mYA0iL0YSyVA&nd=1&dlsi=7a99b9d0a5734405.
• Mbeki, Linda. (2018). Building Life Histories of Cape Town’s Enslaved, 1700-1850. An Archival and Isotopic Study. Unpublished PhD thesis. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
• Weeder, Michael Ian. (2006). The Palaces of Memory. A Reconstruction of District One, Cape Town, Before and After the Group Areas Act. Unpublished MA dissertation. University of the Western Cape.