I have posted a lot of information about Sir William Hoy and just want to tell you about an event that happened last Thursday, 22 March 2018.  Hoy’s grave was an attraction from the start, as can be seen in the image of massed flowers on his grave not long after his burial. Unfortunately the grave also attracted vandals and has been damaged several times. Any metal inscription has been stolen.

In 2017 this happened again and the damage was more extensive than before. The Hermanus History Society was asked to supervise the repairs. This involved moving the granite headstone which gave an opportunity to look into the grave: see the image of the repair crew and myself looking into the grave.

We knew that explosives had been used to create a hole for the grave. But we did not expect to see a concrete lining to the hole nor that the coffin had been placed at the bottom of this box and sea sand used to fill up the box. Everything needed to create the grave had to be carried up the Koppie by hand. An engineer has estimated the sea sand alone weighed 20 tonnes.

Repairs are now complete and the new inscriptions are in place as two images show.

Robin Lee                                                                             Photos: Angela Heslop