TAKE A HOLIDAY BY VISITING INTERESTING LOCAL PLACES

Mariannhill Monastery Coins

Mariannhill Monastery Coins

Mariannhill Monastery Coins

A very old coin was dug up there

Ancient old coin found close to the surface

Mariannhill Monastery Church

A few months ago I took an overseas visitor to our local Mariannhill Monastery, situated close to my home. I’ve made arrangements to visit their very interesting Museum, where I took some photographs of a coin that was dug up years ago which was found very close to the surface of the soil.
I secretly believed that a sailor walking on the KZN beach must have dropped it there by accident there. I have the feeling that many years ago Pinetown and surrounding areas were the then KZN beaches and the other low-lying areas of Durban were covered by the sea, as I have found over the years whilst digging in my garden, shells usually found on beaches there.

If anyone is visiting me from another area, I like to take my visitor to the Mariannhill Monastery, which has many interesting sites to see and a few enjoyable hours can be spent there for very little monetary outlay. This short trip to the Monastery also reduces my carbon footprint as well. My frugal tip is to become a local tour guide to your visitors or family visiting you by first getting to know your town/city well enough to make it interesting to your visitors too.

Comments for
TAKE A HOLIDAY BY VISITING INTERESTING LOCAL PLACES
Mariannhill Monastery size Property
by: Natalie Rowles

I’ve heard from one of the tour guides that the Mariannhill Monastery’s property size stretched far and beyond the size of it is today.

My home is standing on part of that previous large site and I feel proud that it could have been part and parcel of the Mariannhill Monastery’s garden perhaps, feeding the poor in the area, perhaps having mealies growing on it?

If I dig deeper in my garden, what else besides the old coin discovered there, would I find in my own backyard? I’ve dug a very narrow 2 foot deep hole to try to find water, years ago, and I did found water at that depth, but never sank a borehole yet, as I thought it could have just been seepage water.
I also found smaller pieces of sharp quarts (flint) type “hand tools” perhaps from the stone-age era as I used these to cut into potatoes etc. and your fingers fit nicely into the grooves. Over the years these “tools” mysteriously disappeared from my tiny collection too, probably thrown away as Natalie’s junk!
(Shells were also discovered at that depth too.)

When we bought the newly built house 46 years ago, my next door neighbour said she was so sorry to see the huge avocado pear tree bearing big and tasty avos, being chopped down when building started on this house. The lounge was apparently also a milking parlour as well, being demolished too, making space for this house.

When we built the granny flat onto our home, we discovered lots of pipes (drainage?) criss-crossing the area, as well as water underneath it.

The municipal park has cement foundation floors used for two or three rondavels still visible today. So it must have been all on the same property. The next road close to my home is called Salt River Road, making me wonder if a river ran close or underneath my property too?
Even today we still get the original little cherry tomatoes popping up everywhere – so it could have been a tomato farm as well. There is a stream running further down a road close to my property too.

It would be interesting to find an old map of the Mariannhill Monastery, to see how far it stretched and what else was dug up over the years.