Petrus Gerhardus Lourens

The longest owners of Klippe Rivier were the Lourens family, who owned the farm for 60 years. P G Lourens bought the farm in 1914 for £2000, and acquired the homestead with 126 morgen, now less than one tenth of the original size farm that Marthinus Steyn had acquired in 1816. They made many farming improvements in the 1920's (see extract below), and in 1922 Dorothea Fairbridge recalls in her book, "Historic Houses of South Africa" her visit to Swellendam, which cleverly illustrates the success of P G Lourens as a farmer: "From Glen Barry we drove back through the long streets of old houses to the other side of Swellendam, where standing out white against the green of the hill, was the homestead of Klip Rivier, a fine house with thatched roof and unspoilt windows, yellow-wood floors and ceilings, and a very unusual gable above the entrance. There is a smiling air over the landscape, from the pink tobacco plantations, pink with blossom, to the ostriches feeding in the rich green of the lucerne fields, ostrich feathers and dop brandy are two of the chief industries of the neighbourhood." P G Lourens died in 1961 and his son inherited the farm, but battled to maintain it, and was forced to sell in 1977. Sadly, the land was again divided and sold off, one being the section in front of the manor house which is now farmed successfully by Farmer Lourens (same surname but no relation to the owners of Klippe Rivier). Several other parcels of land were sold leaving the manor house with only a small piece of land, 24.5 hectares which is a far cry from the original land grant of 1201 hectares (2968 acres) in 1833.