THIS year marks the 175th anniversary of the founding of Verulam, a town located some 30km to the north of Durban. It was the third settlement, after Durban and Pietermaritzburg, to be established in the former British Colony of Natal.
In the same way that indentured workers left in search of new opportunities to grow colonial empires, European Settlers spurred on by the potato famine and poverty in the United Kingdom drove several settlers to colonial Natal in 1820.
By 1849, William Josiah Irons initiated the Wesleyan Settler Movement in Verulam, with the leader of the Wesleyan Settlers, Thomas Champeon, from the market town St Albans with the Roman name of Verulamium in Hertfordshire, England, officially raising the flag of Verulam. The flag bore the name “VERULAM” in bold letters of gold emblazoned on a dark blue background.
This historic act signified that the town of Verulam was officially established on the south bank of the Umdhloti river on March 13, 1850. The choice of the site was the present recreation grounds area in Verulam, a hill overlooking what in those days was probably a marsh, just like the site in St Albans, in the United Kingdom.
Just over a year after the settlers arrived, Verulam’s first chapel (wattle-and-daub under thatch) was built, being the first erected "beyond the bounds of D’Urban and Pietermaritzburg".
It drew its congregation from the 52 families comprising 152 individuals, who occupied 23 houses in the township. Within the first year, the town’s 50 allotments of one acre each had been brought more or less under cultivation. Besides a variety of vegetables and maize, the settlers owned 200 cattle and 80 pigs in a thriving peri-urban settlement.
All the activity caused an influx of Indians to Verulam, which offered them the tranquility and security necessary for their personal growth and development. The Indian population increased from 273 in 1890 to 22 801 in 1987. The majority of the immigrants in the 1860-1866 period were allocated to employers along the coastal belt, from Verulam to Umzinto, where they were in demand as agricultural labourers on estates which, at that time, were growing a variety of crops while experimenting with growing various types of sugar cane.
Set amid lush sugar cane fields, Verulam has always been an active town, and is even more so today. While it is a commercial centre for the outlying rural areas, its importance lies in it being the centre of the magisterial district of Inanda. The recent addition of a five-story complex to the existing magistrate’s court shows how important the town is considered to be in judicial circles.
Verulam’s other attraction is its morning market. Farming operations around Verulam are not only concentrated on the growing of sugar cane. Many farmers and market gardeners also engage in producing cash crops, which are sold at the morning market on market days (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays) when thousands of people, even from Durban and surrounding areas, flock to the market attracted by the freshness of the produce and low prices.
The present Market Plaza, built many years ago, replaced the old market on Groom Street. After standing empty for several years, the old market was demolished, and the land was used to extend the adjacent park, which had been developed into an indentured worker monument to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the founding of Verulam.
Jaysingh Surujbullee Singh, is the President: 1860 Indentured Labourers Foundation and Verulam Shree Gopal Lal Hindu Temple Trust.
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.