By the middle of the 19th century, especially after the arrival of the railway line, Woodstock had become a fashionable seaside suburb with cottages next to the sea and a beach which stretched until the Castle of Good Hope.

Ease of access to the harbour; improved transport; increased industrialisation and a rapidly growing working class population meant that the massive demand for supplies from the British troops during the First and Second Anglo-Boer Wars (1881 and 1899-1902) could be met, and industrial activity flourished, permanently changing the nature of the suburb.

Woodstock however managed to remain integrated during Apartheid and survived being declared a ‘whites only’ area with the attendant forced removals and demolition of houses as happened in nearby District Six.

Restaurants, media and other businesses, offices, shops and furniture showrooms have sprung up in converted and revamped warehouses, abandoned buildings and even a disused Castle Brewery.

[4]The Woodstock municipal council adopted a pseudo-heraldic coat of arms, designed by Mr St Vincent Cripps, in February 1892.