The history of Alphen dates back to the early 18th century, when five morgen and 200 square roods of garden land were granted to one Theunis van Schalkwyk by the VOC. Over the next 50 years, more land was added until, in 1765, it was consolidated into a single property some 16 morgen in extent, under the ownership of Johannes Kirsten. In 1780, it became the property of Focke Hendricks, passing to his sister Elizabeth and her third husband Pieter de Waal in 1793. After their deaths in 1802, Alphen became the property of the Dreyer family and the estate grew to some 300 morgen.
Hendrik Oostwald Dreyer lost the estate to

his brother-in-law Johannes Albertus Munnik in 1850; Munnik in turn sold it to Dirk Cloete. Alphen has remained in Cloete family hands for over 150 years and today is owned by The Alphen Trust whose trustees administer the Estate for the Cloete family. Alphen has not only survived, but triumphed,

over both adversity and time, and it is only fitting that in choosing an emblem to represent the estate, Nicky and Dudley Cloete-Hopkins selected the salamander – a mythological creature that endures fire untouched – to stand guard over Alphen today and for centuries to come.