
Addo Drift was the first convenient natural crossing of the Sunday's River to be encountered inland from the sea, and was frequently used by visitors travelling from the coast into the South African interior. A military post was erected there in about 1815, and in 1823 its land was granted to William Wright, a land speculator who had arrived at the Cape Colony in 1820.
Sometime between 1823 and 1830 he used the site to build the Zondags River Inn, probably using the foundations of the old post. In 1832 he sold the inn to Joseph Hubbard who, in his turn, sold it to Samuel Webber in 1837.
Webber already owned the Wayside Inn on the opposite side of the river. The property then changed hands at least three more times until it was purchased by Edward Tunbridge in 1848. By this time it was known as the Elephant and Castle, and remained in the hands of the Tunbridge family until 1905. In time the inn became known as "Tunbridge's",
By Franco Frescura