The history of our town - Our own blockhouse, "a curious hybrid"

We previously described the historical connection between our town and the Langkloof in the Eastern Cape where Coenraad de Buys was born. Click HERE to access. Buyskop, approximately five kilometres from Bela-Bela on the way to Modimolle, is named after him. In this article we shall explore the link between Bela-Bela and Noupoort. 

In 1900 Lord Kitchener succeeded Lord Roberts as commander-in-chief of the British forces in South Africa during the second Anglo-Boer War. He soon became the driving force behind actions designed by Roberts to weaken Boer resistance: bur-ning their farms, destroying their livestock and herding their women and children into concentration camps.

Lord Kitchener

By the way, the Times History of the War observed that this policy had “nothing to recommend it and no other measure aroused such deep and lasting resentment. [It] was the least happy of Lord Roberts’ inspirations and must plainly be set down as a serious error of judgment … “

Kitchener decreed that blockhouses should also be erected from January 1901 onwards to protect the railway lines from marauding Boer guerrilla fighters. Near important bridges they were substantial stone-built structures, but for the most part their walls were of double-skinned corrugated iron filled with earth and gravel and pierced by loopholes. These were deemed sufficient as the Boer guerrillas were only armed with rifles.

An example of a corrugated iron blockhouse

The blockhouse system, which played such a large part in the conclusion of military operations in South Africa in 1902, is shown on the map below.

The blockhouse system shown here as dots on a relief map

By the end of the war some 8 000 blockhouses had been erected, providing the links in almost 6 000 km. of fortifications.

One of the original stone-built blockhouses is to be found in Bela-Bela at the vehicle testing grounds in the industrial area. Its purpose was to protect the railway station.

Our blockhouse formed part of the line of blockhouses from Noupoort to Polokwane, a distance of almost 1 000 km. Today it is a national monument and, until recently, regarded as one of the best preserved in the country.

Map showing the distance from Noupoort to Polokwane. Our town is about 100 km north of Pretoria

In an excellent article (see http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol106rt.html) about the blockhouse system, Richard Tomlinson describes our specimen as a “curious hybrid”.  Most of the other stone-built blockhouses were three-storey structures. Ours was originally two-storeyed with two loopholes in each wall on the ground floor and a first floor entrance facing the railway line. At roof level there were crenellated pa-rapets 1,8 m high. The parapets were later extended upwards and a pyramidical corrugated roof, as well as a weather vane, were added.

Our very own blockhouse