Wepener is a town in the Free State,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

, located near the border of

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked as an enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the highest mountains in Southern Africa. It has an area of over and has a population ...

History

The town is named after

Louw Wepener Lourens Jacobus (Louw) Wepener was born on 21 July 1812. He was the son of a German immigrant – Frederick Jacobus Wepener – and a Cape Colony woman – Johanna Maria Erasmus. Wepener was born in Graaf-Reinet and lived with his uncle – Louren ...

, the leader of the

Boers Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled this a ...

in their war with the

Basotho The Sotho () people, also known as the Basuto or Basotho (), are a Bantu nation native to southern Africa. They split into different ethnic groups over time, due to regional conflicts and colonialism, which resulted in the modern Basotho, who ...

chief

Moshoeshoe I Moshoeshoe I () ( – 11 March 1870) was the first king of Lesotho. He was the first son of Mokhachane, a minor chief of the Bamokoteli lineage, a branch of the Koena (crocodile) clan. In his youth, he helped his father gain power over so ...

in 1865. It was founded in 1867 on the banks of Jammersbergspruit, a tributary of the

Caledon River The Caledon River ( st, Mohokare) is a major river located in central South Africa. Its total length is , rising in the Drakensberg Mountains on the Lesotho border, flowing southwestward and then westward before joining the Orange River near Beth ...

. The Jammerberg (Mountain of Sorrow) towers over the village. Louw Wepener was killed on 15 August 1865 while trying to storm Moshoeshoe's stronghold of

Thaba Bosiu Thaba Bosiu is a sandstone plateau with an area of approximately and a height of 1,804 meters above sea level. It is located between the Orange and Caledon Rivers in the Maseru District of Lesotho, 24 km east of the country's capital Maseru. ...

. One of the local schools is also named after him. Wepener was the southernmost of several settlements founded by the Free Staters in the "conquered territories" to prevent the Basotho from resettling the land taken from them during the war of 1865. The Dutch Reformed parish was established in 1870 and the town was granted its first management board in 1875. The beautiful sandstone Dutch Reformed church was designed by a Welsh architect. The design of the church reflected his heritage – the Prince of Wales's feathers adorn the steeple. During the

Anglo-Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

, a British and

n colonial garrison of 2000 men under

Colonel E. H. Dalgety Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

was besieged by the Boer commandos under the command of General Christiaan de Wet at

Jammers drift Jammer may refer to: Signal blocking devices * Radar jammer, a device used in radar jamming and deception * Radio jammer, a device used in radio jamming * Radio-controlled Improvised Explosive Device jammer, a counter-IED device * Mobile phone ...

on the Caledon River. The

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...

lasted 17 days, until reinforcements arrived on 25 April 1900 to end the battle in favour of the British. The district of Wepener was the scene of many battles, raids and skirmishes during the 19th century. Many graves, mostly without identification, still exist as reminders of the events in the valley of Jammerbergspruit during this stormy period.

Present

Today the town is a commercial center for a 1,725 square km district where mixed farming is practised. Farming activities include cattle and sheep ranching, dairy farming and the cultivation of wheat and maize. There are two hotels in Wepener, The Wepener Hotel and the Lord Fraser's Guest House. Lord Fraser's was the summer residence of Lord Ian Fraser of Lonsdale. He was the chairman of the board of the once powerful retail business, Frasers, in Lesotho. The Fleetwood Country Inn is situated about 5 miles outside the town. There are leisure facilities at the nearby Knelpoort and Welbedacht dams. Other facilities in the village include various general stores, builders merchant, sports club, furniture stores, butchery, 2 banks, doctors surgeries, post office, fuel stations, police station and Magistrate's Court.

References

External links

Southern Africa Places:Wepener
{{Xhariep District Municipality Populated places established in 1875 Populated places in Mangaung Populated places founded by Afrikaners 1875 establishments in Africa