Colesberg is a town with 17,354 inhabitants in the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi ...

province of South Africa, located on the main N1 road from

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second larges ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

. In a sheep-farming area spread over half-a-million hectares, greater Colesberg breeds many of the country's top merinos. It is also renowned for producing high-quality racehorses and many stud farms, including one owned by renowned golfer, Gary Player, are nearby.

History

Founded in 1830 on an abandoned station of the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational m ...

, and initially named Toverberg after a nearby hill, it was renamed Colesberg after Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole, then Governor of the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with t ...

. The site of the town lay on one of the well-travelled routes used by traders, hunters and explorers to gain access to the interior. Towerberg or Coleskop is a prominent hill near the town and a landmark easily seen from a distance by travellers. Colesberg saw a large number of battles and skirmishes during the second Anglo-Boer War, and the Colesberg Garden of Remembrance is located just outside the town. A number of 1820 Settlers established farms in the Colesberg district. Outnumbered as a religious group, some attended the Methodist Church and others the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family a ...

, where services in English were specially held for them. Anglican officials in

appointed Dr CEH Orpen as rector and the first services were conducted in the Court House and the London Mission Chapel, which became known as St Stephen's Church. In 1852 the construction of the Anglican Christ Church was started, having been designed by Sophy Gray, wife of the Cape Town bishop Robert Gray. The Colesberg Bank was founded in 1861. Michael Davitt wrote while documenting the

Second 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 ...

, that the previous generation noted the village as a rendezvous for hunters and diamond miners.

Past residents

* Hennie Bingle, rector of the PUK * General Piet Cronje, a South African general in both the Anglo-Boer wars. *

Danie du Plessis Daniël Hendrik Celliers du Plessis (12 March 1898 – 13 July 1981) was the Head of the South African Railways and co-founder of The Afrikaner Broederbond. Roots and education Du Plessis was born on 12 March 1898 in Colesberg, Cape Colony. He wa ...

, Head of the South African Railways & co-founder of The Afrikaner

Broederbond The Afrikaner Broederbond (AB) or simply the Broederbond was an exclusively Afrikaner Calvinist and male secret society in South Africa dedicated to the advancement of the Afrikaner people. It was founded by H. J. Klopper, H. W. van der Merw ...

* Frans du Toit, a South African Economist, and Trade Commissioner. *

Ricardo Loubscher Ricardo Ian Peter Loubscher, born 11 June 1974 in Colesberg (South Africa), is former a South African rugby union player, who played for South Africa 4 times between 2002 and 2003, his last coming during the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He played for the S ...

, South Africa national rugby union team player & rugby coach * Zamani Saul, Premier of the Northern Cape * Nicolaas Theunissen, South African Test cricketer

Cityscape

Architecture

The town boasts many buildings that were built in a blend of Cape Dutch and Georgian architecture with ceilings of reed, and yellowwood timbers, and others that display a range of designs reflecting the changes of 19th century building. Originally plots were pegged out and sold on the site of the town to fund the building of the

Dutch Reformed The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family ...

church.

Society and culture

Museums, monuments and memorials

A large number of

Heritage Sites A national heritage site is a heritage site having a value that has been registered by a governmental agency as being of national importance to the cultural heritage or history of that country. Usually such sites are listed in a heritage regist ...

registered with the South African Heritage Resources Agency are located in Colesberg.

Economy

Farming in the area is dedicated almost entirely to horses and

merino The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the bree ...

sheep. While in a sheep-farming area spread over half-a-million hectares, greater Colesberg breeds many of the country's top merinos. Colesberg is renowned for producing high-quality

racehorse Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic ...

s and many stud farms, including one owned by legendary golfer, Gary Player, are nearby. The

ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds of the genus ''Struthio'' in the order Struthioniformes, part of the infra-class Palaeognathae, a diverse group of flightless birds also known as ratites that includes the emus, rheas, and kiwis. There a ...

-feather boom of the early 1900s, which left many farmers rich, is long forgotten. The town has a thriving tourism industry, in part because it represents a rough halfway point between Johannesburg and Cape Town. There is a hotel, a

motel A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central lobby. Entering dictionaries ...

, and many guest houses and B&Bs around town, most having restaurants and pubs on-site. Several

guest farm Guest or The Guest may refer to: * A person who is given hospitality * Guest (surname), people with the surname ''Guest'' * USS ''Guest'' (DD-472), U.S. Navy ''Fletcher''-class destroyer 1942–1946 * Guest appearance, guest actor, guest star, e ...

s operate in the district offering accommodation with 4x4 trails, mountain bike trails, game hunting (mainly springbok, wildebeest and blesbok) and bird watching. Three major service stations with on-site shops, restaurants and toilet facilities are located on the N1 at Colesberg. Small industries are located in town, including a sheep abattoir, a factory which makes a range of furniture to order and a panel beater. The Doornkloof Nature Reserve is located near Colesberg on the confluence of the Orange and Seekoei Rivers.

References

External links

Colesberg South AfricaColesberg site
{{Authority control Populated places in the Umsombomvu Local Municipality Populated places established in 1830 Karoo 1830 establishments in the Cape Colony