BRTISH FORTS ON KOSMOS MOUNTAIN AND KOMMANDONEK In June 1901 the Lincolnshires built blockhouses, five in all, on Kalkheuvel guarding the entrance to the route through to the Moot, followed by another one at ‘Orange Grove’ (019) on the hill overlooking the farm Klipfontein guarding the exit into the Moot. Much time and effort at
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The following report on the battle of Silkaats Neck by prof Ian Copley, is mainly based on research in British military archives. In the afternoon of the 7th July 1900 the Royal Scots Greys, who were at Derdepoort (between Pretoria and Waterval), started for Silkaats nek to relieve the 1500 men and two batteries at
Saartjiesneck lies in the Witwatersberg range, south of the dam and is the main gateway to the Hartebeespoortdam area. This mountain range is a smaller resemblance to the Magaliesberg, with the same general rock formations. The name “Saartjiesneck” could have one of several origins. One explanation is that it is an Afrikaans distortion of “Seargent’s
Magaliesberg (historically also known as the Cashan Mountains) is a mountain range extending west and north from Pretoria to just south of Pilanesberg and extending for some 50 km east of Pretoria where it peters out just south of Bronkhorstspruit. The highest point of the Magaliesberg is reached at Nooitgedacht (1 852 metres) 25.8583°S 27.530°E.
The greatest single event in the history of the area was the building of the Hartbeespoort Dam. The first dam in the valley between the Magalies Mountain and Witwatersrand (south of the Dam) was build by General Hendrik Schoeman in 1898 and called Sophia Dam, named after his wife. Unfortunately, the engineer who designed the
Hartbeespoort, situated about 50km northwest of Johannesburg, is snuggled on the slopes of the Magalies Mountain and the banks of Hartbeespoort Dam. The name of the valley means “gateway of the Hartebeest (also known as Kongoni - Scientific name: Alcelaphus buselaphus)”. Hartbeespoort is the collective name of a few smaller towns situated around the