Page 25 - Cornwall 3 2021

HISTORY

uring the South African War of the railway bridge, at Aloe Koppie, soldiers on sentry duty involved in this
of 1899-1902, the British and on the highest hill in the vicinity, strategy, a smaller, more affordable
army was faced with the later to become known as Cornwall unit that could be easily produced, was
Dproblem of transporting Hill. Blockhouses were built at each of called for. The answer was provided by
troops and supplies over distances these sites. In the document History Major Rice of the Royal Engineers, who
stretching some 800-1200 km. The of Cornwall Hill during the 20th Century reduced the concept of a blockhouse
most effective way was by means of by the late DG van der Byl, the author to a simple cylindrical drum topped by
the newly developed railway system. states that “Nothing of the blockhouses a corrugated iron roof and surrounded
The railway infrastructure proved to remains”. I was saddened to read this at its base by a circular wall of stones
be very vulnerable to attack by Boer and resigned myself to not finding or sandbags. The inner tower was
commandos and, to protect it from any traces of the blockhouses, but created by placing two corrugated iron
the threat of Boer attacks, the British as it turned out, the elusive Cornwall water tanks of differing diameters, one
began to deploy men as sentries to blockhouse was not yet done with me. within the other, and filling the space
guard key railway points and bridges. between them with stones and earth.
At first the men on sentry duty lived in Wood’s design served the guarding
either army tents or in corrugated iron of the railway infrastructure very well, While some of the Boer leadership, such
sheds provided by the railways. These but it became too expensive and as General Christiaan de Wet, were openly
structures offered little protection time-consuming to build when the dismissive of the blockhouse policy,
CORNWALL HILL BLOCKHOUSE from the South African climate or from Boers began to reconstitute their field describing it as the “blockhead system”,
others, like General Louis Botha, were
forces into smaller groups of highly
attack, and a more substantial type of
HIDDEN IN structure was clearly called for. Thus it mobile horse commandos. The wide- more correct in their assessment when
open plains of the southern African
they stated that blockhouses “are likely to
was that work on fortified blockhouses
interior presented few obstacles to the
began towards the end of 1900.
prove the ruin of our commandos”. While
relatively few blockhouses saw action,
commandos’ movement and aided
PLAIN SIGHT The ranks of the British army included the attacks on British infrastructure. To they nonetheless played an important
several well-qualified builders,
role in bringing the conflict to an end.
limit these guerrilla tactics, the British
began to crisscross the country with
stone masons and architects, and
After the war they were abandoned, and
consequently the quality of work
they hoped would hamper commando
on these early blockhouses was of a a series of barbed wire fences, which although several units built to Wood’s
design have survived to the present day,
high standard. The design of the first movement. Blockhouses formed an Rice’s blockhouses were dismantled
blockhouses was developed by the essential part of this policy, and it almost immediately by the civilian rural
army’s chief engineer in South Africa, was planned to string out a series population who were now displaced,
General Sir Elliot Wood, who based it of these structures along the fences homeless and in dire need of building
upon a similar pattern he had used in within sight of each other. With around materials.
the Sudan during the 1880’s. They were 8 000 blockhouses and around 56 000
substantial square structures, three Herein lay the answer to what had
storeys high, built in dressed stone and happened to the Cornwall Hill
finished with a low-pitch corrugated blockhouse, as confirmed by Cilliers
iron roof. Access to the first floor was Du Preez of Centurion Heritage Society
BY NICOLE ZERWICK • IMAGES BY KARLA MULLER by means of a bullet-proof steel door and a photograph spotted by our
located high above the ground floor, security manager in the offices of
which could only be reached by means Cornwall Hill College. It was built to
of a retractable ladder. Floors consisted Rice’s design and the usable building
of timber planks on a framework of materials had been repurposed after
steel joists built into the stonework. the war. The remaining stone base
The sleeping quarters were located on was, in turn, used as the base of the
the first floor, while most of the ground monument constructed after the
floor was taken up by a large water Second World War by David and John
tank. Examples of this structure may still van der Byl as a memorial to their
be found at Wellington, Burgersdorp, friends who did not return from the
Harrismith, Wolseley, Montagu, Prieska war. The blockhouse remains had
and Laingsburg, while others are always been right there on Cornwall
scattered about the Magaliesberg and Hill, hiding in plain sight!
the foothills of the Khahlamba.
SOURCES:
With the British occupation of Pretoria en.wikipedia.
:
on 5 June 1900, it became essential org>wiki>blockhouses_of_the_sec-
to protect the railway bridge that had ond_anglo-boer_war
I already been damaged by the Boers www.theheritageportal.co.za
on more than one occasion. Two www.angloboewar.com/blockhouses
units - the Black Watch and the Duke www.saarmourmuseum.co.za
of Cornwall’s Light Infantry - were DG Van der Byl - History of Cornwall
stationed near Irene, to the north-west Hill during the 20th Century

Cornwall View • Issue 3 2021 25
I