Bathurst, Eastern Cape

Last updated

Bathurst
Eastern Cape-Big Pineapple-001.jpg
The Big Pineapple, located on the edge of town
South Africa Eastern Cape location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Bathurst
South Africa adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Bathurst
Coordinates: 33°30′14″S26°49′26″E / 33.50389°S 26.82389°E / -33.50389; 26.82389 Coordinates: 33°30′14″S26°49′26″E / 33.50389°S 26.82389°E / -33.50389; 26.82389
Country South Africa
Province Eastern Cape
District Sarah Baartman
Municipality Ndlambe
Established1820 [1]
Area
[2]
 • Total73.5 km2 (28.4 sq mi)
Population
 (2011) [2]
 • Total6,368
 • Density87/km2 (220/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
[2]
 •  Black African 90.0%
 •  Coloured 1.6%
 •  Indian/Asian 0.2%
 •  White 7.9%
 • Other0.4%
First languages (2011)
[2]
 •  Xhosa 84.4%
 •  English 9.1%
 •  Afrikaans 3.8%
 • Other2.7%
Time zone UTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)
6166
PO box
6166
Area code 046

Bathurst is about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) inland from Port Alfred, on the R67 road, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, and is named after Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst, Secretary of State for the Colonies by Sir Rufane Donkin. [3] Its chief claim to fame is that it was the early administrative centre established by the British Government for the 1820 British Settlers who were sent to the district as a buffer between the Cape Colony and the Xhosa pastoralists who were migrating southwards and westwards along the coast. Bathurst is now part of the Ndlambe Local Municipality in the Sarah Baartman District Municipality of the Eastern Cape.

Contents

Overview

Many of the original settler houses and other buildings have been preserved, and there remains much of the look and feel of an English village of the early 19th century. The Pig and Whistle Inn, at the heart of the village, is reputedly the oldest extant pub in the country, built in 1821 by Thomas Hartley, a blacksmith who came from Nottinghamshire with the settlers. After accommodation was added to the pub, it became known as the Bathurst Inn. Legend has it that it was nicknamed "The Pig & Whistle" by the men at the nearby 43 Air School in World War II.

While time has moved slowly in Bathurst, there is an increasing population of artists, those seeking a more peaceful lifestyle, academics (Rhodes University is only 40 kilometres (25 mi) away), and retirees.

One of the award-winning artists in the area is ceramist Richard Pullen, who grew up in Bathurst. He established his successful ceramics studio in 1998. Visitors are free to visit his studio, see the artist at work and interact with him.

Bathurst hosts a pineapple museum whose building is shaped like a 17 metres (56 ft) tall pineapple. [4] The museum is in the agricultural town of Bathurst, a town known as pineapple country, on a pineapple farm known as Summerhill Pineapple Farm, an 1820 Settlers farm. In 1833, John Hawkins, who was a founder member of the Bathurst Agricultural Society, purchased the farm for 2,000 pounds. He was also one of the first farmers to plant pineapples. [5] The Big Pineapple represents the region's pineapple industry. The settlers who arrived in the 1820s struggled to grow crops until the first pineapple was planted in 1865. [6] The gigantic structure is a tribute to their agricultural success. It was planned to be constructed by the members of Bathurst's agricultural community in the 1980s. Construction for the structure actually began in 1990 and lasted for over 12 months. The structure was built with the intention of giving more exposure to the local pineapple industry. [7] The Bathurst area delivers over 135 000 tons annually to factories in East London. [8] Although it is mostly a copy of the Big Pineapple located in Queensland, Australia, the Big Pineapple in Bathurst is taller by just over two feet and thus is the World's Largest Pineapple. The structure has four floors, including a gift shop with a variety of pineapple products, a museum covering the history of pineapple farming in South Africa, a video room, and an observation deck with views over the surrounding farmlands to the Indian Ocean. [9] The “skin” of the Big Pineapple is steel and concrete, covered in glass fibre.

Bathurst neighbours the Waters Meeting Nature Reserve, home to many species of animals, bird and plants. The reserve offers hiking trails, picnic spots and a viewpoint of the river and valley. The surrounding area hosts pineapple farms, game reserves and cattle and sheep ranches. It is a 10-minute drive to the beach town of Port Alfred, and 45 minutes from the cultural mecca of Grahamstown.

Pig and Whistle Hotel Pig and Whistle Hotel.JPG
Pig and Whistle Hotel

Related Research Articles

Bathurst, New Brunswick City in New Brunswick, Canada

Bathurst is the seat of government of Gloucester County, New Brunswick, and is at the estuary of the Nepisiguit River.

Eastern Cape Province in South Africa

The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Port Elizabeth.

Kokstad Place in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Kokstad is a town in the Harry Gwala District Municipality of KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Kokstad is named after the Griqua chief Adam Kok III who settled here in 1863. Kokstad is the capital town of the East Griqualand region, as it is also the biggest town in this region. It was built around Mount Currie, a local mountain range, by the city's founder Adam Kok III, for whom the town is named. Stad is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for "city".

Albany, South Africa

Albany, South Africa was a district in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Grahamstown was traditionally the administrative capital, cultural centre and largest town of the Albany district.

Makhanda, South Africa Place in Eastern Cape, South Africa

Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about 110 kilometres (70 mi) northeast of Port Elizabeth and 130 kilometres (80 mi) southwest of East London. Makhanda is the largest town in the Makana Local Municipality, and the seat of the municipal council. It also hosts Rhodes University, the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court, the South African Library for the Blind (SALB), a diocese of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, and 6 South African Infantry Battalion. Furthermore, located approximately 3 km south-east of the town lies the world renowned Waterloo Farm, the only estuarine fossil site in the world from 360 million years ago with exceptional soft-tissue preservation.

Port Elizabeth City in Eastern Cape, South Africa

Port Elizabeth, officially renamed Gqeberha and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa's second-largest metropolitan district by area size. It is the sixth-most-populous city in South Africa and is the cultural, economic and financial centre of the Eastern Cape.

Pitt Town, New South Wales Suburb of City of Hawkesbury, New South Wales, Australia

Pitt Town is a historic town and suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Pitt Town is 59 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Hawkesbury. It is bounded in the north by the Hawkesbury River.

1820 Settlers British colonists in South Africa

The 1820 Settlers were several groups of British colonists from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, settled by the government of the United Kingdom and the Cape Colony authorities in the Eastern Cape of South Africa in 1820.

Tarkastad Place in Eastern Cape, South Africa

Tarkastad is a Karoo semi-urban settlement situated on the banks Tarka River in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Tarkastad is on a plain to the north of the Winterberg mountain range on the R61 between Cradock and Queenstown and only three hours from Port Elizabeth. The name Tarkastad is believed to come from the Khoi-Khoi word Traka or the Celtic word Tarka and the Afrikaans word Stad. The fact that the town is overlooked by Martha and Mary; two peaks which look like two women resting after a hard day's work, also lends to the name.

Charles Purdon planted the first pineapples in the Eastern Cape of South Africa in 1865, which led to the commercial pineapple industry in the country.

Grabouw Place in Western Cape, South Africa

Grabouw is a town located in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Grabouw is located some 65 km south-east of Cape Town, over Sir Lowry's Pass from Somerset West, along the N2 highway.The town is the commercial centre for the vast Elgin Valley, the largest single export fruit-producing area in Southern Africa, which extends between the Hottentots-Holland, Kogelberg, Groenland, and Houwhoek Mountains. The town's population grows rapidly, with 44 593 people in 2019 from 21 593 as listed by the 2001 census.

Colesberg Place in Northern Cape, South Africa

Colesberg is a town with 17,354 inhabitants in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, located on the main N1 road from Cape Town to Johannesburg.

Calvinia Place in Northern Cape, South Africa

Calvinia is a regional town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa named after the French religious reformer Jean Calvin. The town falls under the Hantam Local Municipality which forms part of the Namakwa District Municipality. The Calvinia district is part of the Great Karoo region of South Africa. The town is just south of the Hantam mountains on the banks of the Oorlogskloof River.

Jacob Glen Cuyler was an American of Dutch origin who was an important character in the settlement of the British 1820 Settlers to the Eastern Cape, South Africa

Cuylerville, Eastern Cape Place in Eastern Cape, South Africa

Cuylerville is a village in South Africa, located halfway between Bathurst and the Great Fish River. It was the first village established by the 1820 settlers, and was named after Colonel Jacob Glen Cuyler, the military commander at Fort Frederick.

Southwell, Eastern Cape Place in Eastern Cape, South Africa

Southwell is a settlement within the former farming district of the same name, about 23 kilometres (14 mi) from Port Alfred and about 35 kilometres (22 mi) from Grahamstown.

Fort Frederick in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, was built in 1799 in order to stop the French from conquering the Cape Colony during the Napoleonic wars and played a vital role in establishing British rule in South Africa in combination with the Battle of Blaauwberg.

Sidbury is a village in the Albany district of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.

The Donkin Heritage Trail is a 5 km self-guided walking trail along the old hill of central Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The Donkin Heritage Trail is named after the acting Governor of the Cape Colony, Rufane Shaw Donkin.

References

  1. ↑ "Chronological order of town establishment in South Africa based on Floyd (1960:20-26)" (PDF). pp. xlv–lii.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Sum of the Main Places Bathurst and Nolukhanyo from Census 2011.
  3. ↑ Raper, P. E. (1989). Dictionary of Southern African Place Names. Jonathan Ball Publishers. p. 71. ISBN   978-0-947464-04-2 – via Internet Archive.
  4. 1 2 Whitehead, Kate (29 May 2014). "5 reasons Bathurst may be South Africa's most eccentric town". CNN .
  5. ↑ "Big Pineapple". www.sunshinecoasttourism.co.za.
  6. ↑ Whitehead, Kate. "5 reasons Bathurst may be South Africa's most eccentric town". CNN.
  7. ↑ Hinson, Ben (23 December 2017). "Architecture Spotlight: South Africa". Medium.
  8. ↑ Griffiths, I. L (1961). "Changes in the South African Pineapple Industry". Geography. 46 (4): 360–363. JSTOR   40565550.
  9. ↑ "The World's Largest Pineapple Building". Atlas Obscura.
  10. ↑ "St John the Evangelist - Donkin Street, Bathurst". Albany Anglicans. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.