Lonehill

Last updated

The Lonehill Koppie is a hill located in the suburb named after it, Lone Hill, which is located in Gauteng, South Africa. It is notable for the legends that surround the large boulder that sits atop the hill, precariously balanced on several other boulders.

Contents

Legend

The first legend is that if the top boulder of the Lonehill Koppie were dislodged, all the whites in the country would leave. It's a latter-day version of an Anglo Boer War tale: that if the Boers dislodged the rock, the British would lose the war and leave South Africa.

A more recent legend is on how the Lonehill Nature Reserve was proclaimed a reserve. The motivation was centered around a rumour that a foreign individual was in the process of buying the area around the koppie, with the intent to remove the topmost rock. Local residents banded together and established the area as a nature reserve to prevent anyone from disturbing the well-known landmark.

Description

The Lonehill Koppie stands out as a lone koppie on the northern border of the city's suburbs, 28 km north of the city centre, and is a reminder of what Johannesburg looked like before it was settled. It is a rocky veld with small streams trickling, dotted with shrubs, small trees and knee-high grasses. Guinea fowl and porcupines used to roam the area, and it is now populated with hundreds of dassies. There's a small dam, called Lonehill Loch, around 200 metres to its north, which is a popular walking spot for local residents.

The Koppie is largely made up of large, very old boulders, called tor rocks, with trees and indigenous shrubs now almost obscuring the rocks except for the topmost boulders.

These days it is surrounded by clusters of homes and developments in what is now the suburb of Lone Hill. The koppie itself is located on a plot of around 20 acres, surrounded by veld, which is around 80 metres high known as Lonehill Loch. It is unlocked only on weekends, allowing hikers and picnickers to climb to the top, or just lay out a picnic blanket in its surrounding grassy area. [1]

The veld contains three Stone Age furnaces. These were excavated in the 1960s by Professor Revil Mason, formerly head of archaeology at Wits University. The furnaces were hidden by Mason, to protect them, because they would need a protective structure built around them and there was no funding to develop the site.

Mason estimated that the furnaces date to around 1600, the same period as the Melville Koppies furnace. Bits of slag were found near the furnaces, on large flat rocks with indentations in them that were used for grinding.

Near the furnace site is another area where pottery was manufactured, fenced like the furnace area. Half-way up the Koppie there are remnants of stone walls that would have been a kraal and living areas.

Related Research Articles

North Rocks, New South Wales Suburb of Greater Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

North Rocks is a suburb in the Hills District within Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, located 26 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district. Following the amalgamation of council areas in 2016, the majority of North Rocks falls into the council area of the City of Parramatta. Streets north of the M2 Hills Motorway are within The Hills Shire.

Beinn Eighe Complex mountain massif in the Torridon area of Wester Ross in the Highlands of Scotland

Beinn Eighe is a complex mountain massif in the Torridon area of Wester Ross in the Highlands of Scotland. Lying to the south of Loch Maree, it forms a long ridge with many spurs and summits, two of which are classified as Munros. The name Beinn Eighe comes from the Scottish Gaelic meaning file mountain. Unlike most other hills in the area it has a cap of Cambrian basal quartzite which gives the peaks of Beinn Eighe a distinctive light colour. Its complex topography has made it popular with both hillwalkers and climbers and the national nature reserve on its northern side makes it an accessible mountain for all visitors.

Fourways Place in Gauteng, South Africa

The area referred to as Fourways is the fastest-developing commercial and residential hub in Sandton, north of Johannesburg, South Africa. The main access routes to Fourways are off the N1 at R511 William Nicol Drive, or alternatively along R564 Witkoppen Road. It is located mostly in Region E of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. It is roughly as far as one can go in the Johannesburg Metropolitan area before it dissolves into rolling hills, game farms and the capital Pretoria, 55 kilometres to the northeast. Hartebeespoort Dam and the Magaliesberg Mountains lie half an hour to the north-west. It is bordered by Bryanston to the east and south and Randburg to the west.

St Abbs Head

St Abb's Head is a rocky promontory by the village of St Abbs in Berwickshire, Scotland, and a national nature reserve administered by the National Trust for Scotland. St Abb's Head Lighthouse was designed and built by the brothers David Stevenson and Thomas Stevenson and began service on 24 February 1862.

Radnor Forest

Radnor Forest in the county of Radnorshire, Wales is a rock dome composed of Silurian shales, mudstones and limestone in Mid Wales. It is a forest in the medieval sense of the word. It lies within the Welsh Marches region since Offa's Dyke lies nearby to the east.

Emmarentia Place in Gauteng, South Africa

Emmarentia is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Rocking stone

Rocking stones are large stones that are so finely balanced that the application of just a small force causes them to rock. Typically, rocking stones are residual corestones formed initially by spheroidal weathering and have later been exposed by erosion or glacial erratics left by retreating glaciers. Natural rocking stones are found throughout the world. A few rocking stones might be man-made megaliths.

There are many large stones of Scotland of cultural and historical interest, notably the distinctive Pictish stones, but also the other types discussed below.

Springbok, Northern Cape Place in Northern Cape, South Africa

Springbok is the largest town in the Namaqualand area in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It was called Springbokfontein until 1911, when it was shortened to Springbok. Springbok is located on the N7 national route which connects the Cape with Namibia, and at the western end of the N14, which connects it with Upington and Pretoria. It is the main town of the Nama Khoi Local Municipality, which also includes a number of surrounding towns such as Okiep and Nababeep.

The Northwest Highlands are located in the northern third of Scotland that is separated from the Grampian Mountains by the Great Glen. The region comprises Wester Ross, Assynt, Sutherland and part of Caithness. The Caledonian Canal, which extends from Loch Linnhe in the south-west, via Loch Ness to the Moray Firth in the north-east splits this area from the rest of the country. The city of Inverness and the town of Fort William serve as gateways to the region from the south.

Loch Ewe Sea loch in Scotland

Loch Ewe is a sea loch in the region of Wester Ross in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. The shores are inhabited by a traditionally Gàidhlig-speaking people living in or sustained by crofting villages, the most notable of which, situated on the north-eastern shore, is the Aultbea settlement.

Mount Rogers (Australian Capital Territory)

Mount Rogers is a large hill, with an elevation of 704 metres (2,310 ft), located in the northern suburbs of Canberra, within the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. There is a park called the Mount Rogers Reserve at the crest of the hill, and a trig point at the summit.

An Ruadh-stac

An Ruadh-stac is a Scottish mountain situated in the Wester Ross region of the Highland council area. It is located 26 km north east of Kyle of Lochalsh.

Loch Alsh A sea loch on the West Coast of Scotland

Loch Alsh is a sea inlet between the isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides and the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. The name is also used to describe the surrounding country and the feudal holdings around the loch. The area is rich in history, and is increasingly popular with tourists.

Melville Koppies

Melville Koppies is a nature reserve and a Johannesburg City Heritage Site in Johannesburg, South Africa. The word 'koppie' means small hill.

Tuli Block

The Tuli Block is a narrow fringe of land at Botswana's eastern border wedged between Zimbabwe in the north and east and South Africa in the south. It consists mainly of privately owned game farms offering safari tourism. The eastern section up to and including Redshield has been declared a game reserve, known as the Northern Tuli Game Reserve.

Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve is a nature reserve of 640 hectares consisting of veld and koppies (hills) run by the Johannesburg City Parks and is located 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) south of Johannesburg. Home to many species of flora and bird life, it is also home to large and small mammals such as blesbok, zebra, wildebeest and duiker. The reserve has a number of hikes and trails, archaeological sites with the Bloubos spruit flowing through the area.

Achagoyle Bay A bay in Argyll and Bute, Scotland

Achagoyle Bay is coastal embayment, on a chord of 0.75 miles, on a 114° orientation, on the western coast of the longest sea loch in Scotland, Loch Fyne located in Argyll and Bute, on the west coast of Scotland. Achagoyle Bay is directly northwest of Brainport Bay on a NNE orientation, which forms a rightward hook, and opens into the Minard Bay with a NE orientation, also with a rightward hook, directly south. The three bays constitute the western edge of the Minnow Narrows which is bounded by the islands An Oitir and Eilean Aoghainn directly to the east of Brainport Bay.

North Woods and North Meadow Geographical features in New York Citys Central Park

North Woods and North Meadow are two interconnected features in the northern section of Central Park, New York City, close to the neighborhoods of the Upper West Side and Harlem in Manhattan. The 90-acre (36 ha) North Woods, in the northwestern corner of the park, is a rugged woodland that contains a forest called the Ravine, as well as two water features called the Loch and the Pool. The western portion of the North Woods also includes Great Hill, the third highest point in Central Park. North Meadow, a recreation center and sports complex, is immediately southeast of the North Woods. Completed in the 1860s, North Woods and North Meadow were among the last parts of Central Park to be built.

References