SHORT HISTORY OF THE EAST FORT, PRETORIA
Anton C. van Vollenhoven
Archaetnos Archaeologists
1. INTRODUCTION
The existence of what remained of the East Fort in Pretoria has been known for many years.
However, since fairly recent, it was believed that only a few stone walled remains were still
present at the site on Strubenkop in the east of the town. A visit to the site in September
2011, in order to write a management plan, however proved that although the site is in ruins,
much of the stone walling remained and that it indeed would benefit further archaeological
investigation.
Strubenkop today is a nature reserve managed by the City of Tshwane. However, apart from
the remains of the fort nothing much is left on the hill. It is therefore believed that the reserve
was proclaimed to preserve what was left of the building although no information in this
regard could be obtained.
The remains are those of a British fort from the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). A result from
the survey was the start of the East Fort Archaeological Project, a joint project between
Archaetnos Archaeologists, Heritageworx and the City of Tshwane.
The project has two main aims. Firstly it comprises the careful archaeological excavation
and documentation of the structure in order to obtain information on its building materials,
method of construction and utilization of different areas within the fort. Secondly it
comprises a schools education programme to provide learners interested in archaeology the
opportunity to get first-hand field experience. This article however does not concentrate on
any of these, but only to provide a short history of the site.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT
The Strubenkop Nature Reserve is situated on a portion of the original farm Hartebeestpoort
362 JR. Today this is in an area known as Lynnwood in the central east of the City of
Tshwane.
The northern boundary of the property is formed by the original farm boundary between the
farms Hartebeestpoort 362 JR and Koedoespoort 299 JR. This is currently the experimental
farm of the University of Pretoria. The eastern, western and southern boundaries are
residential properties in the township of Lynnwood.
A tar road, The Old Fort Road ends on the south-western edge of the reserve. The name of
the road incidentally comes from the fort on the hill. The hill referred to is Struben Hill. The
reserve comprises most of the top part of the hill.
3. DISCUSSION
What remain on the hill today are the ruins of a fortification built by the British during the
Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). The history of the Anglo-Boer War in Pretoria has been quite
1
well documented. The War took place between 1899 and 1902. It was a war between the
two Boer Republics (the Transvaal or Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek and the Orange Free
State) and Great Britain (Pretorius 1998:247).
After the fall of Pretoria on 5 June 1900, the British erected fortified posts at strategic
position all over South-Africa. The main aim was to protect railway lines and other routes as
well as to limit the movement of the Boer commando’s (Van Vollenhoven 1992: 176). The
railway lines were of particular importance as illustrated by the fact that the Boers also
guarded it when they were still in control thereof (NAB: TAB, SS0, R 8496/00).
By January 1901 many blockhouses (small fortifications) have been erected. These were
mainly corrugated iron structures (called Rice pattern blockhouses) as these were prefabricated and could be built in a short period of time. From March 1901 blockhouses were
also placed on other strategic position such as main routes. By January 1902 the blockhouse
lines have been completed. It has been calculated that as much as 8 000 blockhouses were
eventually completed stretching over a distance of about 6 000 kilometer (Hattingh &
Wessels 1999:41; Van Vollenhoven 1999a:81).
For the British it was of particular importance to protect Pretoria after they had occupied it.
Therefore they built additional fortifications here (Van Vollenhoven 1992: 180). Pretoria
already had four forts - Fort Klapperkop, Fort Schanskop, Fort Wonderboompoort and Fort
Daspoortrand – which were erected by the Boers prior to the War (Van Vollenhoven 1995:
54-61). In order to turn the town into a complete fortified town the British added to this. As
far as what could be determined, 36 stone-and-masonry blockhouses and 25 corrugated iron
ones were erected in Pretoria, a total of 61. Most of these did not survive (Van Vollenhoven
1992: 180-181).
The fortification built on Strubenkop, was one of these. It is sometimes called the Eastern
Redoubt, but the East Fort seems to have been more in use. This is in relation to Fort West,
which is name that was given by the British to Fort Daspoortrand, which lies to the west of
Pretoria (Van Vollenhoven 1992: 116). As the name indicates, the East Fort lies to the east
of what would have been the town during the early 1900’s.
Strubenkop was strategically important to safeguard the town from the east. This was already
indicated in the strategy of the Boers before the War, as they planned to build a fort here.
This however never materialized. Even years before during the Anglo-Transvaal War (18801881), when the British was in command in Pretoria, the site was used by them as a signal
station and lookout point (Van Vollenhoven 1992: 182).
The East Fort was the largest fortification built by the British in Pretoria. All the other were
merely blockhouses. It is described as having been built from stone and with a corrugated
iron roof. Parts of the walls also were made from corrugated iron with loopholes (Van
Vollenhoven 1994: 71).
Unfortunately nothing else is known of the fort or the role that it played during the War.
Only one picture from that time was found (Figure 1).
The fort was vacated shortly after the War. Only a few bits of information of the period after
that could be obtained. Two pictures of the fort have been found. The first, dating to 1958,
indicate part of the walling at one of the pill-boxes at the fort (Figure 2). There also is
2
information that the fort still was in a good condition in 1963. The second photograph dates
to the early 1970’s and again indicates the same walling as the above mentioned, in almost a
similar condition. A visit to the site in 1992 showed that this wall has almost completely
been broken down and that only a few remnants remained (Van Vollenhoven 1992: 182).
In 1979 Mervyn Emms draw a plan of the fort (Figure 3). As the fort has by then already
deteriorated much the plan may not be correct, but at least it does give a fair indication of the
layout thereof.
The fort is also indicated on a sketched diagram of Pretoria during the Anglo-Boer War
indicating the communication lines between fortifications (Van Vollenhoven 1992: 210). It
shows East Fort to the south-east of a military camp.
4. CONCLUSIONS
It seems as if the fort was built less formal than the Boer forts mentioned with mortar not
used throughout. One gets the idea of a surrounding wall and inner courtyard. Some of the
walling may have been completed with corrugated iron walls and roofs. The fort may have
had three blockhouses and at least two canon positions and was armed by a five inch canon
(Van Vollenhoven 1999b: 27). This means that blockhouses must have been placed at
strategic positions inside or on the walls of the fort, most likely the pill-boxes.
Site visits during 211-2013 indicated that the Emms-plan is not that far off, but that a few
details may have been omitted. This most likely is because these features may not always be
visible, especially during the summer months when the vegetation cover is reasonably high.
It is these differences form the plan and the lack of information on the fort that makes it such
a good site for research purposes. The uniqueness of the site, being the only large British fort
built during that time in Pretoria, also makes it a good research topic. In the end it could be
used in comparative studies with blockhouses from that period that have already been
excavated, the Boer forts, as well as other military sites from the period.
5. REFERENCES
Cantor, Stan. Collection of photographs.
Google Earth maps.
Hattingh, J. & Wessels, A. 1999. Life in the British blockhouses during the Anglo Boer War,
1899-1902. Suid-Afrikaanse Tydskrif vir Kultuurgeskiedenis 13 (2),November.
National Archives Depot, Transvaal Archives Depot, SS0, R 8496/00.
Pretorius, F. 1998. Die Anglo-Boereoorlog 1899-1902 (2nd ed.). Cape Town: Struik.
Van Vollenhoven, A.C. 1992. ‘n Histories-argeologiese ondersoek na die militêre
fortifikasies van Pretoria (1880-1902). (Unpublished M.A.-dissertation, Pretoria,
University of Pretoria).
Van Vollenhoven, A.C. 1994. ‘n Oorsig van die militêre fortifikasies van Pretoria (18801902). Research by the National Cultural History Museum (3).
Van Vollenhoven, 1995. Die militêre fortifikasies van Pretoria 1880-1902. ‘n Studie in
die historiese argeologie, Pretoria: Heinekor.
Van Vollenhoven, A.C. 1999a. The military fortifications of Pretoria 1880-1902. A study
in historical archaeology, Pretoria: Technikon Pretoria.
3
Van Vollenhoven, A.C. 1999b. Britse blokhuise in Pretoria gedurende die AngloBoereoorlog (1899-1902). Pretoriana (112), October.
4