Fraserburg is a quiet Karoo town with a rich history, wide open spaces and clear night skies. Below you’ll find the main shops and services available in town, as well as a detailed overview of historical sites and heritage.
Fraserburg has everything you need for a comfortable stay. Here’s a quick overview of the main shops and services in the town centre:
Most of these are within easy walking or short driving distance of Karoo Windpompie.
Fraserburg is rich in history. Below is a selection of notable buildings and sites, grouped by street where possible.
AP Kerk
The earlier St Augustine’s little church was designed by the well-known Sophia Gray, wife of the then Bishop of Cape Town. Built in the Gothic style and consecrated in 1870.
Rietfonteinopstal
In 1851 the farm Rietfontein, on which the town of Fraserburg was laid out, was purchased by the Dutch Reformed Church from Albertus Abraham Visser, on condition that this dwelling house and horse mill would presumably remain his property for a number of years. Possibly the oldest house in the town, but it has been altered so many times since then that accurate dating is no longer possible. On 1 January 1934 the Church Council leased the farm on which the town and commonage are situated to the town council for 99 years at £40 per year. On 25 May 1959 the interim Council decided to purchase the aforementioned property from the Church Council for £11 000.
Theekloof Hotel
The earlier Central Hotel was built by Mr Freddie Keller in 1903 after he obtained a “bar licence” that had previously been prevented by petitions. No one dared circulate a petition against Keller’s application because martial law was in force that year. It burned down on 8 March 2002 and was subsequently demolished.
Barracks
After the area was proclaimed in 1914, the barracks were built by Mr John Pienaar.
Die Peperbus
This hexagonal structure, unique in South Africa, became the symbol of Fraserburg. Built by Adam Jacobs in 1861. The Peperbus clock was rung when a fire broke out and also served as the evening curfew clock. It was rung every evening at 9 o’clock when all Coloured people were expected to be out of the town. This regulation fell into disuse, but the clock continued to be rung at 9 p.m. into the 1950s.
Oom Frans Malan se huisie and the Kraaines
Some of the first little houses in Fraserburg were built in this area. Alice Elizabeth (sister of the writer Olive Schreiner) and her husband Robert Campbell Hemming owned property here as well as directly beside the old Pastorie. He was librarian, shopkeeper and also the first postmaster of Fraserburg in 1858.
No. 5 – Neo-classical Karoo cottage
Neo-classical Karoo cottage with stepped gable, symmetrical façade and framed windows and doors.
No. 24 – Victorian house
Victorian house with concave veranda and cast-iron “broekie” lacework.
No. 26 – Karoo cottage
Karoo cottage with ogive veranda and woodcarving on the front of the veranda. During the 1920s Langklaas Olivier ran a shop in the building. Later the house was occupied by a teacher, Mr Alf van der Merwe.
No. 30 – Karoo cottage
Karoo cottage with concave veranda and woodcarving on the front of the veranda.
Karoo cottage
Karoo cottage situated in the earlier residential area known as Die Erwe, occupied by Mr Noekie Steenkamp and his ancestors. He also built the Mission Church with the little towers.
No. 15 – Skietmuur (Shooting Wall)
The wall was erected around 1870 as a precautionary measure against a possible war with the Koranna and was also used during the Anglo-Boer War. Only a portion has survived.
Old Pastorie Museum
Old Pastorie Museum, erected in 1856 at a cost of £1 100. Rev. C A Bamberger, the first minister of the newly established congregation, and his family were the first residents. The building has an unusual floor plan in that four of the interior walls are rounded. The building contract specified that 100 yellowwood planks had to be used. It currently houses a museum collection and fossil exhibition.
No. 2 – Power Station
On 16 September 1938 the town received DC electricity. During September 1956 it was converted to AC power and on 24 June 1983 it was switched over to Eskom power. Seven Lister Blackstone engines can still be viewed.
No. 24
The first owner of this property was PCW Wilhelm, who took transfer on 28 June 1863. During the 20th century the building housed various general dealerships. One of the corner rooms served as a library in the 1940s and in 1951 a maternity clinic was also operated from one of the rooms.
No. 26 – Sandstone building
Sandstone building. Standard Bank had the building erected in 1923 at an all-inclusive cost of £3 036. The owners were very pleased with the beautiful sandstone building and frequently boasted about their imposing front door “…and is easily the most impressive of all the business in the village”.
No. 29 – Town Hall
The shop of Mr Weinrichen and boarding rooms were situated here before the Town Hall was built in 1927. It was rebuilt in 1958 at a cost of R40 000.
No. 60 – Karoo cottage with spout gables
Karoo cottage with spout gables. This type of gable is also known in the Fraserburg area as the Van Schalkwyk gable. In the 19th century the majority of the cottages in Fraserburg were built in this style.
No. 64 – Earlier Mission Church with little towers
Earlier Mission Church with little towers. The cornerstone was laid in 1920. During the 1950s the floors were still regularly smeared with dung. A wooden floor was later installed. On 25 August 1969 the Mission congregation was forced, under strong protest, to sell it to the Community Development Board for R18 860.
Earlier Mission Church (Stone building)
Earlier Mission Church (Stone building). In 1884 the Mission congregation with 22 members was separated from the Dutch Reformed congregation. The cornerstone was laid on 6 July 1896. The congregation members themselves shaped the stones from which the interior walls were built. The total building cost was R468.
Ou Dam (Old Dam)
According to tradition the Old Dam already existed in 1873. In 1875 the wall was raised by a metre because the townspeople feared it would break during heavy rains. Further repair work was done in 1898 at a cost of £75. At a council meeting in 1899 it was decided to declare a “Dam Holiday” on occasions when the Old Dam overflowed after good rains. When the New Dam was built in April 1918 the custom continued.
Driefontein Pioneer Farm
A grazing licence was issued to Dirk Marks in 1741 for one year for “the abandoned farm of the widow Besujidenhout”. The original farmyard had a chaff store, threshing floor, as well as stone kraals with a metre-thick compacted dung floor.
Anglo-Boer War mass grave, De Vlei
Anglo-Boer War mass grave, De Vlei, where nine British soldiers are buried. They were shot dead in April 1902 by a Boer commando while they were unsaddling their horses to rest. In the town cemetery there are also, among others, graves of three soldiers who fell in Oukloof Pass during a skirmish with a Boer commando that refused to honour the peace treaty.
Corbelled house on De Posies
Situated in the mountainous Rante section of Fraserburg. The corbelled house is regarded as the earliest building style of the north-western Karoo and its uniqueness lies in the fact that it is built entirely of stone, with flat stones protruding from the dome-shaped roof that served as scaffolding. A cave under a waterfall where one can overnight and a 4×4 route form part of the area. Adjacent on Louwseplaas, corbelled houses with a threshing floor can be seen.
Kerkplaas
Ruins of the little church that Rev. JJ Kicherer erected in 1802 and which is regarded as the first mission station in the north-western Karoo, as well as those of the little house of Willem Frederik Kruger, can still be viewed. The latter was banished from Graaff-Reinet for his part in the Slagtersnek Rebellion of 1815.
NG Kerk
Consecrated on 8 September 1956. The ironwork, imported from Scotland in 1892 at a cost of £1 320, is still the original.
Waterval in Theekloof
When Fraserburg was established there were only three roads descending the escarpment. Oukloof Pass in the direction of Beaufort West, Komsberg Pass to the Klein Roggeveld, and the Posje Pass, which according to tradition was the post-coach route to Aberdeen. The road to Amandelboom was built in 1874. Theekloof was surveyed by Thomas Bain in 1879. The name Theekloof probably originated because birdlime (Viscum rotundifolium) grew on the karee trees in the kloof from which tea was made. According to tradition a man who was on his way to Oudtshoorn to get married crashed into the kloof with his cart and four horses during a very heavy rainstorm after they took fright at a sudden mass of water that appeared in front of them.
Kruithuisie (Powder Magazine)
Powder magazine erected by John Findlay in 1870 as a storage place for ammunition in case a war broke out against the Koranna under the leadership of Kupido Pofadder and Klaas Springbok. The roof is vaulted, which minimises the fire hazard. Also used by British troops during the Anglo-Boer War.
Founding of the town / Rev. Colin Fraser
Rev. Colin Fraser faithfully ministered to his congregants who lived in the Nuweveld region three days’ horse ride from Beaufort West, despite dangers such as lions and snakes. Out of gratitude for his faithful leadership, which resulted in ecclesiastical loyalty and firmness of principle among his members, it was decided to name the town, which came into being with the establishment of its own Dutch Reformed congregation on 26 November 1851, after him.
The old church (1868)
The beautiful old church was consecrated in 1868, but was later demolished because some of the congregation members were of the opinion that the church had become dilapidated and the foundation unsafe.
AG Visser and his wife Lettie
Because of a severe drought in 1877, AG Visser’s parents had to move from the family farm in Carnarvon to the farm Zaalfontein in the Fraserburg district to obtain grazing for their livestock. He was born under a large safran pear tree on the farm in a tent that had been specially prepared for the purpose because there were too many young people in the homestead. His epitaph, on an open marble book, is a quotation from the poem he wrote for his late wife Lettie: “Thank God for you”.
Too short your hour of beauty
Rose of my court;
For your perfect hour
Praise to the Giver!
Too short our time of love
Too long the mourning,
Yet – unto Eternity
Thank God for you.
Gansfontein palaeo-surface
The Gansfontein palaeo-surface discovered in 1968 is the most impressive yet found in the Karoo. Karoo fossils are famous because they constitute the most complete evolutionary record in the world documenting the transition from reptiles to mammals. Tracks of, among others, a dinocephalian/Bradysaurus can be seen.
Constable Jan de Ridder
Constable Jan de Ridder (1911–1963) was the last mounted policeman in Fraserburg and traversed the district on horseback and later with his “catch-wagon”. He conveyed a message of justice to everyone through his dutiful, humble and loving nature. His nickname was “Wild Jan 7”, derived from his force number W.J.7. His epitaph reads: HIS WHOLE LIFE WAS SERVICE.