LYDENBURG
Established on the farm Rietspruit. Administered by a health committee in 1902, a district council in 1903, a village council in 1904 and attained a municipality in 1927. The name is of Dutch origin and means ‘town of suffering’ referring to the disease and hardships which had led to the abandonment of Ohrigstad.
Mashishing – The name was changed in June 1996 meaning ‘long green grass’
Dutch Reformed Church
• Dutch Reformed Church, Church St. – The cornerstone was laid by the Rev. HJ Neethling on 12 April 1890. The pulpit is a replica of that in the Mother Church in Stellenbosch, made from kiaat donated by Abel Erasmus. Proclaimed a national monument on 28 April 1978.
Voortrekker Church
• Voortrekker Church, Church St – Erected between 1851 and 1853, it is the oldest Dutch Reformed Church in the Transvaal. It was used until the new church was built in 1894. Proclaimed a national monument on 6 July 1973
Old Voortekker School
• Old Voortekker School, Church St – this thatched cottage was completed in 1851. The first teacher was Willem Poen. Church services were held in this building before the first church building was erected. Proclaimed a national monument on 21 July 1961. Wagon-tracks in front of the building were made in 1938 to commemorate the centenary of the Great Trek.
ZAR post box
• ZAR post box, Kantoor St – Manufactured in 1893. Bearing the inscription ‘Plettereij Den Haag 1893’. This pillar post box was ordered from the Netherlands by the Postmaster General of the ZAR. Proclaimed a national monument on 8 August 1983
Burgher monument
• Burgher monument, on Church Square – It commemorates 33 Lydenburg burghers who died during the ABW (1899-1902). It was unveiled in about 1918 by Genl SW Burger.
Powder Magazine
• Powder Magazine, Viljoen St – Built by the 94th regiment commanded by Lt Col PP Anstruther following the Sekhukhune War. A contract was signed in 1883 to construct a powder magazine. For this purpose, stones from Fort Mary were used. Proclaimed a national monument on 11 May 1962.
Memorial Fort Mary
• Memorial Fort Mary, Voortrekker st cnr /Johannes Coetzer – After the Sekhukhune War in 1879 and during the 1st ABW (1880-81) soldiers of the 94th Regiment under Second Lt Walter Long converted several huts into a fort named Fort Mary, after Long’s wife, Mary. The fort was successfully defended for 84 days. It was evacuated after March 1881. Some iof the stones of this fort were used to build the powder magazine.
Loretho Convent
• Loretho Convent, Church St – Started with five sisters of the Loretho Order to serve the Roman Catholic community. The building was completed in 1898. It was used as a convent and school until 1969. The personnel were transferred to other centres. The adjacent hall cornerstone was laid by Rev A van Hecke on 1 Sept 1918. Bought by the Vroue Federasie as a training centre for the mentally retarded and is called Wenakker.
St John’s Anglican Church
• St John’s Anglican Church, cnr Church & Burger St – the cornerstone was laid on 28 August 1877. The bell was made in England and installed in 1887.
Methodist Church
• Methodist Church, Burger St – Wesley Hall, the cornerstone was laid by Robt Raine Esq on 22 April 1913.
Hiemstra’s House
• Hiemstra’s House, 41 Church St – Built circa 1890 and occupied by the teacher Sybran Hiemstra. Hiemstra started a state school prior to the ABW and a CNO (Christelike Nasionale Onderwys) school in Lydenburg after the war.
Metzker House
• Metzker House, 39 Church St – Built in 1926. The firstr owner was a Mr Metzker, the owner of Eastern Transvaal Motor Garage
House Cnr Kerk & Viljoen St
• House Cnr Kerk & Viljoen St – Gable dated 1904
Dankhof
• Dankhof, 24 Johannes Coetzer St Cnr Church St – Built between 1935 and 1937 for Albert Kuit, High Commissioner of Rail Roads. Designed by his son Geert Hendrik Kuit.
Lihonanis
• Lihonanis, 28 Viljoen St – Started as a brewery in 1898 by FA Behneke. The house was sent in crates from Sweden by his father. There were orange trees on the property, and he called the house “Limonanf”, German for oranges. Occupied by the Royal Irish Regiment during the ABW. The brewery closed in 1911. Currently a clinic.
Buhrmann’s House
• Buhrmann’s House, 13 Buhrmann St – Die Stal. Built circa 1850 or 1860. HT Buhrmann was the assistant magistrate in Lydenburg. He stood in for Jacob de Clercq, the first magistrate, when he was on leave.
Camdeboo
• Camdeboo, 31 Voortrekker St, cnr De Beer st – Built in 1898 by Frank McLachlan. Sold to CT Rabie in 1904. Rabie and his wife came from Aberdeen in the Eastern Cape and named the house after the Camdeboo mountains in the Aberdeen area. Mr Rabie was an attorney, member of the Volksraad and Mayor.
De Ark guest house
• De Ark guest house, Kantoor St – established in 1857. Originally the first parsonage of the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1893 it was converted to a double storey building. Now used as a guest house.
Attorney’s Office
• Attorney’s Office, Kantoor St – Built circa 1903 by CT Rabie. He came from Aberdeen in the Eastern Cape after the ABW in 1902 to work as an attorney. The building was altered in 1989.
First National Bank
• First National Bank, cnr Voortrekker and Kantoor St- The façade was built in 1919. Additions were built in 1974 and 1982.
Ox-wagon Trek monument
• Ox-wagon Trek monument, in front of the post office, cnr Voortrekker & Burger St – Erected in 1938 to commemorate the centenary of the Great Trek. This mark the Charl Cilliers trek. The wagon-tracks were made in cement in front of the Voortrekker School
Old Magistrates Building
• Old Magistrates Building, cnr Voortrekker & Rensburg St- The cornerstone dated 27 February 1889. Used as a school before. . Was used as magistrate offices until 1986. Currently occupied by the Department of Internal Affairs.
Old Municipal Offices
• Old Municipal Offices, Cnr Voortrekker & Rensburg St – Built in 1918. Was used until 1971 by the municipality.
• Restaurant, Voortrekker St
• Restaurant, Voortrekker St
House, Cnr Viljoen & Burg st
Cemetery
• Cemetery, end Buhrman St – memorials to the deceased in the ABW (1899-1902) include a memorial to 1st Kings Liverpool Regiment, memorial to the Boers who died in an attack on Fort Mpisane in Bushbuckridge, the grave of Dr Carel Menning who assisted the Boers as an ambulance doctor and a British Garden of Remembrance.
Steenkamp Bridge
• Steenkamp Bridge, over the Spekboom River on the road to Ohrigstad. The foundations were laid in 1894. It was completed on 21 June 1897. Proclaimed a national monument on 7 September 1973.
Steam Locomotive
• Steam Locomotive, railway station end of Buhrman St- this is a Class 7A no 1029. Built in 1898. Built by Dubs and Co between 1896 and 1901. Commissioned by the Cape Government Railways. The class 7 locomotives were withdrawn in 1972
Lydenburg Heads
• Lydenburg Heads, Lydenburg Museum, end Voortrekker Rd to Sabie – Seven terracotta heads were discovered with other pottery artifacts in Lydenburg. It dated to about 500 AD, one of the earliest dates for an Iron Age settlement. Discovered in circa 1960 in pieces. Only one resembles an animal. The museum held replicas. The Original heads are at the University of Cape Town.
