Tributary of the Buffalo river. Its name is derived from Khoikhoi and is said to mean ‘ash river” for the ash bushes growing there. Alternatively links the name to ‘t’aouw’ meaning ‘buffalo’. It was laid out in 1921 around the railway established there in 1877 as Montagu Road but was renamed Touws River on 1 January 1883. A village management board was instituted in 1959 and a municipality in 1962.