Warrenton

Warrenton Tourism Information Bureau

Warrenton Business Directory

The region in which Warrenton is situated is part of the dispute area between the old Orange Free State (OFS), the Cape Colony and the Griqua Nation. Originally known as Stranger’s Rest, the name changed to Fourteen Streams, but in 1880 was named Warrenton. Fourteen Streams is the section of the Vaal River just upstream from the railway bridge where there are numerous islands in the river.

On 8 February 1878 the farmers H.A.L. Hamelberg and C.E. Fichardt registered the farm Grasbult by Orange Free State title deed on which Warrenton was proclaimed a town, but by 1880 the western half was owned by Gabriel Nicolaas Venter. That same year of 1880 saw 18 farmers purchase the 3, 365 morgen farm from Venter in order to establish a church village and to exploit the possibility of irrigation farming. It was surveyed and 267 farms were even plotted right there and then!

The surrounding area was incorporated into the Cape Colony but the two large farms of Hamelberg, Fichardt and Venter remained part of the Orange Free State and was named Warrenton in 1880 after Sir Charles Warren. The reason for the name was twofold: the farmers were pleased with his surveying the disputed border between the Cape Colony and the Orange Free State in 1877, and also with his military leadership against the 1877 – 1879 popular uprisings.

In 1881 the Dutch Reformed Church took ownership of Warrenton and in 1885 the first school was started. Four years later on 2 May 1889 Warrenton was “gazetted” as a Village Management Board, the same year diamonds were first found on town land. The discovery of diamonds on town land saw a feverish search for more and between 1905 and 1921 a total of 21, 630 carats were discovered.

As Warrenton was on Cecil Rhodes planned “Cape to Cairo” rail link, the railway reached the town in 1890. In the late 1920’s a low level bridge was built across the Vaal River for wagons, and naturally, motorized vehicles.

In this region the farm Driehoek is also situated, registered on 18 January 1878 by Johannes Nicolaas de Beer when he sold his farm in what is today known as Kimberley.

There are three blockhouses from the Anglo-Boer War in Warrenton, close to the railway bridge, some being of irregular design, the other being of the more recognised stone-cut blockhouses.

Warrenton Accommodation & Leisure Activities

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Warrenton Education:

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Warrenton Business Directory:

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