Wil iemand saam my Daspoort toe ry ...

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sidetrack

Grumpy Mutt
Joined
Jan 30, 2006
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Pretoria
Ok I see there is an old Italian / French built Fort circa 1898, Fort Daspoortrand ok lets go with tha fancy name .... The French Fort it sounds a lot more adventurous. Now only a ruin but being SA most likely home to some bos slaapers, join me and we can be dissapointed together or stand a better chance to not be mugged. See people with metal detectors have found some interesting stuff on site.

https://treasurehunters.co.za/forums/gauteng/fort-daspoort-pretoria/msg3721/#msg3721

Some dirt tracks around it too so lets see. Maybe this Sunday or the next  ?

From the web

Romantic in the 19th-century fort tradition, no shot was actually fired in anger from these several fortifications, built in readiness for the troubles which culminated in the Anglo-Boer War, In 1896 it was decided by the Executive Council of the Transvaal Republic that forts should be built at strategic positions in order that Pretoria might readily be defended. The building of the three major forts was entrusted to HC Wemer with German backing; while Fort Daspoortrand was built on a French system under the supervision of S Lean.

Built in the strictest secrecy, using both Italian and black labour, the forts cost in the region of £50 000 each. Beautifully constructed of stone, with meticulously executed brickwork, they are entered between great posts of stone with typical C19 Eclectic capitals, and guarded by stout armour-plated doors. Within, around the enclosure, battlements vie with stock-pattern late 19th-century woodwork. Tall chimneys and airvents spring from the turf-covered earthworks. Overall, time has given the old structures a patina. The larger forts were fitted with bomb-resistant casemates, ammunition stores and machine shops, as well as other refinements such as telegraph offices - though some of this equipment was confiscated in Cape Town after the outbreak of hostilities.


 
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