Toe die Koning (of Koningin) se troepe oorspronklik uit Brittanje weg is om die Britse...
From its earliest beginnings in 1857 The Glasgow Pont Hotel, in Norval’s Pont village, has been an important stop over for trans Orange travellers. Norval’s Pont derives its name from founding Scotsman John Norval who began a pont, or ferry service sometime in the 1840’s and built three successive ferry craft all of which were wrecked or lost due to the strength of the Orange River flow, and all of which were named after old John’s birthplace “Glasgow”, hence the name of the hotel.
Norval’s Pont village was established on the farm “Dapperfontein” in the early 1840s. The Norval Family, recent Scottish immigrants, arrived in the Colesberg district from their native Glasgow hoping to ply their trade as comb makers which, when one considers what the early hard bitten pioneers had to put up with and how high on their priority list a tidy hair-do was, you might think this was an odd ambition.
All in all, three ferries bore the name Glasgow as each was successively wrecked or broken up by the moody Orange River. And just as it was the British Military that caused the ferry to be built in the first place, it was the very same body that caused its final destruction. The third and final Glasgow Pont was a grand affair, far different from the first one that has been powered by eight oarsmen: Built of Burmese teak and run on steel cables through winding gear forged at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, the last pont was steered under the careful eye of Piet Roux the Pont Man.
If there is a single iconic image that defines the Great Trek of the mid 19th Century it is surely that of the great trek wagon with its span of up to twenty oxen. Struggling through the wilderness, bearing all the hopes and dreams and meager possessions of the family it carried, these incredible vehicles bore the brunt of everything the harsh terrain and climate could throw at them. Ironically, this image so completely embedded in the culture of the Afrikander/Afrikaaner, was only made possible by the wain-wright (wagon builder) industry that had sprung up in Grahamstown to support the British military during the Border Wars.
Since starting these series of articles for the Gariep Times I have received a great deal of mail concerning the history of the Glasgow Pont ferry boats and I read from them that there exists some confusion about the relationship between the bridges and the pont operations. Some visitors who have read Sir George Cory’s History of the Cape have even enquired about where the “pontoon” can be seen and asked if it is still running! Hopefully, I have now cleared up that particular matter in the April edition, and that a few lines about the bridges’ history will make everything clear too:
Toe die Koning (of Koningin) se troepe oorspronklik uit Brittanje weg is om die Britse...
Die verslaggewer aan wie Generaal Christiaan De Wet een van sy min onderhoude toegestaan het...
Terwyl ons almal die idee van wilde, bebaarde Kommando-lede met vol bandoliere het, was daar...
Skape wat gedurende die Boere Oorlog by Norvals Pont gebuit is, is geslag en gaargemaak...
Among the many who plied their trade and wares around the ferry point at Norval’s...
Lord Harry Smith met his wife during the Peninsular wars and brought this lovely Spanish...
When the soldiers of the Queen (or King) first set out to win an Empire,...
The correspondent to whom General Christiaan De Wet gave interview after the war was none...
The sheep taken at Norval’s Pont during the War were despatched and cooked under the...
While we all carry firm images of wild looking, bearded Kommando’s in bandolier-ed splendor there...
Die befaamde "Heer" Harry Smith het 'n pragtige Spaanse bruid gehad, wat hy saam met...
Die Pont by Norvalspont het verskeie interessante persone gesien gedurende sy lang geskiedenis. Een van...
