Glencoe, KwaZulu-Natal

Glencoe is situated in the Umzinyathi District District of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

The main economic activity in the area is coal mining while sheep and cattle ranching are also practiced.

History

With coal discovered at Dundee not even 8 km away an efficient way was needed to transport the coal to the factories other than ox wagons. The railway from Durban to Johannesburg reached this point on 4 September 1889. A new village sprung up where a branch line was built from the Durban-Johannesburg line to the eastern Transvaal in 1903. The village was renamed Glencoe, after a mountain valley in Lochaber, Scotland, when it became a town in 1934.

Trivia

* General French was periodically stationed here during the Second Boer War.
* Boer President Paul Kruger twice stayed overnight during the Siege of Ladysmith, South Africa.
* The house of Carl Landman - second in command at the Battle of Blood River can - be found on a farm close to Glencoe.
* Fort Mistake, a fort designed as a communications link between Ladysmith and Newcastle in 1881 and playing a key role in the Anglo-Boer War is found nearby.