BH0021

Did You Know?

Rice Blockhouse No 2 Plato Camp near Colesberg in the Northern Cape dates to around 1900, during the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). It was part of a network of British blockhouses built to secure railway lines and key passes against Boer guerrilla raids. The blockhouse was constructed using the standard British design of corrugated iron over a stone or brick base, with loopholes for rifle fire, and was typically manned by a small garrison of British or colonial troops. Colesberg itself was a strategic town during the war, located on the main railway line between Cape Town and the interior, and was the scene of significant skirmishes in late 1899 and early 1900. The blockhouse formed part of the wider 'blockhouse system' implemented by Lord Kitchener from late 1900, which eventually stretched thousands of kilometres across the Cape Colony and Orange River Colony. These structures were often named after the officer or unit responsible for their construction, hence 'Rice' likely refers to a commanding officer of the local garrison. Today, the site is a heritage remnant of the blockhouse era, though many such structures have deteriorated or been removed. The Northern Cape has several surviving examples of these blockhouses, which are protected under the National Heritage Resources Act (Act 25 of 1999) as part of South Africa's military heritage. The specific condition and exact location of the Rice Blockhouse No 2 Plato Camp are not widely documented in public records, but its existence reflects the intense British military engineering effort in the Colesberg district during the latter phase of the war.

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