Nottingham Road is a town 19 km south of Mooi River and 59 km north-west of

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; Zulu: umGungundlovu) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu ...

on the R103 road in South Africa. Founded in 1905 and named after the Nottingham Regiment which was stationed there when trouble was expected from the

Basotho The Sotho () people, also known as the Basuto or Basotho (), are a Bantu nation native to southern Africa. They split into different ethnic groups over time, due to regional conflicts and colonialism, which resulted in the modern Basotho, who ...

in the 19th century. A popular trout-fishing area.

History

Settlers from

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

settled the area in the mid-19th century. At the end of 1885, the railway reached where the town now lies, before which the area was named after the contractor Harrison's Camp. For two years, it was known as Karkloof Station, but since Karkloof and the nearby

Karkloof Forest The Karkloof Forest is situated in the Karkloof Nature Reserve, 22 km north of Howick, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. This is a large (936ha) mistbelt forest containing yellowwoods ('' Afrocarpus falcatus'', ''Podocarpus latifolius'' and ''P ...

were far away and nobody from there used the station, it was renamed Nottingham Road Station after

Fort Nottingham A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

down the road. The station started developing the area as a rural center. Nottingham Road Hotel (KZN)

A small hotel and store were established where George Nicol's smithy would later be (now the location of the Mount West liquor store). In 1889, George Orwin bought the land where the Railway Hotel (today known as the Nottingham Road Hotel) would be built by C. Morgan and finished in 1891. In April 1884, John King donated the grounds where a small wood and iron

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

church known as St. John's Gowrie would be built, and it opened in February 1885. A memorial to those from the area who lost their lives in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

opened on the church grounds near the entrance on January 26, 1992. The Nottingham Road Farmers' Association, one of the oldest agricultural societies in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, was founded on October 26, 1887, by 11 prominent local citizens in the Railway Hotel. Their meeting hall, a longtime project, opened in December 1933. Today, it hosts the Notthingham Road Landowners' Association and a local library. The hall is used for the Association's meetings and also rented out for other functions. In 1866, the first

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

were brought from

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...

via a thousand-mile overland journey. Livestock theft by local

San people The San peoples (also Saan), or Bushmen, are members of various Khoe, Tuu, or Kxʼa-speaking indigenous hunter-gatherer cultures that are the first cultures of Southern Africa, and whose territories span Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, ...

led to the 1869 Reprisal launched from Fort Nottingham. The campaign, which established the boundaries in the settlers' favor, was commemorated in some of the final

San rock art The San, or Bushmen, are indigenous people in Southern Africa particularly in what is now South Africa and Botswana. Their ancient rock paintings and carvings (collectively called rock art) are found in caves and on rock shelters. The artwork depi ...

Leisure

Horse riding Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, Driving (horse), driving, and Equestrian vaulting, vaulting ...

polo Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...

and

drag hunting Drag hunting or draghunting is a form of equestrian sport, where mounted riders hunt the trail of an artificially laid scent with hounds. Description Drag hunting is conducted in a similar manner to fox hunting, with a field of mounted riders foll ...

are popular recreation activities in the area. * Trout-fishing here dates to 1884. * The ''Nottingham Road Brewing Company'' makes beer locally using traditional German methods under names such as the

lager Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storage" ...

''Tiddley Toad'', the

pale ale Pale ale is a golden to amber coloured beer style brewed with pale malt. The term first appeared around 1703 for beers made from malts dried with high-carbon coke, which resulted in a lighter colour than other beers popular at that time. Diff ...

''Whistling Weasel'', the

pilsner Pilsner (also pilsener or simply pils) is a type of pale lager. It takes its name from the Bohemian city of Plzeň (german: Pilsen), where the world's first pale lager (now known as Pilsner Urquell) was produced in 1842 by Pilsner Urquell Brewe ...

''Pie-eyed Possum'', and the dark brown

porter Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian regional airline based in Toronto * Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets * Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer * H.K. Porter, Inc., ...

''Pickled Pig''. * Every May, the two-day Sherwood Medieval Festival is held in town.

References

Populated places in the uMngeni Local Municipality Populated places established in 1905 1905 establishments in the Colony of Natal {{KwaZuluNatal-geo-stub