Loxton is a town in the

Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe Khoemana (also known as !Orakobab or Korana) word is a semidesert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent is ...

region of South Africa's

Northern Cape The Northern Cape ( ; ; ) is the largest and most sparsely populated Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley, South Africa, Kimberley. It includes ...

province. Within the Ubuntu Local Municipality of the

Pixley ka Seme District Municipality The Pixley ka Seme District Municipality (; ) is one of the five districts of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. The seat of Pixley ka Seme is De Aar. As of 2011, a majority (77%) of its 186,351 residents speak Afrikaans as a first la ...

It is in one of the major wool-producing and one of the largest garlic-producing areas in South Africa. With a population of 1,053 in 2011, the area is quiet and sparsely populated. Afrikaans is the most widely spoken language in the town.Loxton. Census 2011. Accessed 22 June 2017.
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History

Loxton was originally a farm called Phizantefontein, which was owned by A.E. Loxton, whom the town is named after. The farm was bought from him in 1899 by the Dutch Reformed Church for £7,500 so as to establish a parish for local farmers. The town is believed to have been named after A.E Loxton due to a £50 donation he made to fund the salary of the town's first Dutch Reformed Church minister. The town's first church building and schoolhouse was built in 1900. Tree-lined streets and flood irrigation channels that run alongside the town's main roads were completed in the same year. The town became a municipality in 1905 as it developed to serve the region's sheep-farming community. The church that stands in the town's centre was constructed in 1924. Most of the small town was destroyed by a

flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice and snow. Flash f ...

that caused the town's dam to burst in March 1961. The town has since recovered from the disaster.

Architecture

The farms surrounding Loxton are characterised by beehive-shaped

Corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

led Houses that have roofs with no supporting roof beams and structures built using local stone.Loxton, Upper Karoo. South Africa Explored. Accessed 22 June 2017.
/ref> They were first built around 1811 by the

Trekboer The Trekboers ( ) were nomadic pastoralists descended from mostly Dutch colonists on the frontiers of the Dutch Cape Colony in Southern Africa. The Trekboers began migrating into the interior from the areas surrounding what is now Cape Town, su ...

s, nomadic farmers who descended from European settlers. They used the local stone to build their homes due to a lack of other building materials. The oldest building in the town is a redundant power station, which was originally a horse stable on what was then the Phizantefontein farm. Even after years of being unoccupied, many of the buildings have been restored and still stand over 100 years after they were first built, as examples of typical vernacular Karoo architecture. Throughout the town are various styles of corrugated iron roofs such as the smooth, round-edged

bullnose A bullnose is a broad convex radius on construction materials such as wood, masonry, and ceramic tile. The term is also used for materials featuring such a profile, as in a “bullnose tile”. It is also used in relation to road safety and (for ...

, the curved

ogee An ogee ( ) is an object, element, or curve—often seen in architecture and building trades—that has a serpentine- or extended S-shape (Sigmoid curve, sigmoid). Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combination of two semicircle, semicircula ...

and the concave roof. Several Loxton buildings are also characterised by diamond windows on end walls, pedimented walls, classical pillars and

balusters A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its c ...

. Some of the old buildings also feature strong wooden shutters and

sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double glazing) of glass. History ...

Notable people

Ena Murray Ena Murray (27 December 1936 – 20 May 2015) was a well-known Afrikaans writer. During the 33 years that she wrote full-time, 131 titles appeared from her pen. She acquired renown mainly for her romance novels, but also wrote detective fiction, e ...

(1936-2015), Afrikaans language novelist and writer. *

Beyers Naudé Christiaan Frederick Beyers Naudé (10 May 1915 – 7 September 2004) was a South African Afrikaner Calvinist Dominee, theologian and the leading Afrikaner anti-apartheid activist. He was known simply as Beyers Naudé, or more colloquially, ...

(1915-2004), theologian and anti-apartheid activist. * Annelise Vorster, Landscape and portrait artist. *

Deon Meyer Deon Godfrey Meyer is a South African thriller novelist, writing primarily in Afrikaans. His works have been translated into 28 languages. He has also written numerous scripts for television and film. Early life and education Deon Meyer was ...

, novelist.

Notes

External links

Official Community Website
{{Authority control Populated places in the Ubuntu Local Municipality Karoo Populated places established in 1905 1905 establishments in the Cape Colony