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Bathurst Accommodation: Nearby towns with accommodation:
Grahamstown Accommodation | Kidd's Beach Accommodation | Kenton-on-Sea Accommodation
Port Alfred Accommodation | King William`s Town Accommodation | East London Accommodation
Bathurst is about 12 kilometres inland from Port Alfred, on the road to Grahamstown,
in the Eastern Cape province. Its chief claim to fame is that it was the
administrative centre for the 1820 British Settlers who were established in the
district as a buffer between the Cape Colony and the Xhosa pastoralists who were
migrating southwards and westwards along the coast.
Many of the original settler houses and other buildings in Bathurst have been preserved, and
there remains much of the look and feel of an English village of the early 19th
Century. The Pig and Whistle, at the heart of the village, is reputedly the oldest
existent pub in the country.
While time has moved slowly in Bathurst, there is an increasing population of artists,
academics (Rhodes University is only 40 km away), and retirees who have chosen to live
in this tranquil environment.
The district has an area of 1564 m². and a population (1904) of 8490, of whom 50% are
whites. Xhosa is spoken by many people, and English is the lingua franca. The chief
occupation followed is sheep-farming, the pasturage being excellent. Like Barkly West,
the town and district are named after Sir Henry Barkly, governor of Cape Colony,
1870-1877.
The area is well-known for excellent trout fishing. A variety of caves contain rock
paintings by the San that date back hundreds of years, and visitors interested in San
art stay at cottages on local farms.
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