Carnarvon is a small town in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa, situated at the intersection of the R63 Provincial Route with the R308, R361, R384, and R386 Regional Routes.
Carnarvon is a busy farming centre whose main agricultural activity is sheep farming.
Carnarvon falls within Kareeberg Local Municipality and the Pixley ka Seme District Municipality. It is the main town and administrative centre/seat of Kareeberg Local Municipality.
History
Carnarvon was established in 1853 on a route between Cape Town and Botswana that was followed by early explorers and traders.
The town was originally established as a mission station of the Rhenish Missionary Society and named Harmsfontein. The Rhenish missionaries also established Schietfontein to the west, which later developed into a village.
In 1874, Harmsfontein was renamed Carnarvon in honour of the British Colonial Secretary, Lord Carnarvon (1831–1890).
The town is known for its corbelled houses – domed-roof houses constructed from flat stones – which were built between 1811 and 1815.
The Afrikaans poet A.G. Visser had strong associations with Carnarvon, and the house where he lived in the town still stands.
Carnarvon Museum contains exhibits on the region’s cultural history. The building was constructed in 1907, and was originally the community hall for the Dutch Reformed Church before being donated to the municipality when a new community centre was constructed in 1973. The museum holds a number of antiques related to the area, including an old hearse previously used by the Dutch Reformed Church. A corbelled house is preserved outside the museum, which was relocated from a nearby farm.
A fort was constructed by the Cape administration on top of the hill that overlooks Carnarvon during the Second Boer War. The hill, now named Koeëlkop (after the Afrikaans word for bullet, koeël), is now used for a water reservoir; the remains of the fort were later rebuilt.
