Glencoe is situated in the Umzinyathi District, District of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
The main economic activity in the area is coal mining along with sheep and cattle ranching.
History
With coal discovered 8 km away from Dundee, an efficient way was needed to transport coal to factories other than by ox wagon. The railway from Durban to Johannesburg reached this point on 4 September 1889. A new village sprung up where a branch line was built from the Durban-Johannesburg line to the eastern Transvaal in 1903. The village was renamed Glencoe, after a mountain valley in Lochaber, Scotland, it became a town in 1934.
Trivia
- General French was periodically stationed here during the Second Boer War.
- Boer President Paul Kruger twice stayed overnight during the Siege of Ladysmith, South Africa.
- The house of Carl Landman - second in command at the Battle of Blood River can be found on a farm close to Glencoe.
- Fort Mistake, a fort designed as a communications link between Ladysmith and Newcastle in 1881 and playing a key role in the Anglo-Boer War is nearby.
References
- ^ a b c d "Main Place Glencoe". Census 2011.