Fort Wiltshire

Fort Wiltshire was erected by the British military during the frontier war of 1818-19, and was named in honour of Lt-Col Thomas Wiltshire of the 38th Regiment, who commanded the British troops during this campaign. Work on the stone tower, which stood on a hill overlooking the confluence of the Keiskamma and Ngqakayi rivers, was begun in November 1819 under the supervision of Major WC Holloway. The project was originally commissioned by the Governor, Lord Charles Somerset, who then returned to England on leave. In his absence it was visited in May 1820 by his deputy, Sir Rufane Donkin, who found that the tower had not been completed, that no provision had as yet been made for housing its garrison, and that the site suffered from a shortage of water.Consequently he relocated the post to a new site closer to the river, about a kilometre from the tower, and placed the project under the direction of Lt Rutherford. The Keiskamma Barracks, as they became known, consisted of a hollow square with pentagonal towers at each corner, and was designed to house a garrison of 250 men, including stores and stabling facilities. By the time Somerset returned in 1821 the building had been completed, and although the new arrangements did not meet with his approval, by that stage there was little he could do to change matters. During the 1830s it became the seat of a periodic trade fair, where European settlers and indigenous residents could gather to trade ivory, skins, baskets, cattle and sheep for tools, cotton goods, blankets, beads, wire, metal implements and staple goods. The site was abandoned by the military in 1836 when the British withdrew from the Province of Queen Adelaide, and although its buildings were left to the elements, the location continued to be used as a centre for local trade.