The aim of having the line of blockhouses from Victoria West to Lamberts Bay (also known as the cross-country line) was to divide the area, then known as the northwest, in two parts. The British believed that this would have hindered the Boers operating freely in the area and also to stop commandos from the Cape to enter the region.
Luitenant LC Jackson wrote in his journal that he arrived with his troops in Williston on 24 April 1902, but that the building of the blockhouse had begun 14 days earlier already.
The diameter of the outer circle is about 12m and the walls were approximately 60cm thick. The inner circle diameter is 5 m and its wall is 70 cm thick. The roof could have been made of steel, canvas or maybe it was a round pitched tent. The wall was fenced in with wire. Four to six soldiers manned a blockhouse. Steel strips were fastened into the ground and on these there were wire. On this the soldiers hung metal objects and cans so that they would hear when the wire was cut. Sometimes dogs were also kept in these blockhouses so that they would make alarm if they spotted the enemy.
These stone blockhouses were built about 1300 feet from each other. The cross-country line were 3700 miles long and the total cost building them amounted to 1 million pounds.
The Williston Tourism Association sponsored the restoration of a blockhouse and Mr John Swart was responsible for the restoration work, which revived the old folk art of building stone structures with local stones.
Restoration work
on the fort taking place
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