There are so many “small” and “insignificant” parts of history that are not well documented and often only live on in tales told by one generation to the next, often told with a twist or tail added.
One of these places is a small crude “reservoir” on the N7 National Road between Springbok and Kamieskroon. As with so many other almost forgotten characters, relics and sites, there is more than one tale to this site, but lets not allow facts to interfere with a good story.
Some say this small watering hole was built by British soldiers during the Anglo-Boer war (1899 - 1902). A small rock pool was “constructed” to collect water and was cordoned off with the only steel they could spare for fence posts viz. old gun barrels from rifles taken from Boer fighters during the war or as these men surrendered.
Other sources say that it was the Boer fighters who refused to surrender their weapons to the British and rather than hand over their rifles, they hammered the barrels into the rock and broke the wooden butts off, leaving the barrels pointing skyward.
Whichever tale is the nearest to correct, we will never know, but after 120 years the barrels still remain firmly lodged into the solid granite rock of Namaqualnd and the back sights, which are still visible on the barrels, bare witness to these “surrendered” weapons.