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The
Valley Trust
in Bothas Hill was founded
in 1953 by Dr. Halley
Stott as a means of teaching
the local inhabitants
the art of soil enrichment.
Nutrition education was
one of the pillars on
which The Valley Trust's
reputation was built.
On the 15 July 2003 The
Valley Trust celebrated
it's 50th birthday.Tourist
are invited to visit the
famous settlement.
Sadly, Dr Halley Stott
passed away in 2004
Through the distribution
and sale of Nigel Stott's
recent biography Dr Halley Harwin
Stott Founder
of the Valley Trust in
KwaZulu Natal, we hope
to raise funds to support
the essential work of
The Stroke Association.For
further information about
how you can also support
the ongoing inspiring
work of the Valley Trust,
visit www.thevalleytrust.org.za » To purchase
a copyCLICK
HERE «
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UK taxpayer, Justgiving
makes sure 25% in Gift
Aid, plus a 3% supplement,
are added to your donation.
Many thanks for your support.
Make a donation
... CLICK
HERE
THE EARLY HISTORY
[ Narrator - The Late Peter Reece
- May 2005 ] Page
1
In the early 1800's, a route had been
established westwards between Port Natal
(Durban) and Natal's Capital (Pietermaritzburg),
some 80 Km (50 miles) apart. A wagon-track
scaled the hillslopes around steep valleys
and clear streams, sometimes overwhelmed
by huge bouldered cliffs and sheer escarpments,
and sometimes flanked by rolling grasslands
or luxuriant tropical riverine forest.
Deep clefts in the slopes were sprinkled
with waterfalls and meandering streams,
and the difficult track had to pick
its way through these numerous obstacles
between the two towns.
Almost half-way on the route to Pietermaritzburg,
one such hill stands: Botha's Hill.
In the early 1840's, a Voortrekker,
J.J. (Hans) Potgieter found a beautiful
lush valley west of the hill, surrounded
by sheer sandstone cliffs and dense
grasslands, and decided to settle there.
In 1848, his farm was registered as
Assagay Kraal. In 1850, George Mason
(a Byrne settler) and his brother were
walking from Durban to Pietermaritzburg
and described the farm as viewed from
Botha's Hill: "From this cutting,
which is very narrow - indeed just a
ledge on the mountainside - you get
a 'bird's-eye-view' of Potgieter's farm,
down a well-watered valley to the left,
with a snug Dutch homestead, a large
orchard, some fields of ripening corn,
and droves of cattle, forming a pretty
picture when contrasted with the barren
steeps, and wild craggy peaks by which
it is walled in all around." On
the eastern side of the hill, another
farm of about 6000 acres was registered
as Buffelsfontein and a roadside inn,
"Elliot's Inn" was built,
later renamed variously as the Albany
Hotel, Botha's Halfway House, The Black
Horse, and Padley's Hotel, until it
closed around 1880.
The naming of Botha's Hill has, apparently,
two contenders. Philip Rudolph Botha
(according to T.V. Bulpin in his book:
"To the shores of Natal")
took land in the area in the mid-1800's.
His grandson later became the famous
Louis Botha, "one of the giants
of South African history". But
local historians, among them Robin Lamplough,
now favour Cornelis Botha who had established
Botha's Halfway House on the Buffelsfontein
Farm in the early 1850's.
