Cradock Begrafplaas

The history of a town can be found in a cemetery and Cradock is no exception. The graces of many prominent people can be found here, including one who proudly announces himself as being of an 1820 Settler family – and a man called Harry Potter. Look for his grave in the centre of the graveyard. 

Tragically the graves of many children can be found here, and the suicide graves where the gravestones are pointed to the West instead of the East. 

You will find the grave of Reginald Koettlits, a famous geologist who was the chief medical officer in Captain RF Scott’s first expedition to the Antarctic. There is also the grave of General Pieter Kritzinger of Anglo-Boer War fame.

When you encounter the neat little graves of the Catholic sisters who died here, look across the road to see the Convent Flats – formerly their convent.

And the neat well-kept section is the final resting place of the British soldiers who died during the Anglo-Boer War. 

Seeing that Cradock is the 8th oldest town in South Africa, there were a lot of European and other parts of the world that established themselves here in Cradock. Their graves are grouped together.