Middelpos is a small village on the Roggeveld plateau, approximately 80 kilometers from Calvinia along the R354 dirt road. Founded in 1860 by Englishman Daniel Tomlinson, who purchased a portion of Stinkkuil Farm, it began as a trading post and expanded into a shop. After Tomlinson's death, Jewish merchants Weinrich and Sher developed it into a modest hamlet, complete with houses, a hotel, a police station, and a primary school. The village is historically significant for its role in the Anglo-Boer War, where a skirmish occurred on February 5, 1902, between Boer forces led by Generals Jan Smuts and Wynand Malan and the British, resulting in the death of several Imperial Yeomanry soldiers. Today, Middelpos remains one of the most authentic and isolated Karoo villages, with a wide gravel road, the historic Middelpos Hotel offering boerekos, and a memorial honouring those who fell in battle. The Sher family’s legacy is intertwined with the village’s development.
Middelpos is a small village on the Roggeveld plateau, approximately 80 kilometers from Calvinia along the R354 dirt road. Founded in 1860 by Englishman Daniel Tomlinson, who purchased a portion of Stinkkuil Farm, it began as a trading post and expanded into a shop. After Tomlinson's death, Jewish merchants Weinrich and Sher developed it into a modest hamlet, complete with houses, a hotel, a police station, and a primary school. The village is historically significant for its role in the Anglo-Boer War, where a skirmish occurred on February 5, 1902, between Boer forces led by Generals Jan Smuts and Wynand Malan and the British, resulting in the death of several Imperial Yeomanry soldiers. Today, Middelpos remains one of the most authentic and isolated Karoo villages, with a wide gravel road, the historic Middelpos Hotel offering boerekos, and a memorial honouring those who fell in battle. The Sher family’s legacy is intertwined with the village’s development.
Neighbouring Towns
Distances below are the most popular roads, sometimes dirt and sometimes tar.