Past & presentMpetu Past & Present
Horsey history
Reading Alan Jefferies book, The Absolute Border, my horse-haunted brain could not help but pick up on the snippets of horse history pertinent to the area. With settlers largely dependent on horses for transportation and, later, with the arrival of mounted soldiers in the area, horses formed a fundamental aspect of life on the Wild Coast.
A snippet of history
Compared to the farms of the area, our piece of land is a tiny snippet of a much larger farm, probably established during 1820 settler period, and is therefore unlikely to carry with it significant historical significance. However, the name Mpetukop is the last vestige of the area’s old name of “impetu” which, according to local historian, Alan Jefferies, means “place of maggots”. The history behind this name has been a little confusing to pinpoint so please excuse the forthcoming vagaries!