Fort Daspoortraand

This fort was built by the firm Schneider & Co, which was connected to the French firm, Le Creusot. Military engineers, Leon Grunberg and Sam Leon were responsible for the design of the fort, which was completed 12 November 1898 and cost £46 500. French and Italian mechanics were involved in the building of this fort, namely Carlos Prina, Petro Testan and Joseph Allias. The commander of the fort was Lieutenant F. Townsend. This hexagonal fort was much bigger in design than the other forts and had three ammunition rooms and manschappen (troops) rooms, while the other forts had only one of each. The ammunition rooms were also underground, and ammunition was lifted up to the bastions through two shafts. The fort also had an impressive entrance, with a long passage, five arches and double steel doors. The fort was also equipped with electricity, which was provided by dynamos, and powered searchlights. Fort Daspoortraand also had lightning conductors, an underground telegraph, a telephone and running water pumped by a steam engine, probably from the nearby Skinner Spruit. Initially the fort was manned by 25 gunners and three cannons, but these were also gradually withdrawn. The fort is also known as Fort West, after the former leper colony and psychiatric hospital that was established there. The ruins of the fort can now be seen in Fort West Village, as part of the Fort West Heritage Foundation project.