Cradock is a town in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, in the upper valley of the Great Fish River, 260 km’s by road northeast of Port Elizabeth. Cradock is a town on
the Great Fish River. Established as a frontier outpost on the farm Buffelskloof in 1813, it was proclaimed a township in 1814 and named after Sir John Francis Cradock (1762-1839), Governor of the Cape from 1811 to 1814. Municipal status was achieved in 1840. Five km’s north of Cradock are hot sulphur or Sulfur (you decide) springs.

Cradock is one of the Cape’s chief centres of the wool industry, and also produces beef, dairy, fruit, lucerne, and mohair.

Of enormous importance to the economic development of Cradock was the construction of the Orange-Fish River Tunnel. Completed in 1975 and 85 km’s in length it diverts water from the Gariep Dam on the Orange River to the Great Fish River and then on as far as the Addo Valley, Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth for irrigation, household and industrial use.

The town is the administrative seat of the Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality in the Chris Hani District of the Eastern Cape.

Key Statistics 2011

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