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Alicedale

human settlement in South Africa

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 13, 2026
Entity authorityQ2043573
Source-derived summary

Alicedale is a small settlement in Sarah Baartman District Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, situated on the banks of the Bushmans River.

Railway History

Alicedale is a railway junction on the main railway line between Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth. From here a branch line leads to Grahamstown. The town was a railway training facility during the previous two centuries, from there the historical red facebrick building that now houses the reception of the resort hotel. The town was named for Mrs. Alice Slessor, the wife of the engineer in charge of construction of the railways.

Buildings of interest

Bushmans River Sands Hotel in Alicedale had an 18-hole golf course.Due to COVID it closed

St Barnabas Anglican Church was dedicated in 1887 and regular Anglican worship still takes place in the church.

The nearest neighbouring towns are Riebeek East and Paterson, while Grahamstown lies 45 kilometres (28 mi) to the east.

Editorial summary

“Alicedale” enters the record as human settlement in South Africa. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Alicedale, human and settlement can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1887—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Alicedale, human and settlement.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Alicedale” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Alicedale, human and settlement provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2043573. Authority coordinates are -33.317, 26.083. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1887.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Alicedale”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Alicedale primary sources, Alicedale archive and Alicedale research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Alicedale”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Alicedale” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.