Falkland Islands Museum and National Trust
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    • Home
    • About Us
      • Policies and Objectives
      • Trustees
      • Our Services
      • The Lookout Gallery & EH
      • Meet the Staff
      • Awards
      • Become a Member
      • FAQs
      • Founding Partners
    • Historic Dockyard Museum
    • Etched in Memory
    • National Trust
      • Our Mission
      • HER
      • The Dockyard
      • Cartmell Cottage
      • Hawk's Nest Shanty
      • Cape Pembroke Lighthouse
      • Whale Bone Arch
      • Corrals
      • Cemeteries
      • Bodie Creek Bridge
    • Past Finders
      • About Past Finders
      • Mt Harriett
      • Cape Pembroke Walk
      • Art Session
      • Craft session
      • Fire Station
      • 5th Anniversary
      • Gardening Cartmell Cottag
      • Historical walk
      • Christmas Crafts
      • Goose Green Farm
      • Murrell Farm
      • Horticultural Show
    • News & Events
      • Everything Changed
      • John R. Murray Donation
      • Talks
      • Museum at Night
      • Falkland's Ball
      • Macmillan Coffee Mornings
      • Community Day
      • Christmas Lights
    • Articles
      • Early History
      • 1982
      • WWI Battles
      • WWII
      • Battle of the River Plate
      • The Warrah
Falkland Islands Museum and National Trust
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Policies and Objectives
    • Trustees
    • Our Services
    • The Lookout Gallery & EH
    • Meet the Staff
    • Awards
    • Become a Member
    • FAQs
    • Founding Partners
  • Historic Dockyard Museum
  • Etched in Memory
  • National Trust
    • Our Mission
    • HER
    • The Dockyard
    • Cartmell Cottage
    • Hawk's Nest Shanty
    • Cape Pembroke Lighthouse
    • Whale Bone Arch
    • Corrals
    • Cemeteries
    • Bodie Creek Bridge
  • Past Finders
    • About Past Finders
    • Mt Harriett
    • Cape Pembroke Walk
    • Art Session
    • Craft session
    • Fire Station
    • 5th Anniversary
    • Gardening Cartmell Cottag
    • Historical walk
    • Christmas Crafts
    • Goose Green Farm
    • Murrell Farm
    • Horticultural Show
  • News & Events
    • Everything Changed
    • John R. Murray Donation
    • Talks
    • Museum at Night
    • Falkland's Ball
    • Macmillan Coffee Mornings
    • Community Day
    • Christmas Lights
  • Articles
    • Early History
    • 1982
    • WWI Battles
    • WWII
    • Battle of the River Plate
    • The Warrah

Corrals

Stone corrals feature from the  earliest days of settlement in the Falkland Islands. Many were built by  people trying to make use of the wild cattle which roamed all over East  Falkland. 


These  herds originated from sealers who would place a few beasts ashore to  ensure that supplies of fresh meat were available when they next called.  The cattle bred until there were many thousands on the East and later  some were put ashore north of Port Howard, where they bred into large  herds also.

Early settlers gained hides and fresh meat from the herds, while some were domesticated to provide dairy products.

Two  brothers named Lafone, who ran a beef salting business in Uruguay, set  up a Saladero at Hope Place (south of Darwin) and brought in a number of  families and Gauchos, establishing a salting industry and settlement.

The  Gauchos were chiefly involved in organising the wild cattle herds, culling old animals, moving herds to Stanley for butchering and to  various grazing grounds. Corrals were necessary for keeping the cattle  together during overnight stops on a long drive. They were also used for  the sorting of animals and some of the small corrals were used for  resting horses.  

While others settlers to the north of the  Falklands also built corrals, there are fewer stone corrals on West  Falkland – probably because the cattle herds that existed on the West  were killed off more rapidly to make way for sheep farming.  

Corrals  were built with whatever materials were available – stone, if the  structure was needed near a beach, stone run or rock outcrop, turf if  stone was not available.  

Stone corrals are all built in the dry  stone walling fashion and most are circular. A stake would be driven  into the ground, probably with a long lasso looped over it to mark out  the circle.

The Gauchos were chiefly involved in organising the wild cattle herds, culling old animals, moving herds to  Stanley for butchering and to various grazing grounds. Corrals were  necessary for keeping the cattle together during overnight stops on a  long drive. They were also used for the sorting of animals and some of  the small corrals were used for resting horses.

While others  settlers to the north of the Falklands also built corrals, there are  fewer stone corrals on West Falkland – probably because the cattle herds  that existed on the West were killed off more rapidly to make way for  sheep farming.

 Corrals were built with whatever  materials were available – stone, if the structure was needed near a  beach, stone run or rock outcrop, turf if stone was not available.

Stone  corrals are all built in the dry stone walling fashion and most are  circular. A stake would be driven into the ground, probably with a long  lasso looped over it to mark out the circle. 

 The Sapper Hill corral is mentioned in the Government records of 1850;

“This  corral is situated in a valley on the South side of Sappers Hill, this  wall of stones, laid dry in an oval form. The wall measured 742 feet in  length. There is a ditch on the inside. A wide gateway to the left. The  wall is 6 feet thick at the base, 3 feet at the top and 7 feet high. The  corral is calculated to hold 1,000 head of cattle. There are no  fixtures in it, nor any poles for the gateway… Although included in the  Land known as the Peninsula Farm, it is not chargeable with the rent by  the tenant…”

Records show that this large corral was built by Jacob Napoleon Goss on instructions from the Governor at the time.


The  area was once a popular site for picnics but was inaccessible after it  was mined by Argentine troops in 1982.  In 2013 the area was cleared of  mines and the area is once again open to the public to enjoy.   

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    Historic Dockyard Museum - Stanley - Falkland Islands

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