Chatsworth, Zimbabwe
Chatsworth is a small settlement in the Masvingo Province of Zimbabwe. It is located about 58 km north of Masvingo on the Masvingo-Gweru railway line. The settlement started in 1911 as a railway station. It administered under the Gutu Rural District Council.
The village was first called Makori, then Makowries and in 1919 renamed Chatsworth. The naming was mainly done by the developers who were mostly white, which is why there is no obvious trace of the original name meanings. They did not speak the local languages and they tried to modify the local place names so they could spell them. The local name, Makaure, is still locally used and is the name of the township and a local primary school. It comes from being the name of the local hill, which sits in the middle of the township to the south, and the more affluent low density residential to the north.
Latitude 19.38S Longitude 030.51E Altitude 1365m /4478 ft (according to peg on railway line). It is located 280 km south of the capital Harare, 70 km North of the regional capital Masvingo by road and about 60 km by rail and 40 km west of the local authority location at Gutu.
A railway line passes from Masvingo to Gweru. The nearest airport is at Masvingo.
Public buses, train, bicycle, ox-powered carts, but for distances less than 15 km, most people walk.
The shops in the Makaure Township are built in a quadrangle, the middle of which serves as the local bus station. 5 minutes walk from that is the local railway station. The bus station also serves as the station for minibuses and lifts. Lifts are part and parcel of Zimbabwean means of travel. If you get a lift from any driver, expect to pay slightly higher than the bus rates. When in Zimbabwe, never, never travel alone in a car. It is not environmentally economic.
The hamlet itself has less than 1000 residents. The areas around are sparsely populated mostly by subsistence farmers and semi-commercial farmers.
The main industry around is farming. All other activities at Chatsworth are there mainly to support farming. The soil in the area is not good enough for growing crops but is more suitable for cattle ranching. Well-paid employees get on average US$500 per month.
The main employer at Chatsworh is the Zimbabwe Republic Police. Chatsworth has an unusually large police station for a hamlet that size. The reason for that is the station serves a very wide sparsely populated rural area. Crime is traditionally very low.
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