On 15 November a raiding party ambushed an armoured train at Frere, 11 km (7 mi) south of Colenso taking 70 prisoners including Winston Churchill.

[9] After another raiding party was surprised on 23 November at Willow Grange,[10] 40 km (25 mi) to the south of Colenso, the Boers withdrew to a position behind the Tugela River.

Apart from some hills downstream (east and north-east) of Colenso (including the peaks of Hlangwane and Monte Cristo), the land the south of the river was relatively flat.

When General Sir Redvers Buller arrived in November to break the Siege of Ladysmith, it was obvious that he would have to cross the river and then march across the rough country before he could achieve his objective.

On the western flank the British forces suffered considerable losses when the Irish Brigade were trapped in a loop in the river 3 km (2 mi) upstream for Colenso.

In the centre they lost six guns while on the eastern flank, Buller ordered his men to retreat after the Boers had abandoned Hlangwane hill.

Victoria Crosses were awarded to William Babtie, Walter Congreve (whose son also won a VC), George Ravenhill (VC later forfeited), Hamilton Reed, Frederick Roberts (son of Lord Roberts; posthumously) and Harry Norton Schofield for gallantry during the battle.

Many of the British dead from the Battle of Colenso are now interred in the Ambleside Cemetery close to the point where the Irish Brigade were trapped.

Buller made two further attempts to cross the river, this time some 20 km (12 mi) upstream of Colenso - at Spioenkop between 20 and 24 January 1900 and at Vaalkrans between 5 and 7 February 1900.

For many years the town's principal industry was the power station, originally built for South African Railways and opened in June 1926 and finally decommissioned in 1985.

It continued to be the provider of electrical power for the railway, which by 1937 consisted of the whole of the Natal section of the Durban – Johannesburg line (516 route kilometres) and the 229 km (142 mi) spur to Bethlehem in the Orange Free State.

[11] The power station itself dominated that town and Escom provided housing and a social and sports club for its employees and their families.