The suburb lying south of Malvern and north of Rosherville, is an industrial area.

Prior to the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886, the suburb lay on land on one of the original farms called Doornfontein.

[2] The mine is said to have been named after the Scottish goldsmith George Heriot, the "Jingling Geordie" in Sir Walter Scott's novel The Fortunes of Nigel.

Some experts, however, claim the mine was instead named after the village of Heriot in Midlothian, Scotland.

This village was founded in 1164 as Herth, but its name was changed in 1198 to Hereget (from the Old English here-geat, meaning a break in a hillside through which troops could march.