 After the Dutch farmers decided to accompany their leaders on the Great Trek , the English 1820 settlers moved in, and in 1862 Tarkastad was established as a church centre and became a municipality in 1864.Elands River Poort, a mountain pass located on the Karoo, 24 km to the NNW of Tarkastad, where the Battle of Elands River (1901) was fought during the Second Boer War.The grave of Lt. Sheridan, cousin of Winston Churchill, who was killed in the Battle of Elands River can be found on the Modderfontein farm just outside Tarkastad.