April Field Trip

On Monday the 13^th, six members of NDHAG, Chris, Ros, Rachael, Anne, Peter and Richard, went on a field trip to Windsor. There we met Venecia and later Helen who were our guides for the day.

First we saw, in Thompson Square, a colonial terrace house referred to as the Doctors house. This building was completed in 1844 and replaced an inn called the Lord Nelson that was built in 1819.  It is called the Doctors house as there was a doctor in residence there from 1876 until 1992 when the last doctor retired.

 

On the Eastern side of the Doctors house is a Georgian Cottage built in 1852 and is in near original condition. This also has the original timber slab outbuilding at the rear.

Next door is the Hawkesbury Regional Museum and between this and the Macquarie Arms Hotel is an early brick retaining wall that appears to have been added to on several occasions.

The Macquarie Arms built in 1815 was our next call and we had a good look around inside and around the grounds.

On the other side of the square we had a quick look at the School of Arts building completed in 1861. This was built on the site of the old Government Commissariat building which was built in 1813.

Our next call was one of the main reasons for the trip, Lilburndale a two story Victorian Regency house built in 1856 by Dr Dowe.

The owners kindly allowed us to have look all through the house, the grounds, and the basement.

There was an old brick drain in the yard that originally serviced the stables.

The basement still had the original rough timber roof beams built into the original brickwork.

We then went to the Windsor Court House, designed by Francis Greenway, and built in 1822. It is still in use as a Court House today.     

   

The old Toll House was just around the corner, the original was built in 1814 but collapsed in a flood. The existing building was  built in 1835 and was in use to collect tolls until 1887.

It was a long and very rewarding day, and again our thanks to Venecia and Helen for all their time and excellent commentary.

More information on all these buildings and their history is available at the NDHAG workshop, and anyone is welcome read it.

Don't forget the open day, May the 9^th 2015 at the workshop in Station Street Penrith.