HAMBLEDON COTTAGE 1824

STATE LIBRARY OF NEW SOUTH WALES


HISTORIC HOUSES TRUST

Hambledon Cottage was commenced in November 1821 on the western boundary of the Macarthur estate, close to town and river. A fashionable bungalow, built of brick, with smart Doric columns, trellised verandah screens and French doors, Hambledon was clearly intended to promote the tastes and sensibilities of a well established and worldy family.

The first occupants were visiting Macarthur family members and later the Archdeacon Thomas Hobbes Scott, the newly arriving head of church in the colony and former secretary to Commissioner Thomas Bigge. Scott was responsible for building the coach house and planting the earliest garden.

It wasn’t until late 1826 or early 1827 that ‘Mrs’ or ‘Aunt’ Lucas moved in, eventually renaming the cottage ‘Hambledon’, after the township of Hambledon in Hampshire, England. With John Macarthur’s descent into madness in 1832, the cottage was occupied by his daughters Elizabeth and Mary. Penelope lived on at Hambledon until her death in 1836. John Macarthur had left her a small annuity in his will and the use of Hambledon during her lifetime. A memorial in the chancel of St John's, Parramatta records her involvement in the congregation and her charitable interests in the community.

The cottage and a small acreage was sold as part of the Elizabeth Farm estate in 1883, renamed Firholme, and used as a family home until 1947, when it was purchased by the Wyeth Pharmaceutical Company for factory land. The cottage was resold a few years later to the Parramatta Council and placed under the management of the Parramatta and District Historical Society.

Built of rendered sandstock brick, the design resembles the Macarthur’s cottage at Camden, both of which are attributed to the architect Henry Kitchen, who died before either building was completed. The main eastern wing was later connected to a detached kitchen wing, forming an unusual L shaped footprint. The shallow pitched shingled roof was covered by vertically seamed iron sheets in the 1850s, about the same time changes were made to Elizabeth Farm’s eastern verandah. The broad ‘bungalow’ roof covers the building and verandah in one swoop. The verandah, with French doors opening onto it, has a stylishly vaulted ceiling. The narrow glazed doors have internal cedar screen shutters which fit into the reveals as panelling when not in use.