EDGECOMBE ROAD FARM COTTAGE
106 EDGECOMBE ROAD KYNETON, MACEDON RANGES SHIRE
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Statement of Significance
The cottage remnants and associated components (sub-floor and outbuildings) at 106 Edgecombe Road Kyneton are of archaeological and historical significance.
The cottage itself has thearchaeological potentialshown by a possible nearby cesspit, outbuildings andsub-floor deposits. The cottage may not have been ever connected to utilities such as gas, electricity or internal plumbing, and in turn may have been used by seasonal farm workers.
There is the potential to further our understanding of who lived there and when. This is also an opportunity to investigate a late 19th century site which appears relatively unmodified by later renovations or development.
This site has historical significance to the township of Kyneton. Kyneton was settled by squatters in the 1830s and 40s, and was a pit-stop on the way to the Castlemaine and Bendigo diggings during the gold rush. Later, the township remained an agricultural and pastoral town, and this site may represent a farm workers/tenant's cottage from the late 19th century.
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EDGECOMBE ROAD FARM COTTAGE - History
The house (approximate location marked in red) is located within the property of Hugh Glass (below, source: SLV 2019).
Electoral Rolls from 1856 state that Hugh was a gentleman, who owned freehold properties in Kyneton, occupied by one Henry Wilkinson 'and others' (Ancestry 2019). A letter published in the Argus in 1869 also states that Hugh had multiple tenants in the Kyneton area (Argus, 18 Aug 1869: 5).
One of Hugh's Kyneton properties was called 'Fairview', occupied by Henry Wilksonson at least as early as 1856 until 1867, when Henry had to sell all his belongings (including crops and stock) "under distraint for rent" (Kyneton Observer, 6 Jun 1867: 2). In 1877, a Joseph Rogers was living at Fairview (Kyneton Observer, 10 Apr 1877: 3). A modern property named Fairview is currently located at 163 Baynton Road (REA Group Ltd 2019), which is roughly towards the bottom of the 'triangle' of land in the centre of the above parish map - on land once owned by George Rolfe. 'Fairview' is also listed as being in 'south Kyneton' in 1897 (Kyneton Observer, 14 September 1897: 2) - which this site and 163 Baynton Road are not. Meaning - 'Fairview' is a common name for houses or properties in the Kyneton area, and it is uncertain if our house is Glass's 'Fairview' or not. It is probably not from the 1850s, in any case.
Hugh himself died in reduced circumstances (following a land scandal in the early 1860s - he was at one point a millionaire) in 1871 at his home at Flemington (Argus, 16 May 1871: 7).EDGECOMBE ROAD FARM COTTAGE - Archaeological Significance
The site comprises a dilapidated three-room weatherboard cottage with later brick fireplace addition and a lean-to kitchen with identified historical artefacts. This site demonstrates that there is significant potential for historical archaeological features, deposits or artefacts due to associated outbuildings and intact sub-floor deposits.
EDGECOMBE ROAD FARM COTTAGE - Historical Significance
The site is associated with the early-mid nineteenth century settlement of the Kyneton agricultural area. This site is a good example of a rural cottage and outbuildings representing the continued local agricultural and pastoral theme. It establishes an opportunity to gain insight into agricultural workers living conditions during the mid-late nineteenth century.
Heritage Inventory Description
EDGECOMBE ROAD FARM COTTAGE - Heritage Inventory Description
Observed during a survey for Aboriginal cultural heritage (as part of a CHMP), this site is a dilapidated, weatherboard cottage or house comprising three rooms of roughly equal size in a T-shape, each with a brick fireplace, as well as a collapsed lean-to kitchen attached to the east of the northern room. A driveway from Edgecome Road leads directly to the cottage, which is surrounded by a number of large pines/conifers.
The roof has collapsed in the southern room. The bricks in the fireplaces appear to be handmade - a board has been used to scrape off excess clay in the mould, resulting in parallel striations along the length of the bricks, called 'strike' marks (Stuart 2005: 84), dating the bricks to the house to pre-1870 (Stuart 1989: 29).
The chimney and stove in the lean-to kitchen appear later than the cottage proper. The bricks are machine-made (post-1870, Stuart 1989: 29), and the stove appears similar to a Metters style - placing it anywhere from the 1930s to the 1970s. The possible ice box on the ground just outside the cottage to the east may also date to the early to mid- 20th century. Both appliances don't require electricity - and no electric light fixtures or switches were observed, suggesting electricity was never connected.
The majority of the floorboards are intact, and butchered sheep bone,aswell as glass and ceramic are visible on the floorboards of thenorthernroom. It is possible a cesspit is associated with this cottage.
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EDGECOMBE ROAD FARM COTTAGEVictorian Heritage Inventory
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