Lindlegreen Barn facts for kids

Lindlegreen Barn is a very old and important building located in O'Connell, New South Wales, Australia. It was built way back in 1827 by John Barker, following a design by Thomas Hassall. This historic barn is also known as The Lindlegreen Barn or Hassall Barn. Because of its special history and unique way of being built, it was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on August 24, 2018.

Discovering Lindlegreen Barn's Past

The O'Connell Area's Earth Buildings

The O'Connell region is famous for having many buildings made from earth. Some of these structures are very old, dating back to the early 1800s. Lindlegreen Barn is one of these special buildings.

Reverend Thomas Hassall's Farm

Lindlegreen Barn is part of a large farm that was once 324-hectare (800-acre). This land was given to Reverend Thomas Hassall by Governor Brisbane in June 1823. Hassall named his farm Lampeter, or Llambeda, after a college in Wales where he studied.

Thomas Hassall was born in England in 1794. He moved to Australia with his parents when he was young. His father, Rowland Hassall, was a missionary and owned land near Sydney. The Hassall family was very involved in early church activities in Australia. In 1813, Thomas Hassall started Australia's first Sunday school.

Later, Thomas Hassall became a minister. He was the first person born in Australia to become a priest. In 1822, he married Anne Marsden, who was the daughter of another important church leader, Samuel Marsden.

In 1826, Hassall became the first Chaplain for the Bathurst area. He lived at Lampeter Farm and built a chapel there called Salem Chapel. He also preached in a barn at Kelso that was used as a church.

Building the Lindlegreen Barn

The Lindlegreen Barn was built in 1827. Records show that John Barker was paid £17 (Australian pounds) to build it. John Barker was a labourer who worked for Hassall. The Hassall family had been storing wheat in the O'Connell area since 1822, so the barn was likely used to store crops.

We don't know exactly what materials were used for the barn from the old records. However, Thomas Hassall's son later wrote that some buildings were made of "rammed earth." This suggests the barn might have been built using a similar method.

A chapel, Salem Chapel, was also built near the barn in 1834. This chapel was part of the local Anglican church group until 1975. An old map from 1838 shows the barn and the chapel.

Saving the Barn for the Future

The Lindlegreen Barn has faced challenges over the years. A local historian, Peg Savage, believes Lindlegreen might have been called Lampeter Cottage.

The Oberon Council received a grant of $110,000 from the NSW Office of Environment & Heritage. This money was used for workshops to teach people how to fix and look after earth buildings. Angus McKibbin, who helped organize the workshops, used to play in the barn as a child. He wanted to help save the building before it was too late. The National Trust of Australia (NSW) also gave an award for this project to restore the region's old buildings.

What Lindlegreen Barn Looks Like

Lindlegreen Barn is part of a small farm group in O'Connell. The farm is about 1.6-hectare (4.0-acre) and has a house, a timber barn, and the old earth barn.

How the Earth Barn Was Built

The earth barn is made of a material called cob. Cob is a mix of shale, clay, straw, and water. Clay acts like a glue, and straw makes the mixture strong. This mix is made by hand and then laid down in layers. Each layer has to dry before the next one can be added. This building method was common in parts of Wales and western England.

The barn is a simple building, about 4–4.8 by 12–13.5 metres (13 ft–16 ft × 39 ft–44 ft). Its walls are thicker at the bottom, about 450-millimetre (18 in) thick. The roof is made of galvanised iron. There's one entrance on the northern side.

Outside, the barn looks old and worn, especially on the western side, where there are big cracks. You can still see hints of old paint under the roof. Inside, the floor is made of timber, and the walls show the exposed earth. There's a small attic space you can reach with a ladder. You can see straw in the walls and stones at the corners, which are interesting details from its early construction. It seems the outside walls were first painted with a black tar-like substance, then covered with a white lime wash.

Other buildings in the area, like the Lindlegreen house (from the 1850s) and the O'Connell Hotel (from 1865), were also built using cob. This shows it was a popular building method in the area.

Current Condition of the Barn

As of June 2018, the barn is in poor condition. The earth walls are very worn, especially on the western side. There have been problems with water damage over the years. In 2012, some grants helped install gutters to manage water better.

However, there are still issues like water running down the paddock towards the walls, damage from livestock, and wind and rain wearing away the walls. The upper part of the western wall is in serious condition and needs urgent repair to stop it from collapsing.

The building is mostly complete, but its outer walls are badly damaged. It needs urgent maintenance work to save it.

Why Lindlegreen Barn is Important

As of March 2018, Lindlegreen Barn is very important to the history of New South Wales. It's a rare example of a building made using the cob method.

A Glimpse into Early Colonial Building

The barn shows how early settlers built strong structures using materials like shale, clay, straw, and water. It was hard to find other building materials back then. This cob technique was a skill brought by settlers from England and Wales, passed down through families.

Built in 1827, just four years after the area was officially surveyed, the barn represents the very early days of European settlement in inland New South Wales.

Connected to Important Families

The Hassall family, who built the barn, were very important in early New South Wales. They were friends with Governor Macquarie, who even visited their farm. Rowland Hassall was in charge of government livestock. In 1818, Governor Macquarie gave Rowland and his sons 324 hectares (800 acres) of land. This land was officially granted by Governor Brisbane in 1823.

A Unique Building Method

Lindlegreen Barn is special because it's an early cob barn that is still mostly original. It shows how skilled the builders were in using this natural material. The mix of subsoil, water, straw, and sometimes lime gives the barn a unique look.

A Rare Example of Cob Construction

The Lindlegreen Barn is one of the few early cob buildings left in New South Wales, and even in Australia. It shows the clever building methods used by settlers in the early 1800s. The barn is a great example of how people built settlements in inland New South Wales.

Showing Early Building Techniques

The Lindlegreen Barn is a good example of an early cob building in New South Wales. It clearly shows the building techniques used when inland New South Wales was first settled. You can still see the original structure, which gives us a unique look into how buildings were made in the early 1800s.