AN unassuming barn tucked away on an O’Connell farm has been recognised as state significant and has been added to the State Heritage Register.
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Member for Bathurst Paul Toole said it was an example of the exceptional heritage that still exists on some local properties.
“Believed to have been constructed around 1827, the Lindlegreen Barn on a farm at O’Connell is a rare early colonial cob building,” Mr Toole said.
“This barn demonstrates how traditional Welsh and English building techniques were transported along with colonists and used in rural NSW when other normal building materials, such as timber, were unavailable.
“The cob method uses a mixture of soil, clay, straw and water laid as a continuous course, trampled, then smoothed. Each course has to dry and set before the next is laid in a time-consuming but effective process.
“The significance of the barn, which is still standing almost two centuries later, was recognised by the property owner and a local community group, the Friends of Lindlegreen, who are keen advocates for the recognition and protection of local heritage places.”
Mr Toole said Lindlegreen Barn’s listing on the State Heritage Register is a great example of people valuing precious pieces of the past.
“The barn is also associated with the prominent early colonial Hassall family,” Mr Toole said. “The Hassall family were known for their connection to the early development and establishment of the Church of England in NSW.”
The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage said the Lindlegreen Barn showcases colonial builders’ early reliance on the cob construction technique, using a mix of shale, clay, straw and water to build substantial walled structures due to the difficulty in sourcing other building materials.
The technique relied on the clay acting as an agglutinant and the straw as a reinforcing agent. It was mixed by hand and turned over with a specialised cob pick.
The tradition was brought by settlers originating from the west of England and Wales and was a skill passed down by families.
Built in 1827, only four years after the official government survey of the area, the barn represents the period of very early European settlement of inland NSW, according to the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.
