A National Trust Property
Runnymede is a National Trust property in Hobart, Tasmania. The original cottage was built in 1840 for Robert Pitcairn, who was a supreme court justice in Van Diemen's Land. (no relation apparently of the Mutiny on the Bounty Pitcairn) He had also been a leading campaigner against transportation, and had the cottage built just outside Hobart town in more peaceful surroundings than those of Hobart town. Nowadays its location is an inner suburb and it's advertised to be 8 minutes from the centre of Hobart. I didn't set a stopwatch to check! But it was close. The property is in a suburban street, the original settlement with its large properties have all be subdivided over the years, some houses do still survive, but it's certainly not at all rural.
After Robert Pitcairn moved back to Hobart town, the house was lived in by the first Anglican bishop of Hobart, Francis Nixon. Finally it was bought by whaler Captain Charles Bayley and it was his descendants who passed it to the National Trust in the 1960s. Charles Bayley named the property 'Runnymede' after his favourite ship. (Not as I thought after Runnymede in the U.K.!)
Whaling was a lucrative (if not dangerous!) business in the 1800s and the house and surrounding property reflected the fact that the family were well off.
The dining room, that has a cupboard door that records the heights of the children in the house. The last occupants of the house were two unmarried sisters, when they moved out, one then became a National Trust volunteer and continued to work in the garden. She was an invaluable source of knowledge about the home. Present day visitors have the friendly and knowledgeable National Trust volunteers to fill in the details of life at Runnymede.
When the owners measured for this decorative frieze in this room, they miscalculated and months later when it arrived it came up short. The solution was to handpaint the design to complete the frieze. There's a small section near the chimney where you can see this, had it not been pointed out, I wouldn't have noticed.
The kitchens, this blue and white crockery is very much back in style right now.
The children's room, quite wealthy children going by the toys and furniture they had!
The main bedroom with one remnant of Bishop Nixon's time at the house. It's his prayer chair, the legs are short, there's a dip in the seat where he knelt and the ledge at the back to lean his elbows when praying.
A large house belonging to a prosperous family had staff, the courtyard at the back of the house was a busy area for them to work and congregate in.
The stables, the family had horses but the main access to the property was by ship. The property sloped down to an inlet and ships were moored there, the inlet became silted out and then reclaimed and it now forms the base of a nearby school's playing field!
As the family fortunes diminished in succeeding generations, parts of the property were sold off, but there's still quite a nice garden to wander around in.
Runnymede is in New Town, a short drive from central Hobart. National Trust volunteers open the house up for tours, it's a nice, chatty way to experience a piece of Tasmanian colonial history.
Runnymede is a National Trust property in Hobart, Tasmania. The original cottage was built in 1840 for Robert Pitcairn, who was a supreme court justice in Van Diemen's Land. (no relation apparently of the Mutiny on the Bounty Pitcairn) He had also been a leading campaigner against transportation, and had the cottage built just outside Hobart town in more peaceful surroundings than those of Hobart town. Nowadays its location is an inner suburb and it's advertised to be 8 minutes from the centre of Hobart. I didn't set a stopwatch to check! But it was close. The property is in a suburban street, the original settlement with its large properties have all be subdivided over the years, some houses do still survive, but it's certainly not at all rural.
After Robert Pitcairn moved back to Hobart town, the house was lived in by the first Anglican bishop of Hobart, Francis Nixon. Finally it was bought by whaler Captain Charles Bayley and it was his descendants who passed it to the National Trust in the 1960s. Charles Bayley named the property 'Runnymede' after his favourite ship. (Not as I thought after Runnymede in the U.K.!)
Whaling was a lucrative (if not dangerous!) business in the 1800s and the house and surrounding property reflected the fact that the family were well off.
The kitchens, this blue and white crockery is very much back in style right now.
The children's room, quite wealthy children going by the toys and furniture they had!
A large house belonging to a prosperous family had staff, the courtyard at the back of the house was a busy area for them to work and congregate in.
The stables, the family had horses but the main access to the property was by ship. The property sloped down to an inlet and ships were moored there, the inlet became silted out and then reclaimed and it now forms the base of a nearby school's playing field!
Runnymede is in New Town, a short drive from central Hobart. National Trust volunteers open the house up for tours, it's a nice, chatty way to experience a piece of Tasmanian colonial history.
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