Historic Brindley Park on the market with $15 million price expectations
Located at 100 Mountain Station Road in Merriwa, Brindley Park is up for sale for $15 million, and it comes with not only a helipad, 598 acres of land, a pool, tennis courts, a summer house and fountains, but a rich history as well.
The entire property boasts eight bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, along with a "charming" heritage six-bedroom guest lodge (pictured below).
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Originally, the landholding was granted to William Wentworth and John Blaxland in the early 1800s and is said to be one of Australia's oldest farming properties.
Wentworth and Blaxland are most renowned for leading a 1813 expedition, along with fellow explorer William Lawson, to discover a route throught the Blue Mountains. Their successful crossing was a key moment in early colonial history which openened up large swathes of arable farming land to the west of the Blue Mountains.
References to the land in Trove's digitised newspaper collection, including in The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser where it mentions the land as being used for sheep shearing in 1893.
There are three historical images of the property archived, which provide a stark contrast between the modest farming property on fertile land of the past, to the mansion we're seeing currently.
For instance, this image of the dining room at Brindley Park circa 1890, and this one of the initial sandstone house circa 1895. There is also an image of the woolteams leaving Brindley Park in 1914.
The Australian Dictionary of Biography notes that James Brindley Bettington was of significant importance to the property also.
"The Rooty Hill lease was given up in 1834, the Bathurst grant transferred to Icely, and with his brothers Bettington first leased, then bought Piercefield, Martindale and Brindley Park on the Hunter and Goulburn Rivers. After the dissolution in 1835 of the family partnership, John Henshall retained Martindale, Joseph Horton held Piercefield briefly, while James continued at Brindley Park the sound management which had earlier marked him as 'one of the principal landed Proprietors in the colony', and with his fellow magistrates on the Merton bench earned a well-merited reputation for the kindly treatment of assigned servants," it says.
It further explains that after his father's death he built the homestead, where he continued to product fine quality wool. He was a resident magistrate at Merriwa, active in Hunter Valley agriculutral associations and supported the church and School of Arts.
His eldest son, James Brindley, died at Brindley Park in 1893 aged 28, while the second son William John Henshall established Terragong, part of the Wentworth grant, while another son, Albermarle Brindley, managed the estate until it sold in 1926.
According to RP Data, the property last transacted in 1998 for $510,000. It has been listed by Libby and Greg Moore who set up Pont Securities.
It has many different sections to the property, and has its own website to describe them.
The neo-Palladian main residence with sandstone columns and facade, tessellated granite flooring, five-metre ceilings, slate roof, Teak panelled entry and hand-carved marble fireplaces, is an imposing building that speaks of grandeur.
The property also comes with a private library, butlers pantry, a summer house with five metre wide screened verandas and games rooms, a pool, bocci pit, chip-and-putt golf lawn and an English style half acre moated garden.
Truly something outstanding to behold.
If that's not enough, there's then also the working farm with fertile soil, 2,204 megalitres of secure irrigation licenses through four deep bores, 4.8 kilometre double frontage to Merriwa River, 414 hectares of underground mains piped irrigation country and six machinery and hay sheds.