Skip to main content
Thornton Library will be closed Tuesday 05 Jul 2022 till 2pm for maintenance and improvement works, we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. Our normal opening hours at our branches are Monday to Friday from 9.00am to 5.00pm and Saturdays 9.00am to 1.00pm (Rutherford and Thornton) and 9:00am to 2:00pm (Maitland and East Maitland) Find out more about your visit .
Home
Search
  • Remove All filter All (527)
  • Maitland Library August 2016 (3) Apply Maitland Library August 2016 filter
  • 24 (2) Apply 24 filter
  • Look Who's Talking (1) Apply Look Who's Talking filter
  • General (258) Apply General filter
  • What's on (64) Apply What's on filter
  • Online Services (21) Apply Online Services filter
  • Documents (1) Apply Documents filter

Landing page

Home

concillor document

Site Plan Maitland Sports Complex

56561

Maitland Your Say

Your Library

What's On

For readers and writers

Connect with us

Collections

Discover

Pages

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • …
  • 44
  • Next page
  • Log in
  • Join
  • Catalogue
  • Suggest a purchase
  • Renew My Loans
  • Calendar
  • Services A–Z
  • A
  • /
  • A

Main Menu

  •  Home
  • Your Library
    Back to Main MenuBack to parent

    Your Library

    • POPULAR LINKS
      Back to Main MenuBack to parent
      • Our branches
      • Become a member
      • Book a meeting space or study room
      • Fees and charges
      • Computers and WiFi
      • Print, scan and photocopy
    • Using the library
      Back to Main MenuBack to parent

      Using the library

      • Visiting our Libraries
      • Become a member
      • Our branches
      • Borrow from our collections
      • Readers Café and Larder
      • Come to our programs and events
    • Library services
      Back to Main MenuBack to parent

      Library services

      • Your Library from home
      • Click and Collect
      • Maitland Libraries app
      • Seed Library
      • Borrow
      • Computers and WiFi
      • Adult literacy assistance
      • Print, scan and photocopy
      • Book a meeting space or study room
      • Justice of the Peace Services
      • Fees and charges
    • Connect with us
      Back to Main MenuBack to parent

      Connect with us

      • Stay In Touch
      • Who we are
      • Ask us a question
      • Library News
      • Booking a space
      • 50 years of Maitland Library
      • Give feedback
  • What's On
    Back to Main MenuBack to parent

    What's On

    • POPULAR LINKS
      Back to Main MenuBack to parent
      • Adult literacy assistance - temporarily suspended
      • Baby Book Club
      • Storytime
      • Computer and technology assistance
      • Lego Clubs
      • Book Clubs
    • Events
      Back to Main MenuBack to parent

      Events

      • Podcasts
      • Look Who's Talking
      • Kiss the ground - Film screening
    • For readers and writers
      Back to Main MenuBack to parent

      For readers and writers

      • Book Clubs
      • Verses Poets in Residence
    • For kids
      Back to Main MenuBack to parent

      For kids

      • Holiday Fun
      • Online Storytime
      • Baby Book Club
      • Storytime
      • Lego Clubs
      • Children's University
      • National Simultaneous Storytime 2022
    • For teens
      Back to Main MenuBack to parent

      For teens

      • Create a scene
    • Learning
      Back to Main MenuBack to parent

      Learning

      • Brain Training
      • Adult literacy assistance - temporarily suspended
      • Computer and technology assistance
  • Collections
    Back to Main MenuBack to parent

    Collections

    • POPULAR LINKS
      Back to Main MenuBack to parent
      • Download music
      • Read new
      • eBooks and eAudio
      • Borrow our books
      • Read new
      • Watch new
    • Online library
      Back to Main MenuBack to parent

      Online library

      • Podcasts For You
      • eBooks and eAudio
      • eNewspapers and eMagazines
      • eMusic and eFilm
      • eResearch
      • Hunter Libraries Portal
    • Read
      Back to Main MenuBack to parent

      Read

      • Borrow our books
      • Flick through our Magazines
      • Newspapers - Read all about it!
      • Read new
    • Watch
      Back to Main MenuBack to parent

      Watch

      • Films and documentaries
      • Stories for kids
      • Watch new
    • Listen
      Back to Main MenuBack to parent

      Listen

      • Listen to an audiobook
      • Podcasts
      • Download music
      • Read me a story for kids
      • Listen new
    • New
      Back to Main MenuBack to parent

      New

      • Read new
      • Listen new
      • Watch new
    • Reviews
      Back to Main MenuBack to parent

      Reviews

      • Readers Recommend
      • Staff picks
  • Discover
    Back to Main MenuBack to parent

    Discover

    • POPULAR LINKS
      Back to Main MenuBack to parent
      • Les Darcy - The Maitland Wonder
      • Picture Maitland
      • East Maitland Map Collection
      • Family history
      • Career help
      • Study and research
    • eResearch
      Back to Main MenuBack to parent

      eResearch

      • Art, music, books and film
      • Business, law and news
      • Career help
      • Family history
      • Personal health and lifestyle
      • Local Kids - Local History
      • Study and research
    • Local History
      Back to Main MenuBack to parent

      Local History

      • Picture Maitland
      • Historic maps, photos and plans
      • Buildings and bridges
      • Places and people
    • Ancient art of bibliotherapy
Search
  • Log in
  • Join
  • Catalogue
  • Suggest a purchase
  • Renew My Loans
  • Calendar
  • Services A–Z
You are here:
  • Home
  • Discover
  • Local History
  • Buildings and bridges
  • Buildings
  • Aberglasslyn House

Aberglasslyn House

A handsome colonial house
Original owners

Originally the area of Aberglasslyn was a grant of 1,100 acres in June 1822 to Henry Dixon Owen who had arrived from England in 1821 with his brother. Henry then purchased a further 300 acres on the eastern side of his grant.In 1826 Henry Owen began to suffer financial difficulties and the  house that had been erected at much expense and labour was uncompleted for want of a carpenter.

On 9 September 1828, the property was sold at a Sheriff’s sale and was purchased by Sir John Jamison (1776-1844) in two portions. Jamison was a leading figure in the importing of superior Saxon sheep to NSW and, in 1822 was the founder of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of NSW.  In 1833, Jamison let the estate to John Dow for the next eight years and during this period the name 'Aberglasslyn' appeared.

In 1835 Sir John Jamison leased Aberglasslyn to George Hobler (1800 – 1882) for a year with an option to purchase.

In July 1836 George Hobler, at the time the leading breeder of Hereford cattle in Australia, purchased the land for £5,000. The original house was deemed unsuitable for his family and Hobler engaged John Wiltshire Pender as foreman of the carpenters ifor the completion of a mansion style house. There is evidence that architect Henry Robertson submitted plans for Aberglasslyn’s design in 1836 and that the supervising architect, John Bibb, had been employed by John Verge (1782 – 1861). 

Aberglasslyn House changes hands

With drought, and depression ravaging the colony in the 1840s, Hobler became insolvent and lost most of his stock and property. Hobler stopped work on the main structure of the house in 1842 but  at a cost of approx. £12,000 he completed the entrance hall, stair hall, drawing room and breakfast room. The house was now a square, massive structure with brackets in the outer walls for a courtyard that was never built.

In 1846 the estate was leased to William Nicholson (1816 – 1865), a local innkeeper and prominent businessman. He  was instrumental in importing many of the best blood-horses to the colony and one of the first racecourses in the Maitland area was known as “Nicholson’s”. He made the remainder of the house habitable and in June 1848, advertised to let the House, garden and 3 acre vinery. The House was described as a most spacious stone building, has cellars underneath the whole and is admirably adapted to making and storing wine.

William Nicholson eventually purchased the estate in 1853 and  subdivided the land into “farms” of 20 and 50 acres adapted to the wants of agriculturalists with limited capital.

The work on the house appears to have been completed by 1858 when William Nicholson leased Aberglasslyn House to the Misses Hall who utilised the house and grounds as their Educational Establishment for Young Ladies until December 1857.

 In 1865, William Nicholson engaged William Cains, builder, to add a verandah around three sides of the house, which was supported by fluted iron pillars/columns imported from England, and mounted on stone.The house stood for many years without a purchaser and was tenanted in 1872 to preserve it in good order and repair.

Aberglasslyn later passed through marriage to the McKeachie family

Inside Aberglasslyn House

In March 1937, when occupied by Amelia’s son, Mr. James McKeachie, the house was described as always cool inside, where rooms are 18 feet high and windows 9 feet by 9 feet. The fittings (doors and shutters) throughout are beautiful old cedar and the fire places of mottled marble.

 

The 17 rooms were all designed on a grand scale, the original dining and drawing rooms are 23 feet by 26 feet, and the stone flagged entrance hall is 15 feet by 15 feet. One of the few spiral staircases in NSW is to be found in this house.

The stone stairs come out from the wall, broadening out as they reach the wrought iron railings. The staircase is 6 feet wide and winds up to the top of the house where light comes down on it from a circular window set at one side of the high domed ceiling.

Photo by Athel D'Ombrain
Athel D'Ombrain Collection
Courtesy of Cultural Collections
University of Newcastle (Australia)

 

Aberglasslyn House in later years

Between 1933 and 1944, James McKeachie purchased the remaining portions of the estate owned by his two brothers, Charles and William. In 1962, after living on the property with his family for around twenty years, James sold the estate and the house, by then deteriorated, to Mr Jackson, a local plumber.

In 1977 Jackson subdivided the land around the house into four lots. The now largely derelict house and two of the lots were sold to Phillip and Elizabeth Jones who undertook urgent and major conservation work. In 1981 the NSW Government invoked the Heritage Act and placed a conservation order on Aberglasslyn House.

In 1985 Aberglasslyn House was purchased by Mr. Norman Wheeler. His intention to add extensions to the building met with disagreement with the National Trust who declared it one of the most striking manifestations of the 1842 depression and that it should be left in its arrested state. Wheeler’s endeavours to restore the house were never completed before his death in 1993.

In 1995 it was purchased by Paul and Yvonne Maule who spent six years undertaking restoration work and sourcing original items from the 1840s to return the house to its former glory. It was again sold in late 2000 and the house currently remains in private hands.Since the 1840s, the property has had various ownerships and undergone several periods of neglect and improvement but its essential foundations create an impressive sandstone exterior. It is one of the few surviving examples of a handsome colonial house that sits impressively over the rural landscape. 

Read more from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage

Image gallery Aberglasslyn House
aberglasslyn_house_exterior.jpg
aberglasslyn_house_facade.jpg
aberglasslyn_facade.jpg
Print Email Share
Send us feedback
  • Your Library
    • Using the library
      • Visiting our Libraries
      • Become a member
      • Our branches
      • Borrow from our collections
        • Search the catalogue
        • Renew my loans
        • Request a home library service
        • Bulk loans for schools
        • Online library
      • Readers Café and Larder
      • Come to our programs and events
    • Library services
      • Your Library from home
      • Click and Collect
        • Click and Collect Feedback Form
      • Maitland Libraries app
      • Seed Library
        • Seed Library Activity Sheet
        • The Maitland Sprout
        • Seed Library Catalogue
      • Borrow
      • Computers and WiFi
      • Adult literacy assistance
      • Print, scan and photocopy
      • Book a meeting space or study room
      • Justice of the Peace Services
      • Fees and charges
    • Connect with us
      • Stay In Touch
      • Who we are
        • Our story
        • Customer Service Charter
        • Our vision and values
      • Ask us a question
      • Library News
      • Booking a space
        • East Maitland Library Meeting Rooms
      • 50 years of Maitland Library
        • Maitland Library 1968-2018
        • Born In The 60s
      • Give feedback
  • What's On
    • Events
      • Podcasts
      • Look Who's Talking
        • Say Hello to Carly Findlay, Kurt Fearnley and Belinda Downes
        • Bringing the Sydney Writer's Festival to You
          • Alex Dyson
          • Alison Whittaker
          • Ann Patchett and Kevin Wilson
          • Bob Brown
          • Cassandra Pybus
          • David Mitchell
          • Ellen Van Neerven
          • Golriz Ghahraman
          • Intan Paramaditha
          • James Bradley
          • Jess Hill
          • Julia Gillard
          • Kay Kerr
          • Layla F. Saad
          • Liam Pieper
          • Lisa Taddeo
          • Malcom Turnbull
          • Miranda Tapsell
          • Alice Oseman
          • Anna Wiener
          • Dani Shapiro
          • Favel Parrett
          • First on the Ground
          • Griffith Review 68: Getting On
          • Heather Rose
          • Jeff Sparrow
          • Josephine Rowe
          • Kathy Lette Gets Candid
          • Kawai Strong Washburn
          • Mirandi Riwoe
          • Nicole Dennis-Benn
          • Panel Discussion
          • Paul Kelly
          • Queerly Beloved
          • Ronnie Scott
          • Sophie McNeill
          • Vicki Laveau-Harvie
          • Philippe Sands
          • Rebecca Giggs
          • Return of the Sweatshop Woman
          • Richard Cooke
          • Sophie Hardcastle
          • Tanya Talaga
        • Look Who's Talking Online
          • Fight for Planet A - Craig Reucassel
          • Ghost Species - James Bradley
          • Samuel Johnson - Dear Mum
          • The Godmothers - Monica McInerney
          • The Left-Handed Booksellers of London - Garth Nix
          • The Mystery Woman - Belinda Alexandra
          • Trust - Chris Hammer
      • Kiss the ground - Film screening
    • For readers and writers
      • Book Clubs
      • Verses Poets in Residence
        • Ilyas Papantoniou
        • Gillian Swain
        • Alex Simpson
        • Helen Hopcroft
        • Annie Dennerley
        • Bill Carney
        • John Hingston
        • Jan Iwaszkiewicz
    • For kids
      • Holiday Fun
        • Story Box Library Summer Story & Activity Challenge
        • JANUARY - Be cool stay cool
          • Cool Paper Paddle Pops
          • Make your own planters
          • Teacup Gardens
          • Tin Can Planters
          • Plant Markers
        • APRIL - Heading away? Staycation?
          • Bird on a branch
          • Make a Zine
          • Make a pet Chicken
          • Make a pet Rabbit
          • Pick a pack
        • JULY HOLIDAY FUN
          • Science with Dale and Ben
          • Science with Dale and Ben
          • Science with Dale and Ben
          • Science with Dale and Sue
          • The Vegetable Plot - East Maitland Library
          • The Vegetable Plot - Maitland Library
          • The Vegetable Plot - Rutherford Library
      • Online Storytime
      • Baby Book Club
      • Storytime
      • Lego Clubs
      • Children's University
      • National Simultaneous Storytime 2022
    • For teens
      • Create a scene
    • Learning
      • Brain Training
      • Adult literacy assistance - temporarily suspended
      • Computer and technology assistance
  • Collections
    • Online library
      • Podcasts For You
        • Artistic endeavours
        • Crime Time
        • Current Events
        • Expand Your Mind
        • Have a Laugh
        • Lifestyle
        • Local Highlights
        • Take a break
        • World around us
        • For Teens
        • For Kids
      • eBooks and eAudio
      • eNewspapers and eMagazines
      • eMusic and eFilm
      • eResearch
      • Hunter Libraries Portal
    • Read
      • Borrow our books
      • Flick through our Magazines
      • Newspapers - Read all about it!
      • Read new
    • Watch
      • Films and documentaries
      • Stories for kids
      • Watch new
    • Listen
      • Listen to an audiobook
      • Podcasts
      • Download music
      • Read me a story for kids
      • Listen new
    • New
      • Read new
      • Listen new
      • Watch new
    • Reviews
      • Readers Recommend
      • Staff picks
  • Discover
    • eResearch
      • Art, music, books and film
      • Business, law and news
      • Career help
      • Family history
      • Personal health and lifestyle
      • Local Kids - Local History
        • Personal and Family Histories
        • Family Life - Historical Photographs
      • Study and research
    • Local History
      • Picture Maitland
      • Historic maps, photos and plans
        • Picture Maitland
          • Picture Maitland Jigsaw Gallery
        • Historic maps of Maitland
          • West Maitland Map Collection
          • East Maitland Map Collection
          • Morpeth Map Collection
          • Newcastle and Lower Hunter Maps
          • Parish Map Collection
        • Muster Roll
      • Buildings and bridges
        • Bridges
          • Belmore Bridge
          • Long Bridge
          • Morpeth Bridge
          • Luskintyre Bridge
        • Buildings
          • Aberglasslyn House
          • Cumberland Hall
          • Grossman House
          • Maitland Courthouse
          • Lands Board Office
          • Maitland Synagogue
          • Maitland Post Office
          • Maitland Town Hall
          • Morpeth Court House
      • Places and people
        • People
          • Edward Denny Day
          • Les Darcy - The Maitland Wonder
    • Ancient art of bibliotherapy
Maitland City Library

Contact us

  •  02 4933 6952
  •  [email protected]

Visit us

  •  480 High St
  • Maitland NSW 2320

Summer opening hours

Monday to Friday 9.00am - 5.00pm
Saturday  9.00am - 2.00pm
 

 

Connect with us

  • Maitland City Council Facebook page
  • Maitland City Council Instagram page
  • Maitland City Council Twitter page
East Maitland Library

Contact us

  •  02 4933 7122
  •  [email protected]

Visit us

  •  Garnett Road
  • East Maitland NSW 2323

Summer opening hours

Monday to Friday 9.00am - 5.00pm
Saturday  9.00am - 2.00pm
 

Connect with us

  • Maitland City Council Facebook page
  • Maitland City Council Instagram page
  • Maitland City Council Twitter page
Rutherford Library

Contact us

  •  02 4932 8730
  •  [email protected]

Visit us

  •  Arthur Street
  • Rutherford NSW 2320

Summer opening hours

Monday to Friday 9.00am - 5.00pm
Saturday 9.00am - 1.00pm
 

Connect with us

  • Maitland City Council Facebook page
  • Maitland City Council Instagram page
  • Maitland City Council Twitter page
Thornton Library

Contact us

  •  02 4964 4468
  •  [email protected]

Visit us

  •  Taylor Avenue
  • Thornton NSW 2322

Summer opening hours

Monday to Friday 9.00am - 5.00pm
Saturday 9.00am - 1.00pm
 

Connect with us

  • Maitland City Council Facebook page
  • Maitland City Council Instagram page
  • Maitland City Council Twitter page

  • Terms & conditions
  • Privacy statement

© Maitland City Council 2017 – All rights reserved