The Grounds

Somercotes Homestead is a complex of four buildings with a detached cottage (dairy) to the rear with a cobblestone courtyard. The front buildings are of stone with a cellar underneath, with the two wings a mixture of stone and brick. The roof cladding is slate. Cobblestone courtyard is original.

The double-thatched dairy is of unusual construction in that it has its rear, east and south gable walled constructed in brickwork on top of a stone garden wall. The double thatched shingle roof is also uncommon.

The blacksmith's shop is of ashlar stonework with gable roof. Note the timber cladding to the gable end with the contrast between the flat sheets and corrugated iron of Bonner and Standaloft cottages.

Old Implement Shed houses an array of old buggies and farm equipment. Samuel Horton's original gig, said to be the first vehicle to cross the Ross Bridge when officially opened in 1836, is housed closest to the blacksmiths shop.

The bricks produced on site, were made of clay, mixed sand or ashes and after being dried in the sun and the air, were burned in a clamp or baked in a kiln. After mixing the clay, which was an involved process at this time, the mixture was taken to the pugmill.

The pugmill is an iron-hooped barrel with a horizontal beam on an iron bar at the top, to which the collar of a horse was attached. The iron bar inside the barrel has teeth attached to it. At the bottom of the barrel is a small hole through which the masticated clay is forced by the grinding teeth produced by the motion of the horse.

After this process the clay was cut with a concave shovel (cuckhold) and proceeded to the moulding, feeding and racking stage before being fired. The dimensions of an English brick, 10" x 5" x 3" were prescribed by an Act of Parliament. This horse-turned pugmill can be viewed adjacent to the blacksmiths shop.

HISTORY LINKS
Captain Horton • Ticket of Leave
Bushrangers • Horton College • The Grounds