Picton Inn Hotel

Statement of Significance

Old Picton Inn, a small vernacular "wattle and daub" dwelling, has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons:
the place is a most picturesque rustic building within the idyllic landscape of the Preston River meadows and being a landmark within the significant Preston riverine precinct;
the place is evidence of the Preston River settlement, as a marker of the historic Preston River ford and the former 'Blackwood Road' route and crossing, and association with historic personages in the settlement;
the place is a rare extant example of an uncommon timber and earth construction technique of great historical, scientific and technological interest.

Physical Description

Picton Inn is a simple single storey vernacular building, set on the northern bank of the Preston River. The site is open and largely covered with lawns with a number of trees. To the north and west of the site are open fields. To the south of the site the lawn gives way to uncultivated river-flat land running down to the tree-lined banks of the Preston River.

The architectural style is a vernacular one of improvisation utilising natural materials of clay and split and sawn timber, taken from the immediate locality.

The walls are constructed by standing posts between timber ground and top plates, with mid-rails attached to the posts. This framing is lined internally with slabs of timber housed onto the plates. Externally, battens have been nailed onto the slabs to form a key for a clay and straw mix which has then been plastered onto the slabs and smoothed flush with the outer face of the posts, forming fully filled panels between the posts. Paint coatings are presumed to have replaced an earlier sacrificial protective coating of lime wash.

Internally, the slabs and joints between plastered flush with another layer of clay daub which has been variously whitewashed, lined with hessian and papered.

Previous description notes:
Later, parts of the building was clad with weatherboards and the roof replaced with corrugated iron held on with horizontal timber battens to secure in place. The pavilion consists of detached kitchen, with external brick oven, dining room, parlour and two bedrooms with one loft bedroom commonly referred to as the 'bridal suite' accessible by a ladder through a trapdoor or by an outside stairway.

History

Picton Inn was built c. 1850 by James Thompson Lawrence. Lawrence was a shoemaker by trade and had arrived in Western Australia in 1830.

The land was originally part of the Location 26, the large land grant awarded to Governor Stirling in the early 1830s. It was later part of Reverend Wollaston’s farm (1842 to 1850).

It has been recorded that Lawrence built a small slab hut on a point of land near the Preston River ford. It is thought that his father-in-law, John Moore, helped him build the inn as he was a builder who, according to Reverend Wollaston, was ‘clever with clay and straw'.

In 1881, Lawrence applied for and was granted a liquor licence. He called his establishment Lawrence’s Wayside Inn and he catered for travellers crossing the ford as they travelled through the district. Many of his customers were timber jinkers going between Wellington Mill and the port at Bunbury. When Lawrence died in 1890, the licence was awarded to John Moore, who operated the Inn until c. 1900.

The Inn later reverted to a private residence. The Lewin family lived there while their house at Riversdale was being built and their daughter, Rosalind was born there. Rosalind was later well known in the district for her work as an Infant Health Sister.

The old Picton Inn was bought by CSBP and Farmers Ltd in the 1930s. The manager resided at Riversdale and the company took over the responsibility of the maintenance of the Inn to prevent it from falling into disrepair. In 1996 the Inn was unoccupied.


This history is based on the Documentary Evidence in Heritage Council of Western Australia, ‘Register of Heritage Places: Picton Inn’, prepared by Ian Molyneux, 1997

Integrity/Authenticity

The building remains largely in its original form.

Condition

Exterior: Fair to good. CSBP has maintained the Inn for decades.

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.