Cliefden is a heritage-listed homestead at 1521 Belubula Way, Mandurama, Blayney Shire, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of a group of historic sites labelled the Ben Hall Sites for their association with bushranger Ben Hall, along with Ben Hall's Death Site, the Bushranger Hotel, Escort Rock, the Grave of Ben Hall and Wandi. It was built from 1842. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 8 October 2010.
History
By virtue of orders issued to them by Governor Darling, dated 22 April 1831, Frederick John and William Montagu Rothery obtained grants of 2460 acres (995.6ha) each and chose them 12 miles (19.3 km) west of Coombing on the left bank of Limestone Creek, Portions 1 & 2, Parish of Mallongul. They named them Cliefden Springs and Cliefden respectively, after Cliefden in Buckinghamshire, once the summer retreat and favourite residence of Frederick, Prince of Wales, father of George III to whose entourage, family tradition relates, a Rothery ancestor was attached.
The property Cliefden was taken up by William Montagu Rothery in 1831. William married Fanny Oceania Lockyer and they settled at Cliefden in 1842 where they went on to have 14 children and to take care of 3 of his brothers children. The property has been in the continuous ownership of the Rothery family since 1831.
W. M. Rothery in 1838 held 9824 acres (3975 ha) by grant and purchase with an overseer by the name of Bain and ten assigned convicts. The following year, the number of assigned convicts was sixteen and it is stated that in place of an overseer the property was supervised personally by W. M. Rothery. This could well indicate that the "substantial" house for which 200,000 bricks were contracted to be made (a document signed between W. M. Rothery and convict brick maker John Bedley) in 1838 was occupied that following year.
Rothery was the brother-in-law of Thomas Icely of Coombing Park nearby. The Cliefden Barn and house were constructed between 1838 and 1842. The house originally had at least 26 rooms as well as servants quarters. The building is Old Colonial Georgian in style and is built of bricks manufactured on Cliefden. Rothery raised blood horses, an important aspect of his financial ventures. The Barn contains under one roof the stables, coach house, meat-house, barn and shearing-shed.
The Ben Hall gang, dressed in stolen police uniforms, raided Cliefden on 26 September 1863. The gang were attracted by the renown of William Rothery's horses. The gang spent about three hours mustering horses and putting them through their paces, finally selecting three horses and two saddles. They also helped themselves to a quantity of money, food and a pair of boots.
Hall and his gang made two more visits to Cliefden, the first on 23 June 1864. Hall was upset to discover the Station was well protected, being able only to get away with three horses. As a parting gesture, Hall set fire to a large hay stack and a shed. Cliefden continued to be well protected, and on 29 November the gang returned, only to be frightened away by a party of police who were visiting the house.
Both the homestead and the out-building retain many of their Victorian contents. The carriage which brought the family over the Blue Mountains in 1842 is still in good order, though kept in the meat-house section; until a year or two ago, Rothery horses used the original stalls in the stable section; and shearing still goes on today, using the slab weather-shed later attached to the brick building, with the sheep still using the original slab pens and exits. The Ferrier woolpress (the same make as at Coombing Park) stands spectacularly in its own empty hall: the impact of entering this great space dominated by the one machine is really remarkable today. Down in the paddock there is the 1830s limekiln which helped to build this remarkable complex: it is the earliest limekiln over the Mountains.
Description
The farm homestead complex is within a larger farm, which is not heritage-listed. The homestead complex is located on top of a hill with views to the west, north and east. There is a spectacular view east to Mount Canobolas (which is west of Orange). Other views are available north and west including to Limestone Creek. There is a family cemetery located east of and away from the house that documents the generations of Rotherys that have lived at Cliefden. Three knolls or local high points are to the homestead complex's west, south and south-east (the latter being the highest).