Milnathort Cottage

BOOKINGS OPEN AT 12 PM ON FRIDAY, 11 NOVEMBER 2024

Architect/s: Thought to be Henry Hunter (1886)

This is a project to save heritage farm buildings through relocation.

Built for Peter and Alice Murdoch in the mid-1880s on land at Richmond Road, Dulcot, Milnathort’s timber buildings contributed to a significant farm. The property provided employment for generations of local farm workers and house keepers, producing crops, fruit and sheep. Peter Murdoch was a grandson of Dr James Murdoch who established the adjoining Craigow Estate in the 1820s. On the death of their father, Peter and his older brother, James, commissioned Henry Hunter, who’d designed the family home, ‘Invercoe’, in Hampden Road, Battery Point, to design new buildings for Craigow – a large sandstone main house and several humbler timber dwellings. While research continues into the designer of Milnathort Cottage, the timing, commissioning family, and some similar detailing, suggest the brothers asked Hunter to design Milnathort as well as the Craigow buildings. By the mid 1880s the block had seen many buildings and activities including two inns and several farm operations. In the early 1900s several new farm buildings were constructed for the Murdochs by the Hanslow builders – local farmers and handymen. The Hanslows were responsible for most buildings in the district from the 1890s to the mid 20th century. If they didn’t build them, they renovated and extended them.

Subdivided in the 1970s following the death of Peter and Alice’s children, the remaining farm was purchased by Maguire and Co for a whiskey distillery development designed by Cumulus Studio, which commenced construction in 2023. The contemporary design and positioning of the new distillery on the property required demolition of the existing farmhouse and 11 outbuildings.

To preserve significant local history, Maguire and Co partnered with neighbour, Noel Frankham, to relocate the house and five outbuildings to a block 400 meters away, up the hill at George Street, Dulcot. Two other sheds were also relocated within the district, while three others (in very poor condition) were demolished having been harvested by Frankham for reusable materials. Five sheds were relocated to George Street in August 2023 and the house followed in January 2024. The relocated sheds were the ones built by the Hanslows, Noel Frankham’s maternal relatives.

Open: Sunday 10 November 2024, 10 am – 1 pm (registration required)

The Open House experience: Presented as a work in progress, Milnathort Cottage and sheds will be open for visitors with stories of their past and their preparation for relocation – and subsequent renovation. Noel Frankham collected numerous items from the old farm buildings, which will be displayed in farm sheds on their new site.