Nepean House, Camden.

Nepean House

1–3 Mitchell Street

Camden

Lot 1, DP 782848  

Figure 1 Nepean House Mitchell Street Camden. The house is item 22 on Camden Heritage Walking Tour. (I Willis, 2021)

History and Description

The site of Nepean House was originally part of Camden Park Estate, then an allotment in the sub-division of the town area in 1840. The allotment (83 feet x 83 feet) was purchased in 1855 by storekeeper James Bensley and sold in 1859 to carpenter Thomas Jones.

Construction of the house commenced around 1855 for Camden surgeon John Bleeck, who purchased the property in 1862. Bleeck practised as a medical practitioner in Camden from 1855 to 1865 and sold the house to The Oaks builder William Packenham in 1884.

Packenham built the verandah, installed the iron lacework at the front of the house and replaced the wooden shingled roof with corrugated iron. The Packenham family lived in Nepean House until the death of William Packenham's daughter, Emma Cranfield, in 1944 when the house was sold to Camden engineer Howard Southwell.

In 1971, Camden solicitor Paul Bowring purchased the house, who added a single-storey pavilion in 1973 designed by Sydney architects Fisher Lucas.

At the rear of the house are the 19th-century timber-slab stables with loft.

The house is described as a two-storey brick and stucco early Victorian Gothic style house with picturesque and colonial characteristics. These features are the gabled windows, carved barge boards and high pitched roof, four-panel doors and shuttered French casement windows. (NSWSHI)

Condition and Use

The split timber shingled roof was replaced with corrugated iron in the late 19th century.

The house is in good condition and privately owned. (NSWHI)

Heritage Significance

The house is an excellent example of a Victorian gentleman’s townhouse and residence.

 

Heritage Listing

Camden Local Environmental Plan 2010 Item 169

Macarthur Region Heritage Study Heritage Item ID 1280064

Read more

Camden Historic Places (Camden Historical Society)

Camden Heritage Walking Tour   - Stop No 22  (Camden Visitor Information Centre)

Nepean River

Nepean River Cobbitty c. 1900-1910 (Camden Images)

The Nepean River

The Nepean River is one of the most essential waterways in the Sydney basin and has particular significance for Sydney's southwestern rural-urban fringe. Its catchment extends south and east of the Sydney Basin to take in areas near Robertson and Goulburn. West of Wollongong the tributaries including Cataract Creek, Avon River, Cordeaux River that flow north-west and then into the deep gorges of Pheasants Nest and Douglas Park.

The river opens up into a floodplain and flows past  Menangle and crosses the Cowpastures and southern Cumberland Plain past Camden and Cobbitty. The river then flows north through the gorge adjacent to Wallacia and enters Bents Basin before it is joined by the Warragamba River and changes its name to the Hawkesbury River.

The Nepean River is economically vital to the Sydney Basin and is used for mining, irrigation, recreation and other activities. It is ecologically significant to the area and has several rare and endangered species of plants.

Cultural importance

The river has a significant meaning in terms of its intangible cultural heritage to the local landscape. It defines the landscape and the construction of place in the localities along the river, including Menangle, Camden, and Cobbitty.

Learn more

There is the  Little Sandy at Camden, which was a favourite swimming spot for the local community.

The river floodplain is partly covered in Cumberland Woodland an endangered species in the Sydney Basin. Another endangered species in the local area is the Elderslie Banksia Scrub and the  Camden White Gum.

The river catchment is the most important in the Sydney basin and has significant cultural significance in the area.  One example is the 1925 Nepean River flood at Camden.

The Macarthur Bridge across the Nepean River is one of the most critical pieces of economic and social infrastructure in the Macarthur area.

In times of high rainfall, the river has particular characteristics which make flooding a problematic event for the local population. 

In 2006 Camden Council designated the historic Camden town centre in the Nepean River floodplain as a Heritage Conservation Area, and later incorporated it in the 2010 Local Environment Plan.

There is a local walkway located on the river floodplain called the Miss Lewella Davies Memorial Walkway.

Originally posted 2016 Updated 30 August 2020