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THE LANCER BARRACKS PARRAMATTA

A report on archaeological remains found during site re-grading and drainage works July - December 1990

Prepared for Australian Construction Services

Rosemary Annable

By

Rosemary Annable April 1991

Historical and archaeological consultant The Maples The Women's College University of Sydney NSW 2006

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List of Figures

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

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Fig. 9

Fig. 10

Fig. 11

Fig. 12

Fig. 13

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Fig. 16

'Millitary Barrack, Parramatta' c.1820. ( Mitchell Library : Bigge Appendix Bonwick Transcripts Box 36 Plan 9)

Plan of the Officers' Barracks at Parramatta, 1851 (Public Record Office, War Office Ordnance Miscellanea 55 I 2989) Scale two chains to one inch

The barracks in 1858 showing the land resumption for the railway. The location of the well is marked. (AONSW Surveyor General's Sketch Books Vol 8 Fol 72)

The Police Barracks, 1895 (Mitchell Library : Lands Department, Detailed Survey of Parramatta Section 12 MSer4/811.1301/1)

'Plan of an area ... occupied by the Military Authorities' 1902 (Lands Department Ms 1912 Sy)

The Lancer Barracks Site re-grading and drainage Stage 2, 1990 (DAS Construction Group Drawing No. N90/012/C03)

The Lancer Barracks Site re-grading and drainage Stage 2, 1990 (DAS Construction Group Drawing No. N90/012/C01)

The Lancer Barracks Site re-grading and drainage Stage 2, 1990. Pavement set-out plan with location of archaeological features marked (DAS Construction Group Drawing No. N90/012/C02)

The Lancer Barracks building plan, with location of archaeological features marked

Location of the well (in foreground) in relation to the east end of Building 10

Part of the top of the well with the trench for stormwater line on the left

Diagrammatic section of the well

The side of the well as seen from the trench excavated for the stormwater line. The trowel marks the edge of the well pit

The brick lined well shaft and the well pit with clay, shale and broken brick till

The side of the well grazed by excavation for the storm water line. Scale 1m

The construction of the brick well lining

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Fig. 28

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The trench excavated for the stormwater line to the north of the vehicle wash. The location of Pit 28 is in front of the tree

Layer of charcoal, bricks and artifacts in stormwater trench

Topsoil, charcoal and brick layer

Sandstock bricks with diamond shaped frog mark

Blue transfer printed wares from the brick layer

Grey and brown transfer printed wares from the brick layer

Stoneware from the brick layer

Stoneware blacking bottle and ink bottle from the brick layer

Glass from the brick layer

General location of the remains of the surface drain

Traces of a surface drain uncovered when re-grading the site

Impressions of the brick lined surface drain

Traces of rows of bricks forming a surface drain. The scale (lm) is adjacent to traces of a fifth row of bricks

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1. 1 Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to Keith Smith of Esenmette, to Captain Ross White of the Lancer Barracks, to Barry Allen, Works Supervisor for Australian Construction Services and to all involved in these works at the Lancer Barracks, Parramatta for their co-operation and assistance in the recording of these archaeological remains.

2. 1 Historical Summary

The Lancer Barracks is the oldest military barracks on the mainland of Australia. The site for the 'new barracks' was marked out by Governor Macquarie on 3 November 1817. Construction work would appear to have been largely carried out in 1819 and was reported as completed in 1820. The architect was Lieutenant John Watts of the 46th regiment, aide-de-camp to Governor Macquarie, who gave his 'voluntary assistance' providing plans for the barracks and also for the hospital at Parramatta. The barracks as originally designed comprised a brick two-storey men's barracks to accommodate 100 soldiers and two single-storey wings, also of brick, for the appropriate proportion of commissioned officers. A plan of the barracks dated c.l820 (fig. 1) shows nine buildings; the two-storey barracks and two flanking wings all with their associated outbuildings, namely kitchens and privies. The plan comprises measured drawings of each of the individual buildings but is not an accurate representation of the placement of the buildings on the site relative to each other.

A detailed description and report on the state of the buildings in 1833 indicated that some rooms were used for the Mounted Police as well as the usual military occupants. Damp was a considerable problem and the need to lay surface drains, in particular around the main building and its kitchen, was noted. An estimate was included of the cost of laying surface drains and 'angle' drains to replace the existing land [?] drain.

In the early 1850s British regiments left the barracks at Parramatta. The buildings on the site and their uses just prior to this are illustrated in a plan drawn in 1851 (fig. 2). The main occupants after this date were the police, but other uses included accommodation for the Sappers and Miners engaged in the construction of the railway, for a school house and by colonial volunteer troops.

Resumptions of parts of the barracks land began in 1858 for railway purposes (fig. 3) and continued in 1863, 1870, 1877, 1881 and 1891 mainly for educational purposes for the public school (fig. 4). By 1902 the site had been reduced to less than half its original size, the area it currently occupies (fig. 5).

In 1897 the headquarters of the Volunteer Cavalry moved to Parramatta and various repairs, renovations and additions were made to the site including the addition of a single-storey staff sergeant's quarters in 1897 and a two-storey staff officer's quarters in 1900. The east wing of the original barracks buildings was demolished between 1895 and 1902 (figs. 4 & 5), and possibly by 1897. 1

1 The Lancer Barracks, Parramatta : an historical survey with recommendations as to the future management of archaeological remains on the site. Prepared for the Commonwealth of Australia Department of Housing & Cons1ruction by Rosemary Annable, March - June 1979.

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3. 1 The Nature of the new works 1990

From July to December 1990 site regrading and the replacement of the stormwater drainage system were carried out at the Lancer Barracks, Parramatta. The work involved the excavation of several new stormwater lines (fig. 6) and the lowering of ground levels (fig. 7), in particular around the oldest buildings on the site, Bobs Hall (Building 2), the two-storey barracks (Building 10) and its associated kitchen (Building 11). On completion of excavation for the installation of the stormwater system and of site regrading a new pavement set-out was constructed (fig. 8).

Provision for the archaeological supervision of these works was included in the contract documents and the contractor was made aware of the historic nature and heritage value of the site. As the work extended over a period of several months and involved excavation in various stages of the contract, archaeological supervision of the works was exercised by liaison between the archaeologist and the contractor. The discovery of possible archaeological remains was reported by the contractor to the archaeologist and these were then examined and recorded. Archaeological remains were left in situ wherever possible. Three areas of archaeological remains were reported and recorded namely a well, a layer of charcoal, bricks and broken artifacts, and traces of a possible surface drain. The location of these features relative to the new pavement set­out is shown in fig. 8 and relative to the existing buildings in fig. 9.

4.1 The Well

A well was discovered during the excavation of the trench for the new stormwater line, between Pits 14 and 17 (fig. 6), to the east of Building 10 (figs. 8, 9 & 10). The trench passed just to the south of the well and grazed the side of the feature but did not cause any substantial damage to it (figs. 13 & 15). Part of the top of the well was uncovered when a concrete slab was removed but as it was not necessary to remove the adjacent concrete slab for the purposes of the new works, the whole of the top of the well was not uncovered (fig. 11 ).

The well (fig. 12) was lined with plain sandstock bricks (without frog marks) and, in that part which was visible on the surface, measured 1.3m across. It is estimated that the internal diameter of the well is about 1.5m. The bricks were dry-laid and in general were laid as stretchers around the circumference of the well, with a few bricks laid as headers at right angles through the full thickness of the brick lining (fig. 16). At the top of the well the pit was about 35cm wide and was filled with brown clay, pieces of brick and some double thicknesses of brick (figs. 14 & 16). Lower down it decreased in size and was totally filled by the bricks forming the well wall. The side of the well was excavated to a depth of 1.4m in the stormwater trench and the bottom of the feature was not reached at this depth. The fill of the well was left intact and the stormwater trench was back filled after the new pipes had been laid. No artifacts or other dating evidence were found during this limited excavation.

The location of a well is identified in the 1858 plan of the barracks (fig. 3) in approximately the same position as found in 1990. Earlier plans did not identify the location of the barracks water supply. It is probable that the well shown in the 1858 plan and which was located in 1990 was the original water supply for the barracks.

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4. 2 Area of bricks and artifacts

A layer of charcoal, bricks and broken artifacts was found during excavation for the stormwater line between Pits 28 and 29, to the north of the vehicle wash area (figs. 6 & 9). The extent of this material was not investigated in plan but was recorded only in section in the stormwater line trench. There was no trace of similar material in the continuation of the trench to the south-west of Pit 28 or to the north-east of Pit 29 (fig. 17).

The section visible in the side of the trench consisted of top soil with some broken brick, beneath which was a layer of charcoal above a layer of broken bricks and artifacts about 40cm deep (figs.l8 & 19). The bricks and artifacts irrunediately overlay brown clay and grey shale, the natural in this area, as also seen in the well section (fig. 12).

The bricks from this layer were all sandstocks. Some had traces of mortar and limewash or whitewash. A number of the complete bricks had a diamond­shaped frog mark (fig. 20). Artifacts from the same layer consisted of broken domestic ceramics and glass and some iron objects. The ceramics included 'willow pattern' and other blue transfer printed wares (fig. 21), brown and black transfer printed wares (fig. 22) and stoneware (fig. 23) including an ink bottle and a blacking bottle (fig. 24). Glass fragments included black porter bottles, black gin bottles, plain glass 'torpedo' bottles for aerated waters and milk bottles (fig. 25). The material, which is not closely datable, appears to be of mid- to late 19th century date.

As originally designed and built the Lancer Barracks had a range of buildings on the east side of the parade ground similar to those on the west side. These were demolished between 1895 and 1902. There was no evidence in the trench excavated of any building foundations nor, if earlier plans are correct, was this trench in an area formerly occupied by barrack buildings. The bricks and artifacts may have been redeposited when the east range of buildings at the Lancer Barracks was demolished. The ground slopes to the east in this area and it is possible that the bricks, artifacts and charcoal were spread over the area as a type of hard standing or to improve drainage.

4. 3 Traces of a surface drain

During site re-grading to the east of Building 10 and to the south of the well a linear feature with traces of bricks was uncovered (figs. 8 & 9). This feature consisted of traces of the imprints of four (or five) lines of bricks laid longitudinally running east-west. A length of 5.8m of this feature was uncovered in the area lowered for re-grading (figs. 26 & 27). At the east end, fragments of brick survived in the ground. At the west end, the brick could be seen in section only, but the line of the feature could still be discerned (fig. 28). The bricks had measured 2lcm by 7cm, showing that they had been laid on their sides. Each row of bricks overlapped the next row by half a brick. The north side of the feature was more clearly defined than the south side and in pan on the north side there were traces of a fifth row of bricks (fig. 29). The dimensions of this feature and the fact that the bricks were laid on their sides suggests that this may have been a surface drain.

The 1833 report on the barracks indicates a problem with the drainage of the site and a need for surface drains. Brick lined dish drains were often constructed for this purpose and these remains are suggestive of such a type of feature. The location of this feature suggests that it might have been built to serve the front (north side) of the kitchen behind the men's barracks. This apparent alignment

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may, however, be fortuitous. The original part of the kitchen is probably that part of Building 11 beneath the hipped roof. The date of the extension to the north is uncertain.

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Fig. 1 '~llitary B~ck, Parr~tta' c.1820. (Mitchell Library: B1gge Appendix Bonw1ck Transcripts Box 36 Plan 9 )

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Fig. 3 The barracks in 1858 showing the land resumption for the railway. The location of the well is marked. (AONSW Surveyor General's Sketch Books Vol8 Fol 72)

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Fig. 6 The Lancer Barracks Site re-grading and drainage Stage 2, 1990 (DAS Construction Group Drawing No. N90/012/C03)

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The Lancer Barracks Site re-grading and drainage Stage 2, 1990. Pavement set-out plan with location of archaeological features marked (DAS Construction Group Drawing No. N90/012/C02)

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Location of the well (in foreground) in relation to the east end of Building 10

Part of the top of the well with the trench for stom1water line on the left

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The side of the well as seen from the trench excavated for the stom1water line. The trowel mm-ks the edge of the well pit

The brick lined well shaft and the well pit with clay, shale and broken brick fill

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The side of the well grazed by excavation for the stormwaler line. Scale 1m

The consUl!Ction of the brick wdl lining

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The trench excavated for the stormwater line to the north of the vehicle wash. The location of Pit 28 is in front of the tree

Layer of charcoal, bricks and artifacts in stOimwater trench

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Topsoil, charcoal and brick layer

Sandstock bricks with diamond shaped frog mark

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Blue transfer printed wares from the brick layer

Grey and brown transfer printed wares from the brick layer

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Stoneware from the brick layer

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Stoneware blacking bottle and ink bottle from the brick layer

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Glass from the brick layer

General location of the remains of the surface drain

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Fig. 27 Traces of a surface drain uncovered when re-grading the site

I rig. 28 Impressions of the brick lined surface drain

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Fig. 29 Traces of rows of bricks forming a surface drain. The scale (lm) is adjacent to traces of a fifth row of bricks

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