HISTORIC Littleton House in Bega St is getting a face-lift with the chimney being painted before the roof is restored.
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Owner Tracey Fisher said the Bega Valley Shire Council had given her a $5000 heritage grant to help with the costly roof restoration.
However, before any work can be done on the roof, the chimney had to be painted so a crane was brought on to the property on Tuesday and painters were hoisted up to do the work.
The two-storey house was built in 1875 by solicitor and the first mayor of the Bega Municipal Council, Thomas Rawlinson, who presented it to his son, Henry Thomas Rawlinson as a wedding gift to him and his bride Sarah (Ritchie).
The bride’s mother, Mrs Robert Ritchie, had bought the land for 700 pounds from Henry Otton of Ottonville and that also was a wedding gift.
The residence for the newly married couple was built by John Malcolm.
In 1902 the Sydney Deaconesses Institute of Nuns opened the building as a the Church of England Deaconess High School on January 27, 1902, as a day and boarding school for girls, conducted by Sister Katherine Nichols, Sister Edith and Sister Gregory from Melbourne.
An outbreak of diphtheria in 1907 took the life of two little girls and it is believed that the ghost of one, Sarah, remains in the old house.
In 1911, the Rawlinson house was purchased by members of St John’s Church and vested in trustees, but subsequently transferred to the Church of England Property Trust.
Those occupying the rectory were the Reverend Thomas Edward Owens-Mell, the Venerable Archdeacon Ben Dore-Bryant, the Reverend Canon JJE Done and the Reverend R Upjohn.
The latter occupied the rectory with his family until 1947 when it was sold to the Department of Education Hostel Association for use as a girl’s hostel for Bega High School students.
As other high schools were built in Eden and Bombala and Cooma, it became a TAFE College.
In 1990 it was sold to Ross Ritchie and it was from Mr Ritchie that Ms Fisher bought Littleton House 10 years ago.
Ms Fisher says that often people come and reminisce about their memories of Littleton House, mostly those who attended TAFE courses there and resided at the hostel, but some clergymen’s children have also asked about it as they lived there when it was a rectory.
