Adelaide, South Australia

Littlehampton

Littlehampton is a small hamlet, just 5kms from Mount Barker in the Adelaide Hills, the hub of the hills shopping and business centre. There are a number of dining outlets, retail and other businesses in the main street. The surrounding countryside is fertile and slightly undulating. North Terrace was once the old main road to Melbourne.

Where is it?: 3 kilometres north of Mt Barker in the Adelaide Hills. Littlehampton is on the Princess Highway, once the main route between Adelaide and Melbourne, before the South Eastern Freeway was built. Today the Princess Highway is the scenic route to Murray Bridge, via the historic towns of Nairne, Kanmantoo and Callington. To the west Littlehampton connects to Balhannah via Junction Road and to Hahndorf via a summer unsealed back road through farmland.

There are several fine vineyards in the region as well as tourist attractions, market gardens, wholesale plant gardens and hobby farms. A number of bed and breakfast accommodation establishements provide guests with a peaceful environment with close access to major services and shops.



Today historic Littlehampton Bricks continues operation, manufacturing high-quality clay building bricks and pavers, as well as a range of refractory and insulating bricks. It was established in 1913 developing from another brickyard - Coppins - which was on the other side of the road. They not only deliver throughout the state of South Australia, but throughout the whole of Australia and to Japan as well. An old railway platform and remnants of rusty trackwork serving the brickworks can be seen just before the level crossing.

The 1862 church on Main Street is one of the oldest church buildings in the state still in use. St James Anglican Church in nearby Blakiston was built in 1847.

Littlehampton market is held in the Littlehampton War Memorial hall on the 2nd Saturday of each month (8am to 1pm), with over 25 Stalls, Jams, Pickles, cakes, crafts, bric-a-brac, plants, fresh produce, Devonshire teas, drinks, BBQ, children's playground, community tennis courts, public toilets and shaded lawned area. For further details phone 0435 017 991.


Photo: Weekend Notes website

Littlehampton Railway Station: The railway station at Littlehampton is typical of many of the smaller stations scattered about the railways of Australia. It is a simple construction of timber and corrugated iron, and is the only relic of what must have been a bustling place a hundred years ago. The platform and shelter shed were built here about 1890 and sidings were added later to service the factories producing bricks, jam, sauces, bacon, wattle extract, a brewery and a sawmill in Littlehampton at that time. Various signals were installed and a Station Master followed, remaining until around 1940. The sidings were removed in the late 1970s and today, only isolated remnants of the busy little station remain.


Shady Gove Unitarian Church

Shady Grove Unitarian Church: John Monks, his brother in law Francis Duffield and sister Alice Duffield, wife of Francis, arrived in South Australia in 1839. In 1845 John took up land in the Mount Barker district between Balhannah and Littlehampton. He named his property Shady Grove Farm. By about 1856 they had set about building a school on the Shady Grove property. Around 1856 a tutor from England was engaged to teach the children of the two families, now of school age, and others of the district. The schoolhouse was completed on 4 October 1858, and was henceforth used for Unitarian Church services on Sundays.

When a government school was built in Balhannah the little school was no longer needed, so it was decided to officially open the Shady Grove building as the Shady Grove Unitarian Church. Today the church stands much the same as it did when it was originally built, except that stucco has been placed over the stonework and a new iron roof replaces the original. The church is now classified by the National Trust as a building of historical interest. October 2008 marked the 150th anniversary of Unitarian services in the former Shady Grove Schoolhouse.

Adelaide Hills Wine Region

Wine grapes were first planted in the Adelaide hills in the early 1840s. Situated east of Adelaide, the long and narrow Adelaide Hills region runs through the southern Mt. Lofty ranges. It is one of South Australia's largest wine growing regions, stretching from the edge of the Barossa and Eden Valleys in the north, to the boundaries of McLaren Vale and Langhorne Creek in the South. The high altitude combines brilliantly with the favourable climate, to allow grapes to mature at a slower pace than other regions, giving the wines intense elegant flavours and characteristics.

One of the earliest wineries and vineyards in the area is mentioned in the Adelaide papers for sale as follows: 1865 - Swithen Farmer - Section 6131 "Chain of Ponds". Winemakers plant complete with several thousand gallons of wine, wine presses, fermenting vats, casks, large boilers. Wine vintages 1863-1865. 16 acres of vineyard.

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