LOCAL LIFE
Fairfield House , Windsor
when James Hale purchased Fairfield and he , in turn , passed it on to his grandson , Henry McQuade , in 1866 .
Henry was a respected parliamentarian and long-time manager of Her Majesty ’ s Theatre in Sydney .
Henry McQuade leased Fairfield to a Ben Richards , a highly successful businessman whose many interests included grazier , racehorse owner and breeder and one of the pioneers of the frozen meat export trade .
McQuade once again took up residency of Fairfield in 1880 and added to the property , a “ handsome ornamented ” two-storey building , featuring 14 foot ( 4.2 metres ) high flutediron columns supporting a balcony with attractive cast-iron railings .
The new building ’ s vestibule with its tiled floors opened onto spacious reception rooms featuring a central skylight .
McQuade wasn ’ t short of a quid and his many interests extended to sport , and in particular , cricket and thoroughbred horse racing .
In fact , he built adjacent to Fairfield House , on what is now part of Windsor Golf Club , a racetrack and cricket oval with pavilion .
Somehow this enterprising entrepreneur in 1882 lured the touring English cricket team to Fairfield for a social match against a combined Hawkesbury-Nepean outfit .
The English team was in Australia trying to “ recover those ashes ” which returned to Australia after the upstarts from the Antipodes secured a history-making win at The Oval the previous June .
That victory began the history of the coveted Ashes !
The English tourists were successful in their quest against the colonials , winning the series 2-1 .
A special train was organised by McQuade to bring cricket fans from Sydney and Parramatta out to Windsor to join locals in witnessing the game - around 1000 fans had a day to remember .
Shortly after McQuade ’ s passing in 1893 , Fairfield went into the hands of Percy Miller who operated a trotting stud for many years before selling to Thomas Cambridge in 1934 .
Cambridge ’ s widow owned the property until 1969 when the Blaine family bought them out and they in turn sold Fairfield to the Brangwin family three years later .
Historic Fairfield House at Windsor is being restored to its former glory by Craig and Nancy Nancarrow . Workmen are pictured replacing the damage slate roof .
The Brangwins spent a fortune restoring Fairfield to its former glory and were given permission by council to operate the building as a wedding reception and function centre .
Fairfield changed hands once again in 1988 when purchased for $ 900,000 by “ colourful personality ”, former karate world champion and professional poker player , Ladislaus “ Joe ” Meissner .
The financially troubled Meissner died in September 2022 , aged 79 , and Fairfield , which had remained unoccupied for many years , fell into disrepair until the Nancarrows came to its rescue . For that , all of us can be truly thankful . There ’ s life in the old girl yet !
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THE HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT theindependentmagazine . com . au ISSUE 165 // FEBRUARY 2024 7