The Pilgrim Inn

Notes: In 1825 Barnett Levey was granted provisional lease of 320 acres at Lapstone Hill. 640 acres was added to this grant and the property became known as Mount Sion. The site of the Pilgrim Inn was within these grants.

 

By 1828 a four-roomed weatherboard house, outhouses, piggery and stable had been erected and the property was put up for sale. The building appears to have operated as an inn from 1830 and was known as the Pilgrim Inn from 1832. In that year, new road improvements (Mitchell's Pass) were reported to be passing behind the Pilgrim Inn and requiring removal of the stables, stores and fencing.

 

Another inn, the Late Lord Byron was also built nearby in about 1840. In 1852 John Wascoe acquired the licence there and used the sign of the Old Pilgrim Inn. In 1857 Wascoe bought the site of the Pilgrim Inn and took the name of Old Pilgrim Inn with him.

 

This complex name change is one cause of the confusion over the site. The inn closed in 1869. After that time the Deane family took up residence. In 1968 the building burnt down. A McDonald's restaurant was built adjacent with a car park surrounding the remains of the old inn.

 

More recently local historians have again claimed that the attribution of the site is incorrect and that the site here is of the second inn, not the original Pilgrim Inn. In any event it would still be an 1840s site, and it is known to retain sub-surface archaeological deposits.

 

Format: colour slide

 

Date Range: c.1960

 

Licensing: Attribution, share alike, creative commons. .

 

Repository: Blue Mountains City Library bmcc.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/default/

 

Part of: Local Studies Collection - LS Images

 

Provenance: SHS

 

Links: www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDe...

photosau.com.au/rahs/scripts/extSearch.asp?SearchTerm=020011