Bickleigh Vale
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Lynton Lee

Lynton Lee Blog >

History of Lynton Lee

Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee, 1930s
Image courtesy of State Library Victoria
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee staircase, 1930s
Lynton Lee staircase, 1930s (Image courtesy of State Library Victoria)
Image courtesy of State Library Victoria
1916 - Subdivision surveyed and approved by the Shire of Lillydale on 31 December 1916. This land becomes part of lot 22.
1917 - Part Crown Allotment 23A2 owned by John Edmond Taylor and Australias Sharp
1922 - Sonning built by Edna Walling
1924 - Transferred from Taylor and Sharp to Emily Rosa Whisson
1928 - Caveat lodged, possibly giving Edna Walling an interest in the land
1933 - Sub-division of land adjoining Sonning and the creation of Bickleigh Vale Village
1934 - Lynton Lee  had been constructed. Lynton Lee was built as per Edna Walling’s plans, for her very good friend Lorna Fielden, so that she could live close by.
1935 - Transferred from Whisson to Lorna May Fielden with Walling covenant.
1951 - Small part of land transferred from Fielden to Walling
1954 - Transferred from Parish to Lillian Beryl Wilson and Elisabeth Wilson
1963 - Lillian Beryl Wilson of Crail Cottage (Lynton Lee), Pine Road, Mooroolbark, spinster is now the surviving proprietor
1993 -  Transferred from Wilson to Janet McClure
Bickleigh Vale, Downderry, Lynton Lee & Devon Cottage, 1930s
Downderry with Lynton Lee behind the shrubs in the background, 1930s. (Image courtesy of State Library Victoria)
Image courtesy of State Library Victoria

Lorna Fielden

Lorna Fielden was a long time friend to Edna Walling and helped edit and collate many of her books. Edna built Lorna the cottage at Bickleigh Vale which she called 'Lynton Lee'. Their relationship involved a sharing of duties: Edna did the heavy physical work and Lorna often did the domestic work.

A former teacher at Methodist Ladies College (MLC), Kew from 1919-1941​, Lorna Fielden was also a published poet. Walling wrote the introduction to her book  of poems "The Gardener's Warning", describing Fielden's book: "of all the gardening books I have yet read this one has delighted me the most." Two poems, 'my wife' and 'my husband' mention Gertrude Jekyll, thyme and spanish gardens, and sound as though they might be describing Walling.

Bickleigh Vale, Lorna Fielden (on left)
Lorna Fielden (on left)
Image courtesy of State Library Victoria
Lorna Fielden
Lorna Fielden
Image courtesy of State Library Victoria

Lorna Fielden moved to Buderim several years after Edna Walling where they lived out the rest of their lives. Fielden and Walling are buried next to each other below two magnificent trees at Buderim Cemetery, Queensland. They died exactly four years apart.

Lynton Lee - the original plans

Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee original plans_1
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee original plans_4
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee original plans_2
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee original plans_3

Crail Cottage


Edna Walling had named the cottage, 'Lynton Lee 'for Miss Fielden as it was the name of Lorna’s home in England. 

When Ledlie, Betty and Beryl Wilson bought the cottage in 1954, Edna got a bit uppity because it had been specially named 'Lynton Lee' just for Lorna, and asked them to change the name. The name of the house was changed to Crail Cottage, after the Scottish village from which the sisters hailed. Not long after Edna Walling died, the name Lynton Lee was reinstated as the preferred name by the sisters.
Bickleigh Vale, Ledlie and Beryl Wilson
Ledlie and Beryl Wilson

Glimpses from the '50s and '60s

Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee garden, 1958
1958
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee stone room, 1966
The stone room in 1966

Re-roofing in the '80s

The original cedar shingle roof as Edna Walling built the house had to be imported from England every time it needed replacing and that became too expensive so around 1986-1987, the shingles were replaced with a corrugated​ colour bond roof.
Lynton Lee with its original cedar shingle roof
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee with shingle roof, 1981
1981
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee front of house, 1980
1980
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee with old shingle roof, 1981
1981
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee wisteria pergola, 1982
Wisteria pergola, 1982
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee, 1981 with old shingle roof
1981
Lynton Lee with its new colourbond roof
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee stone room, 1986
Stone room, 1986
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee woodshed, 1986
Woodshed, 1986
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee with new colourbond roof and dormer windows, 1987
With new roof and dormer windows, 1987
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee bedroom and sunroom, 1987
Bedroom and sunroom, 1987
Bickliegh Vale, Lynton Lee sunroom, 1988
Sunroom, 1988

1990...

Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee enclosed verandah, 1990
Enclosed verandah
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee dining room, 1990
Dining Room
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee front door, 1990
Front door
Bickeigh Vale, Lynton Lee laundry and blousy barmaid rose
Laundry and blousy barmaid rose

2000

Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee stone room and dining room
Stone room and dining room

June 2003

Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee, June 2003
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee, June 2003

Heritage Protection, 2004

In 2004, Bickleigh Vale village was given heritage protection and Lynton Lee received a special mention in the National Trust Classification Report:

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
"Bickleigh  Vale,  a landscaped  estate  created  by Edna  Walling  in the  1920s and developed  by her and a group  of like-minded   purchasers   to the  1950s,  then  largely  retained  within  the spirit of its creator, is of state and possible  national  significance:
.....
- for the retention  of several  buildings  and works  which  exemplify  Walling's   approach  to cottage  building,   the subject  of one of her  influential  books;  these  include  Sonning,   The  Cabin, Glencairn,   Lynton  Lee,  Mistover,   Badger's   Wood,  Downderry, Winty,  Wimbourne, Hurst and The Barn - although  many of these have been  extended,   all retain  significant  Walling influence;" (pp 1-2)

HISTORY OF BICKLEIGH VALE
"8 April 1935: Purchased of allotment in Pine Road by Lorna Fielden (the Lynton Lee site), transfered by Rosa Whisson but with the special Walling covenant." (p8)

HISTORY OF INDIVIDUAL PROPERTIES
"Lynton  Lee, 9 Pine  Road
30 October 1916  Subdivision LP7493 surveyed and approved by Shire of Lillydale on 31 December 1916, this land becomes part of lot 22.
24 February 1917 Part Crown Allotment 23A2 owned by John Edmond Taylor and Australias Sharp
27 February 1924 Transferred from Taylor and Sharp to Emily Rosa Whisson (vol 4820 fol 963824)
7 September 1928 Caveat 77119 lodged, possibly giving Walling an interest in the land; 1933 lot 4 created with subdivision LP13762 from existing lot 22 (LP7493); by 1934 Lynton Lee constructed (Watts, p.28)
16 February 1951  small part of land transferred from Fielden to Walling (vol 5968 fol 1193495; vol 7738 fol 028
20 August 1951 bulk of lot transferred from Fielden to Alan Charles Parish and Joan Parish (vol 5968 fol 1193495; vol 8046 fol 575)
23 July 1954 Transferred from Parish to Lillian Beryl Wilson and Elisabeth Wilson [vol 8046 fo1575]
20 September 1963  Lillian Beryl Wilson, of Crail Cottage, Pine Road, Mooroolbark, Spinster, is now the surviving proprietor [vol 8046 fol 575]
30 March 1993  Transfer from Wilson to Janet McClure [vol 8046 fol 575]"

DESCRIPTION
"Lynton Lee, 9 Pine Road: A single storey residence with rustic stone chimney, casement windows, steeply pitched shingled roof with dormer window, and weatherboard gable ends (contrasting with vertical boarding of the walls)."

2010 to 2018...

Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee, 2010-2019
Lynton Lee c 2010
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee c 2010
c 2010
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee woodshed, undated
Woodshed, undated
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee front to verandah, c2010
Front to verandah
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee, August 2018
August 2018

October 2019 - 85 years young!

Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee, October 2019_2
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee, October 2019_1
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee, October 2019_3
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee, October 2019_4
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee, October 2019_5
Bickleigh Vale, Lynton Lee, October 2019_6
Friends of Edna Walling at Bickleigh Vale Village. All rights reserved
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