Sorell

(That’s S’rell, not Sorrel.)

When the British settlers first spread out from their Derwent base, many of them headed east, into the Coal River Valley, and up along the east coast (encouraged by the settlement on Maria Island that needed supplies). The road to the east goes through Sorell, and when the settlement on the Tasman Peninsula was established, that road also passed through Sorell. The town is named for Lieutenant Gov Sorell, who inherited Davey’s mess and was replaced by Arthur, so prior to 1825. It’s a location that comes up time and time again in early records. And yet…

We went to the Information Centre. This is a place where tourists can go and get useful information (that is, brochures) about accommodation, tourist attractions and anything else that tourists might need to know.

The Sorell Information Centre (former church hall) is on the main street. It’s a nice big room with lots of brochures for all around the state divided up by regions. Nothing stood out for Sorell, so we asked the young guy at the counter. He looked a little… desperate. He did produce a leaflet that showed the locations of a couple of antique shops and a hobby shop. This obviously wasn’t what we wanted. Then he came out with a much-copied B&W map showing Interesting Buildings. That was more like it. Sort of. We assured him (I hope) that this was all we needed and we departed.

Mother went to the Antique Centre, and I went to see how many buildings on the much-copied B&W map I could photograph.

The Blue Bell Inn is on the opposite corner to the Antique Centre. According to their web site (I lost my much-copied B&W map 🙁 ) it was originally a large, single story building constructed in 1829, which was destroyed by a fire and rebuilt in 1863.

It says a lot of other stuff, like Sorell originally had 7 hotels, which is quite interesting but you can go and read it yourself if you care.

A pretty building.

The Sorell Barracks, Bed & Breakfast, apparently dating from 1827. Anything else, you’ll have to work out for yourself.

From there, to the two nearby churches.

St Thomas Catholic Church, 1854. Designed architect Henry Hunter according to the sign out the front.

Scots Uniting Church, formerly Scots Presbyterian, 1842. According to the plaque, it was designed by James Blackburn and one of the earliest Romanesque churches in Australia.

Football oval, obviously.

The council chambers are on the site of the courthouse and old gaol which was held up one weekend.

Back in the main street now, and time for lunch.

You might be able to see the little brown plaque on the front wall. That says “Braithwaites Store 1910”. Well, it’s a start.

This place has a little plaque in the glass panel above the door that says “David Hildyard’s House The Plough & Harrow c. 1829”

Not sure what is going on with the check drawings on the road. There are lots of them but not clear enough now to make out the details.

That’s the Anglican Church. From the Australian Heritage Database: A small stone Gothic Revival church constructed in 1826 and re-built in 1883. Elsewhere on the same site, it was says 1836. That seems more likely.

The cemetery behind. Do you get a sinking feeling here?

This blurry looking building obviously used to be the railway station according to the much-copied B&W map, and the sign on the side. The end point of a line from Bellerive that I think was closed in the 1920s.