Farm History
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LillecrappThe original owner, William Lillecrapp, was a stock overseer and secretary for the South Australian Land Company. In the 1840’s he was given a land grant of 400 acres of prime land in Kenton Valley, making this property one of the oldest farms in the state. William and his family came from ‘Netherbridge’ in Southern England, and named their property ‘Nether Hill’. He built a four room stone cottage as the original homestead for the property, one kilometre up Nether Hill Road, Kenton Valley. Over the years the Lillecrapp family cleared portions of the stringy bark and gum scrub, stocked the farm with animals, and planted apples and pears. After the death of William Lillecrapp, two of his daughters continued to run the property and eventually sold it.
SandercockJohn Sandercock bought the property from the Lillecrapp family at the turn of the century. He and his wife had a very large family of twelve children, and over the years extended the house in stages, increasing the four-room cottage to a ten-roomed house. He engraved the name ‘Nether Hill’ in a large stone over the front gable of the final extension in 1914. John and his family continued to clear the land, selling the wattle bark for tanning leather and extended the orchards, exporting apples to England. The property was divided up amongst John Sandercock’s sons. The youngest son, Ellie, inherited the main property and homestead. Ellie Sandercock and his wife Rita, turned the property into a dairy farm, which they ran in conjunction with their son Lionel and wife Beryl, until they retired and sold it in 1974.
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