Belmont (Archibald Bell) – Richmond Hill – North Richmond – NSW
(≠ Belmont Park / Philip Charley’s mansion — see separate post) Colonial homestead of the Bell grant · Timber then stone 1834 · Homestead demolished for Charley’s Belmont Park — foundations / stables remnants cited Richmond Hill was Belmont before it was Belmont Park. Archibald Bell of the NSW Corps named his grant for a “beautiful hill”; Macquarie called on Mrs Bell in 1810; a stone house of 1834 replaced an earlier timber dwelling. Henry Newcomen farmed here; Philip Charley pulled the old homestead down and raised the Italianate palace that still serves St John of God. The live scrapbook title says Richmond Hill but the one-line caption and turret photograph belong to Charley’s later mansion — keep the two houses apart.
At a glance
- Name: Belmont (Bell homestead) — later estate name carried into Belmont Park
- Place: Richmond Hill, North Richmond (Hawkesbury) — overlooking Hawkesbury / Redbank Creek country
- Grant / settler: Archibald Bell (1773–1837) — NSW Corps; first paid magistrate traditions; Legislative Council
- Houses: early timber; stone house 1834 (Millstone / Kurrajong historical summary)
- Later pastoralists: remnants to Henry Newcomen from 1860 (d.1884)
- Charley era: Philip Charley acquires 1889/1891 (flag); demolishes earlier homestead; builds Belmont Park mansion completed 1892 (Heritage tradition) — separate building
- Fate of Bell homestead: Demolished for Charley mansion; Millstone: foundation stone and stables remain as cited remnants — verify on restricted hospital grounds before strong public-access claims
- Disambiguation: ≠ Belmont Park standing hospital mansion; ≠ other NSW “Belmont” houses (e.g. Newcastle-area)
Site & setting
Richmond Hill — elevated ground west of the Hawkesbury named on early colonial exploration. Dharug Country (Deerubbin). Macquarie journals record the prospect over river and farms. The same hill later carried Charley’s palm avenue, gatehouse and sandstone palace — visually dominant today, but historically a successor, not Bell’s 1834 walls.
Timeline
- 1807 – Archibald Bell arrives Young William with family (Redbank / colonial-figures summaries).
- c.1809–10 – Grants / Belmont farm on Richmond Hill; timber dwelling tradition.
- 1 Dec 1810 – Macquarie visits Mrs Bell at Belmont (journal tradition cited Millstone / Belmont Park draft sources).
- Bligh / Rum Rebellion aftermath – Bell’s land troubles / reinstatement under Macquarie (Millstone narrative — keep as reported).
- 1823 – Archibald Bell Jnr’s route west → Bells Line of Road.
- 1834 – Stone house replaces timber (Millstone); later only foundation stone & stables cited as survivors.
- 1837 – Archibald Bell dies.
- 1860 – Henry Newcomen purchases remnants; builds/uses family home later removed for Charley palace.
- 1889 / 1891 – Philip Charley acquires Belmont estate (flag dual years).
- 1892 – Belmont Park mansion completed (Heritage) — new building, not a rebuild of Bell’s stone house.
- Live blog 2025-05 – Title Richmond Hill; caption wrongly “Built by Phillip Charley in 1889.”
Architecture
Bell phase: timber homestead then 1834 stone farmhouse — known from period sketch traditions (Millstone “1834 sketch of the old Bell farmhouse”). Not the Italianate tower-and-turrets palace. Remnants: foundation stone and stables per Kurrajong–Comleroy / Millstone field-history (hospital grounds — access restricted). For Charley fabric (watchtower, twin turrets, mosaics, fernery) see the Belmont Park post — do not paste those details here as Bell’s interiors.
People
Archibald Bell — schoolmaster turned NSW Corps officer; magistrate; Hawkesbury landholder; contested reputation (Redbank colonial-figures note both esteem and criticism). Maria Bell — Macquarie’s hostess on the hill. Archibald Bell Jnr — Bells Line of Road. Henry Newcomen — Warrego cattle / Belmont years. Philip Charley — BHP syndicate wealth; builder of Belmont Park on this estate (cross-link only).
Gallery
What stands today
Bell’s homestead does not stand as a house. Remnant foundation / stables fabric is reported in local historical writing inside the later hospital estate. The landmark building on Richmond Hill today is Belmont Park (St John of God Richmond Hospital) — see that post for visiting/privacy notes.
Sources & further reading
- Live post (conflated caption — use with caution): https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2025/05/belmont-richmond-hill-nsw.html
- Sister draft / live Belmont Park post: https://historicsydneymansionsmanorshouses.blogspot.com/2026/07/belmont-park-richmond-nsw.html
- Kurrajong–Comleroy Historical Society The Millstone (Belmont Park visit issues — Bell 1834 stone house; Newcomen; Charley)
- Redbank / North Richmond heritage interpretative pages — Belmont colonial figures (Bell / Charley)
- hawkesbury.org — Belmont Park (Charley / Howie / 1952 St John of God) — for successor house only
- Heritage NSW supporting histories for Yobarnie / Belmont Park landscape (Charley mansion paragraphs)
Related
- Belmont Park – North Richmond (Charley mansion — standing hospital)
- Hawkesbury / Macquarie-tour pastoral houses
