Woodford Academy
THE OLDEST BUILDING ON THE BLUE MOUNTAINS
Now known as Woodford Academy, this historic property has had a multi-layered use with parts of the building dating back to the 1830s. It is the oldest collection of buildings on the Blue Mountains, the basic structure being of sandstone.
Among its many uses, it has been The Woodman Inn, The King’s Arms, Buss’s Inn, a gentleman’s residence, school for young gentlemen, day school for local children, guest house, boarding house and private residence.
Thomas Pembroke, some years after release from his sentence completed the first buildings on the site, circa 1834 after he was granted two acres and later a further 48 acres. He used stone masons and timber splitters to construct a building which may have later become the schoolroom, Fairfax sitting room and the three small adjoining rooms.
Woodford Academy stands close to the place where William and Mary James ran a “sly grog” shop for people travelling through the mountains on their way to Bathurst and further inland to settle on the land. In the 1850s itbecame a stopover for people on their way to the goldfields in search of their fortunes.
While Pembroke was the licensee, on October 12, 1835, Mary James was discovered hanging and her husband was charged with her murder. The case against him was subsequently dismissed and after a second trial he was freed. 
It is believed the kitchen may date from the time of Pembroke circa 1835. Thomas Pembroke owned the inn from 1834 to 1839.
In 1839, Thomas Pembroke sold the heavily mortgaged inn to Michael Hogan of Penrith. The name of the inn was then changed to The King’s Arms and a number of other licencees ran the inn for Hogan.
William Buss acquired the inn in 1855 which then became popularly known as Buss’s Inn.
In 1868 Buss’s widow sold the inn to Alfred Fairfax and he in turn built further rooms onto the building and turned it into a gentleman’s residence. He added a two story building for housing gentlemen’s servants, a ballroom and altered the taproom by building an entrance hall between it and the sitting room.
When John McManamey conducted Woodford Academy from 1907 to 1925 the large room downstairs was used both as a chapel and dining room for the students. Upstairs were the dormitories where the boys slept.
Evidence of the use of the taproom can be seen by the markings of the shelves on the northern wall of the room as well as a distinctive cartouche which dates from that time. In the cartouche are painted grapes, peaches and corn, the fruits of fermentation which were used in the making of spirits.
The taproom would be the equivalent of today’s hotel bar and the busiest part of the building.
The kitchen at Woodford is an excellent example of a colonial kitchen. The large fireplace and oven are among the finest surviving in NSW, the segmental stone arch over the fireplace being quite rare. The lath and plaster ceiling is a typical example of colonial architecture.
Probably built during the mid 1850s the dairy wing contained a meat room, (used for storing and curing meat with salt which caused much of the stone walls to corrode); a servants room; a dairy where milk, cream and other perishables would have been kept as well as a loft for storing animal fodder.
The courtyard surface is stone flagging, in the centre of which is a fine convict-built, barrel-vaulted underground water tank large enough to provide a plentiful water supply for the inn.
From the courtyard can be seen the Moorewood and Rogers pattern galvanised iron tiles on the main building.
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