Longford - Places to See

Christ Church
The major historic attraction in Longford in Christ Church, a sandstone building which dates from 1839. The church clock and bell were both gifts from George IV, its stained glass window is impressive, and the church's graveyard includes such prominent Tasmanian families as the Archers and the Reibeys (see Hadspen).

Historic Buildings
Other buildings of note include the Queen's Arms (a stuccoed Georgian hotel dating from 1835) at 69 Wellington Street, the Blenheim Hotel (1846) in Marlborough Street and the former Tattersall's Hotel (1860) now the Longford Library. This apparent excess of hotels and inns (many of which have been turned into private dwellings) reveals the importance of Longford in the mid-nineteenth century.

Of particular interest is the Racecourse Hotel in Wellington Street which was originally built to become Longford's railway station. At various times it has been a private hospital and a pub. The pub achieved considerable notoriety when a woman, having stolen and swallowed two gold sovereigns from some local farmhands, was murdered

Historic Homes
As well the town has other important buildings such as Longford House (1839) in Catherine Street, 'Old Norley' (1838) built by Charles Arthur at 4 Lyttleton Street, 'Brickendon' (1831) built by William Archer in Wellington Street (it is a large and gracious Georgian dwelling) and 'Northbury' (1862) built by Edward Archer.

This is a small sample of over forty buildings in the district which have been included on the National Estate. A detailed history, and description, of many of the buildings is provided in Let's Talk About Longford.

Woodstock Lagoon Wildlife Sanctuary
9 km from Longford is the Woodstock Lagoon Wildlife Sanctuary, a 150 ha area reserved as a nesting and breeding sanctuary for large numbers of waterfowl.