This part of Sussex St, between the old bakery and the street corner, has had several uses. From the 1860s to the early 1900s, Thomas Mardling Wise’s drapery shop, “Ellington House,” stood next to the bakery.
Next door was the Black Swan Hotel, built in 1860, which hosted Linton Police Court sessions and Woady Yaloak Roads Board meetings before the Court House was built. In 1868, it was renamed the Commercial Hotel under new owner John McGoldrick. The hotel was destroyed by fire in 1875, along with several nearby businesses.
In about 1881, George Preston Senior built a grocery shop on the corner, which failed. His daughter briefly ran a hat and dress shop, and in 1917, George Junior opened a fruit and vegetable business. The building was demolished in 2004, and the house standing here today was built by the Preston family in the mid-1900s.
You can now cross Sussex St to your next stop, Traquair House.
