Archaeological dig under part of West End Brewery to search for remains of Colonel William Light’s old home

An archaeological dig to search for forgotten underground rooms will begin soon at the West End Brewery site.

The cottage where Colonel William Light spent his final months will be the subject of an archaeological dig at the West End Brewery site after securing heritage support.

At a meeting of the SA Heritage Council on Thursday, the remains of Theberton Hall – including an underground room, underground tank and well – were provisionally listed as a state heritage place, pending an archaeological survey of the site.

It is believed remnants of the cottage where Colonel William Light lived and died in 1839 could lie beneath the surface on the corner of Walsh and Winwood streets, in the heart of the brewery precinct.

Aerial view of West End Brewery with the location of Colonel Light's demolished cottage – Theberton Hall. Picture: MetroMap

Theberton Hall – where Colonel William Light spent his final months before his death in 1839 – was demolished in 1926.

The original Walkerville Brewhouse Tower, located behind the brewery’s glass-fronted building on Port Road, and a historic copper kettle featured inside the Port Road building were also given provisional listings at Thursday’s meeting, triggering further consultation with the public and site owner Lion.

SA Heritage Council chair Keith Conlon said the archaeological dig would determine the significance of underground heritage found below an industrial shed that currently stands on the site of Colonel Light’s demolished cottage.

“There will be an archaeological survey arranged in the very near future and once that’s completed then we can go through the completion of what to list and what not to,” he said.

“We reasonably suspect that there’s something there. What happened in 1926, when it was demolished, very soon after that Colton, Palmer and Preston, which was a big wholesale and manufacturing firm in the state at the time, they built a big warehouse over the top, a much bigger warehouse than what would have been the size of the house.

“According to construction techniques at the time, there may not have been a massive disturbance to what’s under the ground.”

Historical picture of the Walkerville Brewhouse Tower.

The West End Brewery will close next month, with owner Lion planning a demolition, remediation and rezoning of the land ahead of a potential sale and redevelopment.

A Lion spokeswoman said the company would work closely with Heritage SA to conduct a supervised dig of the area where Colonel Light’s cottage is believed to have stood.

She said the original four-storey brewhouse, which had been given provisional State Heritage protection, would be preserved and incorporated into the site’s master plan.

“The original brewhouse has a long and rich history, and we are committed to working closely with Heritage SA to ensure its historical significance is recognised and retained in the most appropriate way,” she said.

“The structure was the original brewhouse back in 1886 and while it has had many uses since, at West End it has become affectionately known as the Tower Bar.”

Inside the Tower Bar, which will be preserved at the West End Brewery site. Supplied by Lion

Mr Conlon said three other local heritage places on the West End site – including a plaque denoting the approximate location of Theberton Hall, an electrical transformer on Holland Street, and the brewery gardens where the annual Christmas lights display is held – would be considered for state heritage listing at a meeting in August.