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Richmond & Area
Rielly House Hotel, early 1900's
For long the major settlement in the township, Richmond (in the southeast corner of Goulbourn) was selected by the British Army in 1818 as the site for a military settlement. Named after the Duke of Richmond, who was the newly appointed Governor of Upper Canada, the village of Richmond was laid out in a grid on the north bank of the Jock River (which for a while was renamed the Goodwood after the Duke’s English estate). Richmond was the centre for the administration of lands in the area. Military supervisor, Major Burke, placed the mainly Irish soldiers of his 99th Regiment in Goulbourn Township. Scottish settlers from Perthshire were placed in the adjoining area of northeast Beckwith, while Irish civilians were settled in southeast Beckwith, Goulbourn, and parts of neighbouring townships.

The Town of Richmond was an autonomous municipality from 1850 until 1974. At this time, a provincial reorganization amalgamated Stittsville and rural Goulbourn with Richmond to form a new Goulbourn Township. Early homes in Richmond are built of local stone and many later (19th century) houses and buildings are of red brick. The site of the only remaining Fall Fair in the township, Richmond continues to be a service and social centre with several churches, service clubs, and a retail shopping area.
Stapledon

At first a stopping place on the military supply road between the Land Settlement Offices in Perth and Richmond, a small hamlet developed around Sgt. Vaughan’s tavern. This settlement expanded over time to include a store, post office, school, Orange Hall and sawmill. The community got its name when the job of postmaster was given to Thomas Stapledon in 1888. Stapledon is best known today for the well-preserved Rielly Farm, a cluster of buildings on the Franktown Road that are no longer used for the purpose of agriculture but include first and second farm houses, a cobbler’s shop and other artisan’s shops. The coming of the automobile led to the decline of Stapledon.

 Stapleton Orange Lodge, July 12th, c. 1900
The Jock

Perhaps the earliest settlement in Goulbourn Township, the Jock predates the arrival of permanent settlers. The Jock settlement was located on the bank of the Jock River and may have served as a staging post for Philemon Wright’s men as they searched for accessible timber. A stone house on the spot was said by later settlers to have been a trading post for native groups crossing the territory by canoe.

The Jock River served as an important transportation corridor in the early days of the Township’s development. The river’s formal name was the Goodwood River but it was commonly known as the Jock, after a man with the name Jacques drowned in its waters.