Also know as Inkster House, this municipally-designated historic site in West Kildonan (just south of this cache) was the home of long-time sheriff Colin Inkster (1843-1934) and his wife Annie Tait (1852-1925), plus their five children. The house was built in 1874 in the Red River frame style of construction three miles north of the new city of Winnipeg, and included barns and farm outbuildings. Originally situated on a large lot, the Inkster family gradually sold their land, eventually leaving 6.5 acres of grass and trees around the historic house. The last member of the Inksters to live there was Sybil, Colin’s daughter, who died in 1973. The Inksters have direct ties to the Seven Oaks House Museum in the immediate area.
Colin named his home Bleak House after the Dicken's novel which centres on a household whose members' lives are wrenched by the vagaries of the legal system and social structure.
(Manitoba Historical Society; Winnipeg Historical Buildings Committee)