Donovan’s World

On a perfect day in March 2001, St Alban’s, Waingaro, lay in a pool of sunlight standing out from the gloom of the forest that almost completely surrounds it.

In a somewhat remote clearing north of Waingaro Springs it gathers to itself just a few graves strung along the crest of a knoll that ends, against the pines, with a large grey marble stone topped with a horizontal cross - the tragic grave of a four year-old girl.

St Alban’s, named after the first English martyr, was designed by Reverend H.B.Wingfield and was dedicated on 6 November 1907.

© DON DONOVAN
  
donovan@ihug.co.nz

I wrote and illustrated Country Churches of New Zealand. It was published in 2002 by New Holland, Publishers and is still on sale in bookshops. The publishers have kindly agreed to me re-publishing some of the book’s images and descriptions in this blog.

There are two memorial tablets in the Taniwha and Waerenga UndenominationalWar Memorial Church. The first lists the names of 44 men of whom 14 died serving in WorldWar I; the second honours 57 men who fought in World War II - seven of whom did not return.

These tablets go a long way to explaining why such a substantial country church should exist in the middle of sparsely populated north Waikato farmlands.

Mr Ivan Hall, an architect turned farmer, drew up the plans, and the building and materials were largely donated by the local community. The church opened in May 1928 for all denominations but when I visited in 2000 only Anglicans were using it regularly.

© DON DONOVAN
 
donovan@ihug.co.nz

 
There’s a special aura of affluence and self-assuredness about Christ Church, Alfriston. Money has been spent on it. Sadly, in doing so, its shape and simplicity have been compromised. Except, that is, for the steeple which is beautifully proportioned - and oddly naive - its simple timber pinnacles topped with bent metal protectors emulating those grander stone steeples of Gothic city churches.

Mr Archibald Cochrane built Christ Church for £146 and what has been described as the ‘neat little church with a chancel, spire and tower’ was opened on Sunday, 18 March 1877.

© DON DONOVAN  

donovan@ihug.co.nz

On many occasions, taking that dangerous road at the foot of the Bombay Hills that weaves towards distant Coromandel, I’ve driven past the charming Anglican St Mary on the Hill, Pokeno, where it stands proudly like a story-book church.
 
It was given by Harriett Johnstone to the people of Pokeno, a town which, when she arrived from England in 1892, was the gateway to Auckland from the Waikato.

The church’s warm, dark wood interior and a fine ‘faith, hope and charity’ triptych west window - given by Harriett Johnstone in 1910 give it a restful atmosphere.

Tapestry by local needleworkers

The church was consecrated by Archbishop Cowie on Sunday, 25 March 1900. The architect was Ed Bartley and the builder A Vinson.

© DON DONOVAN   

donovan@ihug.co.nz

When I re-visited the Pukekohe East Presbyterian Church on 7 January 2001 it had become the Pukekohe East Church Creative Centre. Were it not for the creative centre it would, I’m sure, have become derelict.

Its simple form belies a romantic history too long to recount here. The wording of the Historic Places Trust plaque at the gate sums it up:

© DON DONOVAN   

donovan@ihug.co.nz

ALL SOULS, CLEVEDON

Exaggerated agapanthus plants hide wrecked tombstones and my distress at the petty vandalism that despoiled the churchyard. But the church itself maintains a quiet dignity.

All Souls, Clevedon, one of the famous sixteen Selwyn churches, dates to 1861 when it was dedicated on 29 December by Bishop Selwyn himself.

It was at first known as the Wairoa Episcopalian Church. It looked much different from my illustration and has been modified a number of times. In 1888 the nave was extended; a vestry was added in 1910, and the shingled spire was built in 1961 to celebrate its centenary. Despite all the changes, the church’s elements are remarkably harmonious, except for the clumsy porch roof and the steeple being a little too slender for its base.

© DON DONOVAN

donovan@ihug.co.nz  

ST. STEPHEN’S CHAPEL, JUDGES BAY

I make no apology for including the minuscule St Stephen’s Chapel, Judges Bay, in a book of country churches. Although it stands in an inner suburb of Auckland it has the rural look, and the feel and setting of its origins.

Built in 1857 to plans by Frederick Thatcher, it replaced a short-lived stone affair that fell down in a storm in 1845. The graveyard stones are a roll call of early Auckland identities among whose lichened memorials I sat and sketched while talking with a couple of visitors from Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, who had seen the chapel from their cruise liner and made a bee-line for it.

On the skyline beyond the quiet churchyard looms the Auckland Sky Tower. I left it out. Artists are allowed to do things like that.

© DON DONOVAN
  
donovan@ihug.co.nz

High and boxy on a grassy knoll above a steep roadside bank screened by agapanthus and, today, closely surrounded by suburban homes, St Cuthbert’s, Kaukapakapa was opened as an inter-denominational church on Sunday 16 January 1881.

They held three services that day: one for the Unionists, one for the Presbyterians and one for the Methodists.

Its design, which originally included an elegant belfry since rotted and removed, was the work of Matthew Henderson of Auckland. It was built for £210 by a Mr Keyes.
I’m not sure how old the outside dunny round the back is, but it, too, has an air of dereliction. Architecturally designed? Possibly.

© DON DONOVAN   

donovan@ihug.co.nz

The Roman Catholic church of St Peter and St Paul was built for £267 in 1881. The architect was James Wrigley. His design ended where today’s altar begins and there was no bell-tower until 1899.

Larger than your usual village church, it has an imposing west entrance with a porch surrounded by five simple, ‘early English’ windows, lots of brass doorknobs and fingerplates, and abundant stained glass in Art Nouveau style.

Many of the windows are dedicated and most of the names on them are redolent of the Bohemian settlement: Schischka, Straka, Remiger, Ranner, Becher, Schollum, Wenzlick, Bayer, Tunnwald. The organ, as typical of older country churches, was made by the Carpenter Company of Brattleboro, Vermont, USA.

© DON DONOVAN
  
donovan@ihug.co.nz

It was pleasant to sit and sketch this church in the shade of a handy tree, my folding stool rocking on the springy turf with its scattering of rabbit pellets and dandelions; the tree ferns each side of the door looked as if they’d been there since Genesis.

The Presbyterian Wainui Early Settlers’ Church was built in 1862 on land given by the Crown to the famous surveyor Charles Heaphy V.C.

Despite being quite close to Orewa and Auckland, it’s now remote from its community. Although very simple – just porch and nave – its proportions are faultless. For many years it was the only public building in the district and served not only as a church but also as a school, store and post office. In fact, in the wall of the porch there’s still a slit where letters were once posted.

© DON DONOVAN
 
donovan@ihug.co.nz