Donovan’s World

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.

‘Sullen sky. Upstream from Wanganui. Pleasing interior with diagonal rimu timber planking. Stained glass in every window. Many memorials to Montgomery/Montgomerie family. Triangular spire. Lych gate, added later, ruins a clear view of the church.’ (SKETCHBOOK 29/03/01)

I drew St Mary’s, Upokongaro, from two angles because the fragile refinement of the tower contrasts so markedly with the solidity of the nave.

The triangular spire is a delight - from some angles it looks askew. Maybe a mischievous trompe l’oeil was in architect Edward C. Morgan’s mind.

It was opened on 11 November 1877 having taken less than a year to build.

As for the lych gate, I simply left it out.

© DON DONOVAN   

donovan@ihug.co.nz

I had intended to pass through Wanganui as it is too much of a city. But the sight of St Peter’s in its lollipop colours had me lusting for my paint box.

Inside, a pop group’s drum kit glittered appropriately out of place among the brass plaques, flags, memorials and stained glass that adorn its serious old timbers. One can only conclude that inside and outside fresh tunes are being played on old fiddles.

Built in 1866, it’s the oldest building still in use in Wanganui, although it wasn’t always on this site, having been moved here bit by bit by horse and cart in 1921 at which time its name was changed from Christ Church to St Peter’s.

© 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.

It’s hard to believe that this imposing and well-presented church, almost too large for my collection, serves a congregation of rarely more than twenty parishioners. It’s a sign of the times.

My old friend de Jersey Clere caught some flack in 1885 when he gave St George’s, Patea an unusual A-frame design. The critics failed to appreciate that it was a deliberate decision to make use of timber for timber’s sake rather than to try to replicate stone in wood.

© 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.

St John’s, Omata, southwest of New Plymouth, was built by T B Penwarden in 1875 to the plans of George Robinson.

A gale flattened it in 1894 but it was put together again in its original form. Today it stands, sadly alone, on a tiny elevated triangle at a fork of two roads almost invisible behind a hedge of boxthorn and English holly.

It was impossible to do a satisfactory painting of the building, so I settled for Robinson’s handsome door.

© DON DONOVAN
  
donovan@ihug.co.nz

Nukumaru’s Tutahi Church has a modest appeal that belies its important history.

It’s on the site of Ngati Ruanui leader Titokowaru’s fortified pa, Tauranga-Ika, which he abandoned in 1869 to the colonial constabulary towards the end of the Taranaki land wars.

Enmity set aside, the local people, Ngarauru, built the church in 1883 as a symbol of their commitment to Christianity and to mark a bonding of Maori and European.

Tutahi, meaning ’stands as one’, is a multi-denominational church.

© DON DONOVAN
 
donovan@ihug.co.nz

A lone voice among all other sources insisted that the name of this church was St Werenfrid’s. With one notable exception, all other references I consulted have it as St Werenfried’s. The exception was the Historic Places Trust’s ‘Historic Buildings of the North Island’ which lists it as St Winifred’s!

This gracefully slim 1895 church rises needle-like from Waihi Village on Lake Taupo.

‘Two outstanding stained-glass windows: a Maori Christ with open hands showing the stigmata; the other a wahine Mary with her baby Christ. Quiet and peaceful beside the lake. Sun in silver patches. As I leave a young girl, the only person I’ve seen, gives me a friendly wave.’
(NOTEBOOK 28/3/01)

© DON DONOVAN  

donovan@ihug.co.nz

‘Unusual spire looks as if it was riveted in a Clydeside shipyard. Lonely church on the wide, barley-coloured south Wairarapa lake plain. Nor’wester gusting up; over distant Rimutaka ranges the glint of late sun is veiled as rain spills east.’ (Sketchbook note 26/3/01)

Born Presbyterian but latterly used also by Anglicans and Catholics, Burnside Church, Kohunui, was designed by John King of Masterton and built in 1875 for £250 by James Tweedale on land donated by Donald Sinclair.

An iron roof replaced shingles early last century, when a new ceiling had also to be installed because the roofers had banged their nails clean though the old one!

© 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.

By the time I reached St Francis’s church the early autumn rain had crossed the Rimutaka ranges and had reached Kahutara, just south of Featherston.

I was pleased enough to shelter briefly in the unusually square nave whose wooden walls exuded the musky smell of linseed oil.

Built in 1882 at Morrison’s Bush, the church was moved to its present site - donated by John Bidwill - in 1961 and dedicated for the joint use of Anglicans, Methodists and Presbyterians. At £400 the move cost twice as much as the original building - there’s inflation.

© 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.

 
Built in 1902, St Columba’s now stands confidently cosseted in the grounds of Solway College, Masterton.
 
It was, until 1996, at Mangamahoe near Eketahuna.

The girls’ college - Presbyterian but not exclusively so - had wanted a chapel since its foundation in 1916 but it took 80 years to achieve the dream. In doing so, they serendipitously saved a fine little de Jersey Clere jewel that might otherwise have died of neglect.

© DON DONOVAN
  
donovan@ihug.co.nz

St Alban’s at Taueru on the Masterton to Riversdale road came as a welcome sight, being so different from most other country churches and promising to add variety to my collection.

It was built in 1905 to a design inspired by A. P. Whatman, which he based on St Alban’s Abbey in Hertfordshire. Inside, the rimu walls sensitively enhance the finely proportioned baptistery, nave, choir and polygonal sanctuary.

© DON DONOVAN 
 
donovan@ihug.co.nz