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.

ST JAMES’S, ROXBURGH

Maori hunted moa in these parts long before prospectors found gold, before the soil and climate were found to produce superior peaches and apricots, or before the Clutha River was dammed for its power.

Somewhere in that bunched up history, Christianity came to the area that started life as Teviot.

In 1871 an Anglican building committee was formed and a site was offered. Tenders were let, the stone was quarried from a stone’s throw away, and St James’s was opened on 11 November 1872, having cost £881.

Its mellow stones - dressed and assembled by stonemason Peter Campbell - require watercolour washed over oil pastel for the right texture. It was a very satisfying subject to paint.

© DON DONOVAN  

donovan@ihug.co.nz

Winton is a proud little town conscious of its history, and its people are now keen to preserve surviving historic buildings.

They almost lost the picturesque 1876 church, Holy Trinity, but saved it just in time and it has been well maintained since its re-dedication on 20 December 1981.
 
Although there’s little space between its nave and the main street, it can claim to be on its original site. The architect was F. W. Burwell and the builders were Price and Shadrow.

© 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.

 
‘Weighty limestone, on hill above Otaio River, course of which marked by vernal green poplars and willows.’ (NOTEBOOK, SUNDAY 4/11/2001)

A notice board outside St Mary’s, Otaio, reads that services are conducted on the first Sunday of the month at 10.00 am. I arrived at 10.00 and stayed until after 10.30 but there was no sign of life. That is the state of so many country churches - little evidence of priest or congregation.

But the church was not built with the principal intention of serving a needy community; it was Charles Meyer’s memorial to his wife, Ellen, who died in 1877. Within a few months he, owner of Blue Cliffs Station, also died but architect Benjamin Mountfort’s plans proceeded and the church - by then also a memorial to Meyer - was consecrated in June 1880.

The butterscotch limestone, from Cave in South Canterbury, looks as fresh as if it were newly quarried but corrugated iron has replaced the original slate roof. There is no external foundation stone but at the gate a plaque reads ‘In Memory of Past Parishioners 1880-1960′.

© 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.

 
‘Very simple church, almost severe. In a lovely grassy glen surrounded by old trees and empty cottages. I felt as if I were in the ghost of Goldsmith’s “Sweet Auburn! Loveliest village of the plain”.’ (SKETCHBOOK NOTE 2/11/01)

St John’s, with 30 cm. thick concrete walls and kauri ceiling, was built in 1877 by immigrant Scot, John Cathcart Wason, at the village he named Barrhill after one in Scotland.

Wason wanted to replicate an almost feudal, old world community and laid out the village with avenues of trees, a market square, workers’ cottages, bakery, smithy (I wonder whether the door hinges were wrought there?) post office, inn and store.
 
It succeeded until 1890 when the new railway line was laid some kilometres to the south. Thus it became isolated and sent the village into decline.
 
On the day I sketched in the churchyard all was still; around the ’square’ were just a few empty weekend cottages and one permanent house; Wason’s leafy common lands were being grazed by sheep with no sense of history.

© 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.

 
When I went inside St Patrick’s on that mild November day I found every door and window thrown open. The church - unusual because of its unique ‘cake-frill’ bargeboards - was having a face-lift. Inside smelled of new paint; the decorator’s radio, liberally spotted with old paint, blared secular pop to Akaroa and the world.

When it was built in 1865 it was a simpler structure, the sanctuary, sacristy and porch were added in 1886, and the squat tower was built in 1893 to accommodate a bell cast in Anderson’s foundry in Christchurch.

The architect was Maxwell Bury, Benjamin Mountfort’s partner. Among his specifications were: ‘Piles should be charred to prevent decay… it is not proposed to plane any of the timber… windows will be made by simply cutting the shape out of the wall planks…’

Outside there’s a memorial engraved with Bishop Pompallier’s portrait. It records the church’s birth as 1864. ‘Wrong,’ warned the amiable parish priest. ‘Don’t trust everything you read!’

© DON DONOVAN 
 
donovan@ihug.co.nz