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Christ Church ~ Taita, 1854, is the oldest church in the Wellington region and one of the oldest in its original condition in New Zealand. It’s also thought to be the oldest complete building in Wellington. Christ Church was built by pioneer families and held its first service on 1 January 1854.
In 1853, Taita had just over 30 households. Many of these pioneer families are buried in the churchyard. Their names – Avery, Boulcott, Buck, Daysh, Harris, Hooper, Hirst, Kemble, Mabey, Peck, Percy, Riddler, Welch and Matangi (the son of a signatory to the Treaty of Waitangi) are still well known in the Hutt Valley.
The 'residents' at the Christ Church Taita cemetery are: ADAMS - Catherine & Joseph & J.W.T. & Maude Isabella ALEXANDER - John ALLEN - Jessie Louise & Phillip Gilbert ANGELL - Noel Henry ANSTIS - Clara AUGUST - Alma & Harriett Rubina Jessie & Herbert Lewis "Bert" & John "Lew" & Robert Maskell AVERY - Thomas & Elizabeth (nee Dapson) & George & Minnie C. BAI - Jack & irene Rlizabeth BAKER - William George & Anna BALLS - Leonard David & Ida Mary (nee Buck BENTLEY - John & Esther & Clarence Edgar & Gertrude Alice & Norman Bourne BERRILL - Peter Montague BERRY - Richard Sim & Grant Richard & ian Garth & Francis "Frank" & Mona Marie & F. BLOWS - Emily Agnes BOULCOTT - Almon & Augusta & Charles & Eliza Lavinia (nee Hopton) & Hebe & Henrietta & Herman Charles Sumner & Mary BOYD - Benjamin & Emma BREEN - Joseph Carson & Vera Elizabeth BROOKS - Dorothy & Henry George & Mary Ann BROWN - Jeremy John Anderson & Valentine Brinsley BROWNE - Alexander Edward & Madeleine BUCHLER - Arhur Willia & Marie Payne BUCK - George Green & Mary Ann Seldon (nee Salmon) & Percy "Patu" & William Seldon BULL - Ethel Eileen BUNNY - Samuel George BURNETT - Samuel & Arbuthnot Camble & Frederic William & Julia CALDER - Edith Mildred CAMERON - Joyce Mary (nee Clere) CLERE - Cutchen & Florence Winifred & Frederick De Jersey & Frederick Temple & Mary (nee Goodbehere) & Montague de Jersey CANNING - Hugh CARTER - Mary Josephine & Harold Henry Victor & Merle & Rachel & Robert CHITTICK - George & Jane (nee Whitaker) CLARKE - Edith Margaret & Dorothy & James Roy Litten CLEMENT - John & Lucy & Edith Margaret & Sarah Augusta CLEVERLEY - Jessie & John Francie & Lance John COLE - Lucy Ann & Selwyn Clifford COLLETT - Elizabeth & James CORBETT - Claude Henry Bertie & Emma Louise & Linda Kathrin DARLING - Norma Marjorie & Olga & William DAVEY - Ivy Made Marion & Thomas Harry Pringle & Ivy Maude Marion DAVIES - Walter Ernest Detheridge & Ethel Maud DeMUTH - Dorothy Edna & Maurice Joseph DEATH - George & Mary Ann DEER - James Alexander DEGERHOLM - Bernard Langstone & Sylvia Elizabeth Ruckin DEVEREUX - William Checkley DODD - Thomas Herbert DONALD - Kenneth James DOUGLAS - Rita & William DREWITT - John lloyd & Mabel Oceana DRISCOLL - Ethel & Keith & Irene & Kathie & Timothy Joseph EARLE - Edward EDHOUSE - Peter Robert EDWARDS - Mary Jolley ELDER - Eileen ERWOOD - Beatrice Charlotte & Edith Maude & Edward M. & Emily & Emma H. EVANS - Rona & Terry FOX - Helen & James & Lydia & John & Alfred & Alan Charles James & George William & Helen & Janet Mary & Vivienne Claire FRANCIS - Michael Richard & Patricia FUGE - Edward Lars & Florie E.M. GADSBY - Lavinia Martha GASKIN - Mathew GOSSE - Leslie Samuel & Nina Mary GREEN - Joe & Lucy A. GREGORY - Sharon Kay HAIGH - Jeffrey Nelson HAIR - Barbara E. HALL -Lily & Mima & Mima Siclair & Thomas HANSELL - Arthur Lloyd & Betty & Mary Ellen HARDIE - Ian Hamilton Dalrymple & Margaret Mariah & William Dalrymple & Eric Dalrymple HARPER - Norman Andrew HARRINGTON - Arthur James & Florence Clara & Lorna Annie & Noel Arthur & Walter George HARRIS - A.H. & Abraham & Sophia & Annie & Mary & Mary & Sarah HARRISON - Roy Herbert Winfred & Stuart William HARVEY - John HASTINGS - Ella May & Harold Maurice HAYWARD - ? & Mary Ann HEALE - Ngaie Theckla HEDLEY - Ann & Leonard & Florence Emily May HICKSON - Arthur & Gramey Irene HIRST - Sidney & Mary HODGSON - Henry & Jessie & John & Mary HOLLIS - Marjorie Yvonne HOLM - Grace Eileen & Mariner Tucker HOOPER - Caroline Wadman & Henry Richard & John & Mary Jane & William Wadman & Eliza Jane & George & George Ian HOPKINS - Hugh Phelps & Berys Dashwood HOUSE - Ethel Mary HUDSON - Emma & Ethel HUGHEY - Mary GALLAND - Katerina Mei JOHNSTON - Edward George & Sarah Pipiriki JOLLEY - Thomas JOLLIE - Douglas William & Leola Valentine JONES - Lloyd MacPherson & Victor MacPherson & Maru Seldon MacPherson & William Herbert JUDD - Ann Elizabeth & James & James & Lila May KELLS - Elizabeth Florence & George Robert & William George Harvey John & John William & Mavis Page KEMPTHORNE - Arthur Selwyn & Marie KENNEDY-GOOD - Sir John KEYS - Joan KILMINSTER - Harriett & William KING - Emily White (nee Williams) & Norman & Reuben & Ruth & Mary Hannah (nee Wensley) & Therese KITCHENER - Mabel & Frederick KNIGHT - A.W. & M.E. LARGE - James Richard & Sylvia Florence LARKIN - Ellen Matilda LAWSON - John Nicholas & Alice Constance LERWILL - Albert Ernest LINN - Jane LIVERTON - George & John Longman & Mary Ann MABEY - Elizabeth Annie & Grace & Job Charles * Rosie & George & Kob & Rachel MARTIN - Linda Evelyn Frances MATANGI - Manihera McCLELLAN - Elsie Lillian & William John Mervyn McFARLANE - Elsie Tui 7 Fergus Kenneth McGREGOR - Claude & John C. McILWRAITH - Frank Hamilton McMILLAN - Joyce & Isabel MEAGER - Elizabeth Eliza & Elizabeth M. & Ellen Ann & Henry MILNE - Nancy MITCHELL - Catherine & George James (1925) & George James (1929( & Grace Dora & Thomas MORRIS - George W. & Keith & Paul Arthur & Ernest & Robert MOYNIHAN - Audrey Marion & Keith Lewis & Barbara O'BRIEN - Raymond John O'CALLAGHAN - Dorothy Madge & John Alexander OLSON - Maude Isabella ORBELL - Kaja & Rev Waldron Hastings PARKER - Richard & Harry Kellerway & Plevna PARSONSON - Evelyn Cecelia PATERSON - Agnes May PEARSON - Elaine PECK - Daniel & Elizabeth & Sanuel & Edith PENNO - William Kells PERCY - Adelaid Eliza Jane & Annie Maria & Arthur Welch & Charles & Frederick Richard & James Edward & Joseph & Lucy & Walter John & William Alfred PHILP - Pauline Margaret PIKE - Cecil Seldon & Elizabeth Seldon (nee Buck) & George Hale & Evelyn Seldon & Gordon Seldon & Julia Catherine & William Seldon PILKINGTON - Ransay John POAD - Carl Victor POWELL - Mark & Norma Patricia PROTHEROE - Margaret Louisa & Alexander George & Judith Margaret RALPH - Jane & William REES - Agnes Matilda & Cecil Walter & Charles Gilbert & Emily Grace & Stewart REMNANT - Mary RIDDICK - Donald Harry & Sharon Margaret RIDDLER - Catherine & eva Gertrude & Mary & Maurice Stewart & Richard Samuel & Thomas jnr & Thomas snr & Elizabeth & Elizabeth Mary & Henry & William RIDYARD - Mary Caroline RITCHIE - Dorothy Hope & Robert Francis Deans ROBINSON - John William RONNING - M.A. & Mona Charlotte ROUTLEY - Lilly May & Norman H. ROY - Emily Kate & Richard Barton RUSSELL - Esther SAMPSON - Frederick James & Phyllis Sheila SANDERS - Anne Elizabeth & Leonard William & Henry & Jane SAUL - Joseph & May Ann SAVAGE - Roy Edward & Maude SEALY - Joseph William SEARLE - Olive Mavis & Frank & Alfred & Edith Mary & Jack Kenneth & Leonard A. SHERWIN - Beatrice Florence SHOTLANDER - Alice Bertha & Harold SIM - Hazel Dashwood & Wilfred Joseph SINGER - Daisy Mildred & Reginald & Reginald John SMITH - Maria & Samuel & Winiata SMYTH - Sybil Mary SPARGO - Hannah Rachel SPOONER - John STEVENSON - William Starr STEWART - Robert Arnold & Ethel Gwendolen STROMBOM - Bessie Monteith & Frederick Duncombe & Kathleen Grace & William Warren Duncombe STUPPLES - Irene Martha & Phylis Hazel SWANN - Sarah Ann SWAYSLAND - Charles & Margaret SYKES - Annie & George & George Robert & Isaac & Isaac & Janes TEO CHONG LIAN - Chris 'Peter; THOMPSON - Margaret Ann Isabel TINSLEY - Charlotte & Naaomi Frances Patricia TREMEWAN - Elizabeth & Thomas TUCK - Charlotte & Robert Horace TURNER - Cannon Clare Wilson TUSTIN - Diana Raymond VOYCE - Jocelyn Margaret WAINWRIGHT - Frank & Katherine WAITARA - Hanna WARNES - Clarence Norman WELCH - Arthur Wellesley & Annie & Kathleen & Ann Reid & William & Arabella & Ernest Arabella & William Read WENTWORTH - Evelyn WHITEWOOD - Rebecca Monteith & William Matson WHITTINGTON - William WILLSON - Janine WILSON - Agnes Gertrude & Blanche Maude & Florence Cowland & Joyce Lewin WINTER - Betty WOOD - Edith Annie Charlotte & Robert James WOODS - Janet Lesley
GUARDIAN OF THE VALLEY The story of Wellington’s oldest church, by Miles Erwin (Steele Roberts, $39.95). Book Review by Andrew Leach
Miles Erwin’s Guardian of the Valley reinforced my prejudices as to what constitutes good architectural historio-graphy. It anchors a history of Taita and its peoples to the modestly charming timber structure of Christ Church, bringing the juggernaut of local folklore and genealogical research carefully and intelligently to bear upon the subject. Marking 150 years since the church’s foundation, the book’s tone is unashamedly celebratory and it is hard to resist the writer’s enthusiasm. But although Erwin’s history of the region is clear and even-handed, it advances the important question of how and why places enter into our heritage consciousness.
A survivor of fire, flood and suburbia, Christ Church is a remarkable artefact of Wellington’s early settlement. Erwin shares what is known of the building’s formal origins. There is evidence, but no proof of the original designer’s identity. More central to Erwin’s story are the contractor and his assistants, drawn from within the original Taita community. But the modest timber structure belongs to the group of simple yet elegant buildings erected by the Anglican Church all over the country in the mid-to- late 19th century.
At the heart of this charming and well-presented volume is the argument that Christ Church witnessed the transformation of its Pakeha population from mere colonials (arriving in the 1840s) to people of the land. This unfolded in the fierce heritage battle waged in 1950 and 1951, in which members of the local congregation and descendants of the now enormous settler families rallied around the cause of preservation in the face of a church anxious to relocate the building to serve a more needy community. At stake in these debates was the question of whether a building as young as Christ Church (less than a century old at the time) could be considered valuable enough, in its own terms, to treasure.
The movement to protect Christ Church identified and celebrated the foundations of a colonial community; further, it clearly drew on a strong familial connection of the heritage battlers to those settler families. As part of the 1950s groundswell to recognise New Zealand’s own architectural heritage, it provides poignant insights into a cultural coming of age.
Guardian of the Valley brings that awareness into the present, reminding contemporary readers of a time when New Zealanders doubted the importance of their own architectural history and felt ambivalent about its protection. The problems persist today, with our ability to value 20th-century architectural heritage. This book, among others, builds up a wider sense of architecture’s importance to community life and national identity, past and present.
Edited by Malcolm McKinnon
Published by Steele Roberts, Wellington
Apart from the history of Christ Church the book is a history of the early settlement of Taita/Naenae and the pioneer families that settled in the area. It follows many settler family stories and discusses the trials and tribulations they went through in a young colony. These people, the very first organised settlers to come to NZ, contributed a great deal to our society and the church that they built in 1853, Christ Church, is a living memorial to their endurance and the fine workmanship with which they built this church.
The historical events that have happened to Christ Church over its 150 years are recorded in the book, as is the reason for the formation of the Christ Church Preservation Society (Inc.), and the influence Christ Church had on Parliament passing the New Zealand Historic Places Act.
Guardian of the Valley is the first book published about the church and is a very exciting read for anyone with an interest in Christ Church; the early settlement of the Taita/Naenae area; and history in general.