Cathedral Lectern

One of the items at Waiapu Cathedral of St John the Evangelist that I did not show you was the lectern given in memory of the first Dean.  It was the only piece of the furnishing of the Cathedral to survive the Earthquake.  It will probably survive long after the present Cathedral has fallen into ruins.  After all, a thousand years is a small amount of time for such an article.

Waiapu Cathedral, Napier

Yesterday morning I visited the Anglican Cathedral in Napier.  I had not done so before.  In fact, apart from attending a funeral I cannot recall being in any church in the City before today.  Mind you most churches are locked against vandals these days.  Although I didn’t visit it for the purpose of blogging nor, indeed, to take photos I ended up being treated as a tourist and decided to become one.

The present building was started in 1955 to replace a temporary wooden building which was erected in 1932 after the 1886 Cathedral was destroyed by the earthquake whilst communion was being served on 3rd February 1931.  That had been the second church on the site.

      

There is more of interest in the Cathedral but I will reserve these for occasional postings in the future.

The Great Adventure: Day Four: Russell – Christ Church – Part Two

Yesterday I posted some photos of Christ Church and today I shall finish that by posting about a few of the graves.  But before that I shall answer a question by Rae and Pauline arising from yesterday’s post.  It related to the tapestry cushions.   In 1990 a project to fit the pews with tapestry-covered cushions was established.  These cushions last until the next century.  Local artists and others have designed the cushions so that the historic scenes of Russell, local Maori history, local activities, ships of missionaries and explorers, native birds and flowers, old houses, whales and dolphins are depicted.  Sixty three embroiderers have made the cushions.  Most are from the Russell area but others are from all over New Zealand and overseas – some with former ties to Russell such as relatives of the builder, carpenter and catechist, some with holiday homes in the area, some who lived in Russell for a time and sailors who just called in on their passages.  The project was completed in 1992 when cushions for the chairs in the church were started.

Like all old churches the grave yard was educational.  

 

This is the first undressed gravestone I can recall

  

Hannah King Letheridge (now known to be the second European girl to be born in NZ),

  

The interest in this lies partly in its size and partly in its juxtaposition to the previous grave 

   

 The two graves side by side

 

On 11 March 1845, during the Battle of Kororareka between British forces and Maori dissatisfied with British rule, the church was hit by stray musket and cannon balls, evidence of which is still visible today but, as Pauline pointed out, we failed to photograph it.  Duh!  This is the grave of the men from HMS Hazard who fell in the battle,

 

 

The grave of Tamati Waka Nene, the Ngapuhi chief largely responsible for the Maori’s acceptance of the Treaty of Waitangi and who fought for the settlers against Hone Heke.

The Great Adventure: Day Four: Russell – Christ Church

One of the most fascinating churches I have encountered – and there are many in New Zealand – is Christ Church in Russell.  The church is the oldest church still used as such in NZ today, and possibly the oldest building still used for its original purpose.  Its history is fascinating.

 

  

 

 

   

  

  

 

Another example of a tiny place ‘donating’ its souls to the defence of a far away land – although there could, of cours, have been repercussions for New Zealand, particularly in the Second World War from Japan

The whole church has individually worked seat cushions.  Interestingly when I regularly worshipped in churches in communion with the Church of England or the Roman Catholic church members of the congregation sat on hard pews and kneeled for prayer and these would have been kneelers.

The Great Adventure: Day Two: The Return From The Cape

On the way South from the Cape at  either Te Kao or Ngataki (and as it’s after midnight, it would not be wise to ask Pauline just now) we came across a Ratana Church.  This is the first one I have seen. The Ratana movement is a Maori Religion and pan-tribal political movement founded by T W Ratana in early 20th century New Zealand.  It is, without doubt, one of the more fascinating churches that I have come across in my travels.

 

  

When I turned through 180 degrees from taking the first photo I saw another Church where we had seen a wedding taking place earlier in the day.

  

   

 

The Church at Matawhero: The History on Cloth

Inside the Church at Matawhero is a tapestry showing the history of the Church. It is one of the most humble and wonderfully simple tapestries I’ve encountered.

The Church at Matawhero

I’ve had a wonderful day sightseeing and you guessed it, playing croquet. This morning Mike and Sandra took me to the historic church at Matawhero (pronounced Marafero). This church was built as a schoolroom in 1865/6 and was used variously as a place of Anglican worship, as a schoolroom, a meeting placeand as a hospital during the Hau Hau engagements in 1868. The militia camped there in March 1870 whilst waing for news of Te Kooti. It was the only building in the immediate vicinity to survive the Povery Bay Massacre by Te Kooti and his band in the early hours of 10th November 1868.

The building passed into the hands of the Presbyterian Church in 1872 when the Rev George Morice visited the area and found people anxious to see a church established and advanced the money for its purchase.