Talk:Clandon Park

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...a Maori meeting house. This was originally situated near Ritorna in New Zealand and... There is no "Ritorna" in new Zealand. Further more it is an impossible name in the maori language (-rn- is an invalid combination of letters). Given the reference to Mount Tarawera, I'm changing it to "Rotorua" - if anyone thinks otherwise, feel free to change it back 9or to something more likely). [[User:Grutness|Grutness ^hello? ]] 01:19, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)

That's interesting. The National Trust's own website makes this claim, and if you search for Clandon and Ritorna on Google, you will find several other references. Could it be a name that has fallen into misuse? Or perhaps a single distortion of fact has been repeated many times! Jon C

Could be either, I suppose. But The area around Tarawera was full of Maori names, with a few British names, and virtually nothing else. It's not a British name, and it can't be a Maori name (the only paired consonants ever found in Maori are -ng- and -wh-, so -rn- is not possible. Rotorua is the nearest city to Tarawera today, and was the nearest town to it at the time of the eruption. And it would be easy to see how a poorly handwritten Rotorua could be read as Ritorna. My guess is that it was a misreading of someone's letter or notes that has become accepted fact and spread from there.

Actually, I think I've found mention of the actual Maori building - at [1]. If it is the same one, it was at Rotomahana, which makes sense, as the village was largely buried in ash. Still no explanation for why it's referred to as Ritorna, though. [[User:Grutness|Grutness ^hello? ]]

Sounds like you may be right. I only live a 20 minute drive from Clandon, so will visit at some point soon and see what information might be recorded there. Jon C

Here's the answer. I found this among the press releases at www.newzealand.com, referring to the Chelsea Flower Show. This is an extract:

"There is a strong link between the Rotorua area, home of the Te Awara people who have inspired the design team, and the London based Maori group, Ngati Ranana. The scenic backdrop in the garden depicts Mount Tarawera, the volcano that erupted in 1886 and the famed pink and white terraces which were buried in the eruption. These terraces have been recreated in the New Zealand garden at Chelsea. The eruption buried the terraces and destroyed a nearby Maori village. The only building left standing was Hinemihi. The building was taken back to London by the British Governor General of the time and it now stands at Clandon Park, a National Trust property near Guilford. The London group of Maori people known as Ngati Ranana use Hinemihi as their special meeting house."

Mystery solved! Jon C