Barrhill, New Zealand

Barrhill
Village
View along Sycamore Avenue in Barrhill
Barrhill Barrhill
Coordinates: 43°40′22.8″S 171°51′10.8″E / 43.673000°S 171.853000°E / -43.673000; 171.853000Coordinates: 43°40′22.8″S 171°51′10.8″E / 43.673000°S 171.853000°E / -43.673000; 171.853000
Country	New Zealand
Region	Canterbury
Territorial authority	Ashburton District
Founded	1876
Founded by	Cathcart Wason
Named for	Barrhill, South Ayrshire
Population (2013 census) meshblock 2750400
• Total	66

Barrhill is a lightly populated locality in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It is situated on the Canterbury Plains on the right bank of the Rakaia River, some 17 kilometres (11 mi) inland from Rakaia. It was founded by Cathcart Wason in the mid-1870s and named by him after his old home Barrhill in South Ayrshire, Scotland, and set up as a model village for the workers of his large sheep farm. The population of the village peaked in the mid-1880s before the general recession initiated a downturn. Wason had expected for the Methven Branch railway to run past Barrhill but the line was built in 1880 on an alignment many miles away, which caused Barrhill population loss.

Three of the original buildings of Barrhill plus the gatehouse at Wason's homestead were constructed of concrete, and they still exist to this day. One of those buildings, St John's Church, is registered by Heritage New Zealand as a Category II heritage building, and the gatehouse is a museum that is open on request. Today, few buildings exist in the village, but the formal layout of avenues still exists, giving the setting a charming appearance. Residents did not discover until 1975 that the trees planted around the market square form what appears to be the three circles of Trinity.

Location and layout

Barrhill is a small settlement between the Rakaia Barrhill Methven Road and the Rakaia River. It is about 17 kilometres (11 mi) from the town of Rakaia^[1] and 21 kilometres (13 mi) from Methven. The four outer streets, one of which is the Rakaia Barrhill Methven Road, form a trapezoid with the longest side at 200 metres (660 ft). Two internal roads run at right angles to one another, dividing the area into four quadrants. The intersection of the internal roads forms the market place.^[2]

Apart from the main road, there are five avenues, each planted in its own species and named accordingly: oak, poplar, birch, lime, and sycamore.^[2] Wason had trees planted in an unusual pattern around the market square. Residents only noticed in 1975 when viewing an aerial photo that those trees form what appears to be the three circles of Trinity, with the two inner avenues possibly symbolising a crucifix.^[2][3]

History

Cathcart Wason in c. 1878

Wason emigrated from Scotland to New Zealand in late 1868.^[3] In mid-Canterbury, he bought the Lendon sheep run (Run 116). Lendon was a 20,000 acres (81 km²) run on the south bank of the Rakaia River. The land had first been taken up by John Hall, but had changed ownership several times before Wason bought it, including 1,250 acres (5.1 km²) of freehold land, in February 1869^[3] or April 1870^[4] (sources vary). Wason renamed his property Corwar after his father's lands in Scotland, and the first advertisement placed in newspapers by Wason mentions Corwar in October 1869, hence the April 1870 date is less likely.^[5] Wason set about trying to create an estate village^[3] on land bought from the adjacent Lavington run (Run 117).^[6][2] He also bought part of the Hororata Station on the other side of the Rakaia River from John Cordy (Run 67).^[7]

His planting of pine trees and of oaks, walnuts and poplars extended over 600 acres (2.4 km²) and allowed shelter from the prevailing north-west winds to allow sheep farming and the growing of wheat, while water power was used for agricultural machinery. He bought and sold land, and by 1882 Corwar was consolidated as a freehold estate of just over 5,000 acres (20 km²) with a large mansion overlooking the river, complete with gate lodge and gate-keeper.

On the estate, Wason built a model village called Barrhill, with avenues forming a grid layout and a central market square. Barrhill had 28 sections, including a post office (opened during 1876^[8]), bakery, school, church, other facilities, and fifteen cottages were built. Wason called the village after his old home in South Ayrshire, Scotland.^[9]

However, Wason had expected the Methven Branch railway to be built near Barrhill, but when it was built on a more southerly route along Thompsons Track and what was later to become known as Lauriston,^[10] the village began to decline. Dwindling population forced the closure of the school in 1938, although the Church of St John the Evangelist is still in use. Most of the buildings were constructed from pine wood grown on the estate, but the three original concrete buildings remain: church, school and schoolhouse.^[11]

Without the railway, Wason saw his project as doomed, and sold up in 1900.^[3] The Ashburton Branch of New Zealand Historic Places Trust unveiled an information panel on Anzac Day in 2012 in Barrhill's market square.^[1] It was their last project as a branch committee before the pending disestablishment of branch committees through the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Bill, and they chose Barrhill to relaunch themselves as the Historic Places Mid Canterbury regional society as part of the unveiling of the historic panel.^[1][12][13]

Population

Barrhill flourished until about 1885, when a recession set in across New Zealand, but also the effects of the Methven Branch railway attracting people to move to settlements near the stations. Population in the village itself had peaked at 50 in the mid-1880s. Wason began to gradually sell of parts of his land holdings around that time.^[14]

More recent population data can be obtained from Statistics New Zealand. The smallest unit for which data are available is a meshblock, and Barrhill is located within the meshblock with ID 2750400. This meshblock has an area of c. 25 square kilometres (9.7 sq mi), i.e. a rural area much larger than just the village.^[15] Population in this meshblock was recorded at 60 in the 1996 census, 60 in 2001, 69 in 2006, and 66 in 2013.^[15][16]

Notable buildings

Three buildings in the township remain from the time of its founding. In addition, there is the historic gatehouse some 2.2 kilometres (1.4 mi) northwest of Barrhill.^[2] Those buildings remain partly because they were built in concrete, with some of the walls 30 centimetres (12 in) thick. The cement was landed in barrels on Kaitorete Spit, barged across Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora, and then transported by dray overland and along the bed of the Rakaia River.^[2] All four buildings are registered as Category A ("high value") heritage structures by Ashburton District Council.^[17]

St John's Church was mostly paid for by Wason,^[18] and construction started in 1876, with the first service held on 8 July 1877 by the vicar of Ashburton, W. E. Paige.^[19] A vicarage was also envisaged, but it was never built. A lych gate was added as a centennial project.^[2] St John's belongs to the Rakaia parish of the Waipounamu diocese of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, with services each second Sunday of the month.^[20] The church was registered as a heritage building by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (since renamed to Heritage New Zealand) on 23 June 1983 with registration number 1765 classified as C.^[21] With the change of the classification system, the building later became a Category II listing.^[22] The church is owned by Church Property Trustees (i.e. the Anglican Church).^[23]

After the land had been surveyed, the first buyer was the Education Board, securing land for a school in the market square, and a teacher's house on the adjacent section. Both these buildings were also built in concrete and exist to this day. The school closed in 1938 and now functions as a hall for the village. The former teacher's house is used as a bach.^[2] Both buildings are owned by Ashburton District Council.^[24][25]

The other remaining 1870s concrete building is the gate house, located some distance away on the Rakaia Barrhill Methven Road. Wason's homestead was at the end of a drive starting at this gate house, on a cliff top overlooking the Rakaia River. The homestead burnt down not long after Wason had left the country, and a new homestead was built nearby. The gatekeeper's lodge originally had a slate roof, but this was later replaced by iron. The last family moved out in 1935. During the second world war, the iron was stripped off the empty building, and it fell into ruin.^[26] A later owner, Colin McLachlan, donated the land and the ruin to the people of the district;^[27] it is now vested in the Ashburton District Council.^[26][28] The renovation began in 1970, with work carried out and financed by descendants of previous inhabitants of the building.^[26] A plaque on the building states that it was reopened in March 1979 by the Prime Minister of the time, Robert Muldoon,^[27] but his plane ran late and the opening ceremony was conducted by Colin McLachlan.^[28] The gate house is fitted out as a museum, and viewing can be arranged through the Ashburton or Methven information centres.^[26]

• 

  St John's Church

• 

  Former school; now community hall

• 

  Former teacher's house

• 

  Corwar Gatekeepers Lodge

Barrhill Cemetery

Graves in Barrhill Cemetery, with the trees of the village in the background

Barrhill Cemetery is located 200 metres (660 ft) south-west of the village on Lauriston Barrhill Road. It is one of 11 open cemeteries in the Ashburton District. The oldest recorded burial was in 1881.^[29]

Notable people

Barrhill's founder, Cathcart Wason, was a member of parliament in two countries: first in New Zealand for a total of six years, and then in the United Kingdom for twenty years.^[3][30] New Zealand actress Tania Nolan, born in nearby Rakaia, lived in Barrhill for two years as a child.^[31]

See also

• List of towns in New Zealand

Notes

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Barrhill, New Zealand.

• Acland, Leopold George Dyke (1946). The Early Canterbury Runs: Containing the First, Second and Third (new) Series. Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs Limited. Retrieved 31 July 2010. 
• Cattell, John (1988). Historic Buildings of Canterbury and South Canterbury. Wellington: Government Printing Office Publishing. ISBN 0-477-01329-5. 
• Reed, A. W. (2010). Peter Dowling, ed. Place Names of New Zealand. Rosedale, North Shore: Raupo. ISBN 9780143204107. 
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.