Country Churches of NZ 106. Enfield Presbyterian Church, Otago

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.

ENFIELD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

It was Thomas Campbell, who said: " 'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view..."

At the top of the hill, across flowering hawthorns the Enfield Presbyterian Church has a commanding presence but up close it seems neglected, its painted stone walls flaking in parts.

The hill was the gift of wealthy landowner, John Reid in 1877. One year later the church was finished. The architect was Robert Arthur Lawson, an Australian who had come to Dunedin with designs for its First Church and who was responsible for many designs around Otago.

The large spire was bell-less until 1917 when it took possession of a Middlemarch church bell that had been belfry-less.

It is said that sometime in the 1940s, two young rabbiters from Oamaru used the pulpit bible for firing practice. The .22 bullet penetrated only as far as Deuteronomy…

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
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