Country Churches of NZ 61. St. Werenfried's, Waihi Village, Lake Taupo

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.
 

Having worked my way down the east coast to the lower parts of the Wairarapa, I headed north again, all the way to the southern shores of Lake Taupo from where I could cover Taranaki and those areas west of the Ruahine and Tararua ranges then, from there, to Wellington province.

ST. WERENFRIED'S, WAIHI VILLAGE, LAKE TAUPO

A lone voice among all other sources insisted that the name of this church was St Werenfrid's. With one notable exception, all other references I consulted have it as St Werenfried's. The exception was the Historic Places Trust's 'Historic Buildings of the North Island' which lists it as St Winifred's!

This gracefully slim 1895 church rises needle-like from Waihi Village on Lake Taupo.

'Rain clears suddenly and sun isolates the church. Inside it's an extraordinary mix of Rome and Maori. High altar with holy statues and silver candelabra, roof trusses and rafters decorated in traditional kowhaiwhai scroll patterns. Around the walls are the Stations of the Cross on backgrounds of tukutuku tapestry, which is a neat mix of modern technology and traditional craft: pegboards with raupo fibre raffia.

‘Two outstanding stained-glass windows: a Maori Christ with open hands showing the stigmata; the other a wahine Mary with her baby Christ. Quiet and peaceful beside the lake. Sun in silver patches. As I leave a young girl, the only person I've seen, gives me a friendly wave.'
(NOTEBOOK 28/3/01)

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.