Country Churches of NZ 63. St. John's, Omata, Taranaki

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.

ST. JOHN'S, OMATA

St John's, Omata, southwest of New Plymouth, was built by T. B. Penwarden in 1875 to the plans of George Robinson.

A gale flattened it in 1894 but it was put together again in its original form. Today it stands, sadly alone, on a tiny elevated triangle at a fork of two roads almost invisible behind a hedge of boxthorn and English holly.

It was impossible to do a satisfactory painting of the building, so I settled for Robinson's handsome door.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
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