Irwell Farm’s Centenary

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30884, 18 October 1965, Page 9

Irwell Farm’s Centenary

To mark the “Brucecoe Lodge” farm’s first 100 years in the ownership of one family, descendents of John Coe will gather at Irwell during Labour weekend, as the guests of his grandson, Mr Bruce Coe, and Mrs Coe. Sixty or more are expected to attend the celebrations, which will include a barn dance in the 100-year-ojd stable loft, and a dinner. John Coe, a colourful character in the early days of Lyttelton and Christchurch, married twice and had 11 children. The Irwell property takes its name from his partnership with Mr T. Bruce, with whom he was associated in many ventures. Coe’s ford is named after the family. John Coe was born in

Essex, and arrived at Lyttelton in 1851. He did contract work for the Provincial Government, and the family still has one of his contracts with the Public Works Department for the construction, in 1859, of 335 chains of drain at Rangiora at a price of £4lOO. He also worked on the Lyttelton tunnel. LIVERY STABLE In a partnership with Mr Bruce, a livery stable was established next to the old Mitre Hotel at Lyttelton, and the partners owned a flour mill and bakery which they sold in 1863 to their manager, Mr John Aulsebrook, the founder of Aulsebrook and Company. Coe and Bruce ran the first coach between Christchurch and Lyttelton when Evans Pass was completed. It made the round trip three times daily. They also ran coaches

to the Weka Pass, and to Spreydon, Prebbleton and Halswell.

In 1865, the Lyttelton coach was capsized by wind at Sumner, and on another occasion, in a high-spirited race with a rival, Coe failed to slow up enough at Ferrymead, and coach and passengers finished in the Heathcote. Coe, as the driver of a “licensed passenger cart,” was subsequently charged with furious driving.

Mr Coe’s first wife was equally enterprising. She owned a millinery shop in Gloucester street, near Chancery lane, after having a similar shop in Canterbury street, Lyttelton. In 1865, Bruce and Coe bought part of the Harman and Stevens run at Irwell from Overton and Buller and towards the end of that year, the ground floor part of the present house and the huge stables and lofts, with room for 40 horses were built. UPPER STOREY

An upper storey was added in 1877, giving a total of 16 rooms. The house, built of black pine and kauri, with Baltic pine floors, is still sound, as is the century-old galvanised iron on the stables. The first crops planted by John Coe were destroyed by

flood from the nearby Selwyn river in 1858. In time, the property had a noted Lincoln sheep stud, a flock of llamas and a reputation for its hams. The Bruce-Coe partnership was dissolved in 1878, when Mr Coe became sole owner. After his death in 1893, his second son, Mr E. F. Coe, managed the estate until it was sold in 1903, two more sons, Messrs R. R. and L. B. Coe, buying the 780-acre homestead block. Sole Owner

Mr L. B. Coe became sole owner 10 years later, and on his retirement, his sons, Messrs R. B. and L. C. Coe, divided the land. Mr R. B. Coe kept “Brucecoe Lodge” and his brother the balance of the block. Another well-known Irwell family, the McMillians, will on November 6 and 7 celebrate the centenary of the arrival in New Zealand of the great-grandfather, Mr John McMillian, whose son, Mr William McMillan, after farming at Methven, bought the Irwell property in 1890.

The photograph above shows “Brucecoe Lodge,” with the stables to the left, and the Selwyn river just off the picture at the right. —.