A Victorian vicarage in Kurow

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34107, 20 March 1976, Page 11

A Victorian vicarage in Kurow

The Lake District of England and our own North Otago are more than just the world apart. There is little that is similar in the soft greens, greys, and mellow tones of the former and the prosaic austerity and harsh light of the latter. Yet visitors to the small North Otago township of Kurow can see a vicarage and chapel that seems to have strayed from the winding lanes of Keswick or Ambleside. Of Oamaru ; t stands squarely on the side of the mam Tc j from the south. Grandly Victorian and flanked by bare paddocks and weathered pines, it is adorned by a faded noticeboard that states that this is the church of St Albans, Kurow, Church of England. The vicarage is the result of a bequest by Mrs Emily Campbell, wife of

Robert Campbell, of the then Campbell Park Estate, Otekaike. (Campbell Park is now a Department of Eduation special school for boys).

so in 1893 the then vicar, Mr Neville, obtained permission to build a small chapel or mission house to adjoin the vicarage. The chapel is reached from the vicarage by a large kauri door off a small side hall. This leads into the north porch which is the outside entrance to the chapel. The only twentiethcentury additions appear to be brass memorial tablets to the war dead and a new and magnificent stained glass window dedicated to the memory of a local parishioner. Services are held fortnightly by a vicar who travels from Oamaru, and the interior is cared for and maintained by the local Mothers' Union. Even by the standards of 1892 the house is very large.

Mrs Campbell left £6OOO in her will for a church and vicarage to be built between Duntroon and Kurow. The bequest was for the buildings only; the local parishioners were to raise the money for the land. Presumably no suitable site could be found between the two small villages — for the church proper is situated at Duntroon while the vicarage is built on the outskirts of Kurow. This is a distance of about 12 miles, but no doubt it was near enough to satisfy the authorities of the time. As it happened the church at Duntroon was not to be built until 1901,

The ground floor contains drawing-room, dining-room, morningroom and study, as well as a large kitchen and scullery area. A solid staircase rises from a wide front hall to a large landing which it lit by an ornate coloured lead-light. All six or seven bedrooms are large and complete with fireplace. One smaller than the rest and lined with shelves would have been the linen room. No hall cupboards for sheets in those days. hi addition there is a servants.’ wing. This is reached via the kitchen area by a narrow back staircase, and must have been very chilly in the harsh winters of the area. The walls are unlined, the stone walls adorned only by -a- coat of paint; and the windows small

and narrow. Very ’‘Upstairs and Downstairs.” The large and imposing stables to the rear had room for the groom along with the horses and gigs or buggy. This has been used in recent times as an art gallery but is empty at the moment. There is no vicar and family living in the vicarage at the present; and though the house is rented and lived in by a Kurow resident and his wife. maintenance remains a problem. The heating bill alone would be enormous, as draughty halls and passageways abound. It is unlikely that the days of Vicarage garden parties, soirees in the drawing-room or high tea on the lawns will return; the house remains as Victorian England in a colonial setting.