AN HISTORIC CHURCH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18207, 28 September 1922, Page 6

AN HISTORIC CHURCH.

BUILDING AT RUSSELL. SCHEME FOR RESTORATION. A tender of £507 for the restoration of the old church at Russell has been accepted by the Diocesan Trust Board, and an immediate start is to be made with the work, under the supervision of the architect, Mr. A. W. Thomas. The repairs will consist of renovation of the base of the church, the painting of the outside, the raising of the floor, and re-roofing. A fact which will probably be regretted by many people interested in the restoration of this historic little church is that it has been found necessary, on the score of economy, to carry out the re-roofing in corrugated iron. The present roof, although worn with the winds and storms of almost 90 years, is an interesting feature of the old building, for its shingles were handsplit, and contributed by one of the early supporters of the church. A modern iron roof will inevitably strike an incongruous and jarring note in the time-hallowed little edifice. A new shingle roof would have cost from £30 to £35 more than th« corrugated iron, however, and funds would not permit this extra expenditure. The repair fund was made up of subscriptions from residents, and subsidies from the Government and the Diocesan Trust Board. The Russell Church, erected in 1835, is the oldest in New Zealand, and in its graveyard he some of the earliest settlers in the country. It was a placa of refuge during the storming of Kororareka in 1345, and on rts -walls are t&blets erected in memory of British lives lost in battle there.