The New English Church.

Opunake Times, Volume II, Issue 95, 31 May 1895, Page 2

The New English Church.

The new Anglican Church for Opunake is now completed, and was taken over from the contractors on Monday last. The Rev J. W. Chapman will open the church on Sunday next, 2nd June, but the consecration of the building will not take place till later,- when Bishop Wallis, the head of the diocese, will hold a dedication service.

The new building is one of the handsomest on the coast, and considering the limited means at command reflects great credit on the designer, Mr Clere, the diocesan architect. Internally the church is finished entirely in the natural woods, dressed and oiled, the rich tones of which blend in perfect harmony with the subdued tints of the cathedral glass windows. The nave and vestibule are not ceiled, the rafters and sarking being dressed and finished, but the rectangular chancel which faces the north is cove-ceiled with matched boarding. Sitting accommodation is provided for about 120 persons in the nave of the church, which measures 81 feet iix inches by 18 feet, and contains 18 pews. With the high pitch of the roof there is no chance of stuffiness, so often complained of in church, even in the coldest weather. The walls at the eaves are 12 feet high, and at the ridge 30 feet high. Externally, the building is upright, boarded with covering battens in keeping with the perpendicular style of the building, corrugated iron roof, painted warm hematite. On the southern side of the roof is a small but graceful spire or bell-cote, 24 feet high, in which it is intended to hang either a heavy bell or one of Harington’s patent tubes. All the windows are glazed with cathedral glass in leaded, diamond panes. Considerable delay arose from having to await the arrival of the glass from England, bat on its arrival the contractors used all possible haste and completed the work. We beg to congratulate the executive committee, consisting of the Rev Chapman, Messrs Newman, Middleton, Rogers and Raikes, on the success attending their efforts to provide the Anglican Church goers of Opunake with a seemly place of worship. Great credit is due to the builders, Messrs Ross and Co, for the thoroughly workmanlike way in which the architect’s design was carried out, and the thorough manner in which the work was executed. The whole of the sweeps, mouldings and window heads, &c., were hand worked here in Opunake, no portion of the carpentry being either imported or sub-let.