St John's Church, Hororata also known as St John's Memorial Church and the Hororata Memorial Church is an Anglican church located in Hororata, New Zealand.

History

St John's Hall

The first building to be built on the site was a small wooden church, which was built in 1875. On 23 June 1983, the wooden church was registered by the

New Zealand Historic Places Trust Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...

as a Category 2 historic place, with the registration number being 1785. The building was later moved across the road to its present day location for the construction of the current stone church. Meanwhile, the 1881 wooden church had become the parish hall, but since the

2010 Canterbury earthquake The 2010 Canterbury earthquake (also known as the Darfield earthquake) struck the South Island of New Zealand with a moment magnitude of 7.1 at on , and had a maximum perceived intensity of X (''Extreme'') on the Mercalli intensity scale. Som ...

it has been used for services.

St John's Church

On 6 February 1910, the stone church had its foundation stone laid and the building consecrated on 27 February 1911. The funds were bequested by former New Zealand Premier (Prime Minister), Sir John Hall as a memorial for his late wife, Rose, Lady Hall. The new church was built of local stone from the Malvern Hills – volcanic rock from the Wairiri Valley, Glentunnel and the interior of

Oamaru stone Oamaru stone, sometimes called whitestone, is a hard, compact limestone, quarried at Weston, near Oamaru in Otago, New Zealand. Oamaru stone was used on many of the grand public buildings in the towns and cities of the southern South Island, e ...

. Before construction was started, samples of the stone were sent to England for testing and were pronounced to be of excellent quality. However, as far as is known, no other building has been made of it. In June 1914, the stained glass window was made in England, and installed .The pulpit was added in 1961 for the church's 50th Jubilee. The organ was built from ranks of pipes from the organ of St Augustine's in Cashmere, and also Christchurch Cathedral's first organ. It was completed in 1970.

2010 Canterbury earthquake

The church suffered major damage during the

, causing the bell tower to partially collapse into the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and surrounding gravestones. The church's organ, which was originally installed at

ChristChurch Cathedral ChristChurch Cathedral, also called Christ Church Cathedral and (rarely) Cathedral Church of Christ, is a deconsecrated Anglican cathedral in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It was built between 1864 and 1904 in the centre of the city ...

had been totally destroyed. The church will be repaired at a cost of $3 million. Local initiatives were set up in the years following the earthquake to help raise the restoration costs, notably the Hororata Highland Games (first held in 2011) and the Hororata Night Glow.

Notable burials

* Sir John Hall (1824–1907), New Zealand politician * George Williamson Hall (1818–1896), New Zealand politician

References

{{Selwyn District, New Zealand Anglican churches in New Zealand Selwyn District Religious buildings and structures in Canterbury, New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Category 2 historic places in Canterbury, New Zealand Stone churches in New Zealand