Hampden, a small town in

North Otago North Otago in New Zealand covers the area of Otago between Shag Point and the Waitaki River, and extends inland to the west as far as the village of Omarama (which has experienced rapid growth as a developing centre for astronomy and for gli ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

, lies close to the North Otago coast, 35 kilometres south of

Oamaru Oamaru (; mi, Te Oha-a-Maru) is the largest town in North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand, it is the main town in the Waitaki District. It is south of Timaru and north of Dunedin on the Pacific coast; State Highway 1 and the ra ...

and 80 kilometres north of the city of

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, to both of which it is connected by State Highway 1. The township's population at its largest was about 560, but by 2009 it had dwindled to approximately 230.Rae, S.
Hampden set to mark 130 years as township
" ''

Otago Daily Times The ''Otago Daily Times'' (ODT) is a newspaper published by Allied Press Ltd in Dunedin, New Zealand. The ''ODT'' is one of the country's four main daily newspapers, serving the southern South Island with a circulation of around 26,000 and a co ...

'', 22 October 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2018. Hampden is named in honour of the English politician

John Hampden John Hampden (24 June 1643) was an English landowner and politician whose opposition to arbitrary taxes imposed by Charles I made him a national figure. An ally of Parliamentarian leader John Pym, and cousin to Oliver Cromwell, he was one of t ...

by early surveyor W. B. D. Mantell, possibly influenced by the location of a public house, The Hampden Hotel, at the site.Reed, A.W. (1975) ''Place names of New Zealand.'' Wellington: A.H. & A.W. Reed. p.159

Geography

Hampden is situated beside a broad bay stretching from Aorere Point to Moeraki Point, on a coastal plain which rises westward to the foothills of the Horse Range and the

Kakanui Range The Kakanui Range is a range of high hills located inland from Oamaru in the South Island of New Zealand. The range forms a boundary between the valley of the Waitaki River to the north and the high plateau known as the Maniototo and the upper wa ...

. The soil of this surrounding plain overlies a limestone formation. The

Moeraki Boulders The Moeraki Boulders (officially Moeraki Boulders / Kaihinaki) are unusually large spherical boulders lying along a stretch of Koekohe Beach on the wave-cut Otago coast of New Zealand between Moeraki and Hampden. They occur scattered either as i ...

are located two kilometres south of Hampden. Much of the town lies between the Big Kuri (Kurinui) and Little Kuri Creeks. The streets of Hampden run in a rectangular grid pattern centred on the main highway and the railway. They are named after English locations, such as Lancaster,

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

, and

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

. There is surfing on the Katiki straight, as well as trout-fishing in the

Waianakarua The small town of Herbert, formerly Otepopo, lies in North Otago, New Zealand, north of Dunedin and south-west of Oamaru. It lies on the edge of the Herbert Forest. Herbert consists of a group of houses and three churches clustered around S ...

and Shag Rivers.

History

The settlement was founded in the 1860s, with the first sale of land sections dated to March 1863. By 1865, there were two

public houses A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

in the area, The Hampden Hotel and The Clyde Hotel, and both a cemetery and mechanics' institute were in place by 1870. early industry in the area included the harvesting of flax and timber.Moore, C.W.S., (1958) ''Northern Approaches''. Christchuch: Whitcombe & Tombs. pp. 115–6 A borough was proclaimed in 1879, with the first mayor being William Murcott. The borough existed until the 1960s, and Hampden is now part of the

Waitaki District Waitaki District is a territorial authority district that is located in the Canterbury and Otago regions of the South Island of New Zealand. It straddles the traditional border between the two regions, the Waitaki River, and its seat is Oamaru. ...

Demographics

Hampden is described as a rural settlement by Statistics New Zealand, and covers . It is part of the larger Waihemo statistical area. Hampden had a population of 339 at the

2018 New Zealand census Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the short ...

, an increase of 36 people (11.9%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 42 people (14.1%) since the 2006 census. There were 156 households. There were 156 males and 177 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.88 males per female, with 48 people (14.2%) aged under 15 years, 30 (8.8%) aged 15 to 29, 168 (49.6%) aged 30 to 64, and 90 (26.5%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 86.7% European/Pākehā, 15.9% Māori, 1.8% Pacific peoples, and 2.7% Asian (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities). Although some people objected to giving their religion, 54.9% had no religion, 34.5% were Christian, 0.9% were Hindu and 1.8% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 30 (10.3%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 81 (27.8%) people had no formal qualifications. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 111 (38.1%) people were employed full-time, 48 (16.5%) were part-time, and 6 (2.1%) were unemployed.

Modern Hampden

The town includes a rural fire station, a fish-and-chip shop, a small supermarket, a motel, and backpackers, a popular camping ground, a cafe, mechanics workshop, a small second-hand goods shop, a tavern, and a historic town hall. Sheep farming is the primary economic activity of the region and is augmented by farming of other livestock. The Hampden Energy Forum, established in 2007, has grown into a community self-help scheme that involves nearly everyone in the settlement, growing from a small group of enthusiasts who were concerned about the future of small rural communities in "post-oil" days. At the inaugural meeting to establish the Forum, more than one third of the town's population attended. The forum won the Trustpower Community Award in 2008.

Education

Hampden School is a full primary school catering for years 1 to 8, with a roll of students as of The school opened in 1864.

Notable people

* Helen Stephen Cowie (doctor)

References

External links

Hampden
" entry from the 1905 Cyclopedia of New Zealand. {{Waitaki District Populated places in Otago Waitaki District