St James Anglican Church is a category II heritage listed

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church in

Māngere Bridge Māngere Bridge may refer to: *Māngere Bridge (suburb), a suburb of Auckland *Māngere Bridge (bridges) Māngere Bridge, officially also called the Manukau Harbour Crossing, is a dual motorway bridge over the Manukau Harbour in south-weste ...

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand. Built in the 1850s it is the only remaining stone

Selwyn church The Selwyn churches were a group of 19th-century Anglican churches and chapels in the Auckland region, New Zealand, named after Bishop Selwyn, who inspired their construction. The majority were built in wood in the neo-gothic style, and many w ...

in Auckland.

History

St James Anglican Church and the surrounding cemetery are located in Māngere Bridge on land formerly occupied by

Tāmaki Māori Tāmaki Māori are Māori ''iwi'' and ''hapū'' (tribes and sub-tribes) who have a strong connection to Tāmaki Makaurau (the Auckland Region), and whose rohe was traditionally within the region. Among Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau (the M� ...

(

Waiohua Te Waiohua or Te Wai-o-Hua is a Māori people, Māori iwi (tribe) confederation that thrived in the early 17th century. The rohe (tribal area) was primarily the central Auckland, Tāmaki Makaurau area (the Auckland isthmus) and they had pā (for ...

and later

Ngāti Whātua Ngāti Whātua is a Māori iwi (tribe) of the lower Northland Peninsula of New Zealand's North Island. It comprises a confederation of four hapū (subtribes) interconnected both by ancestry and by association over time: Te Uri-o-Hau, Te Roroa ...

). In 1837

Ngāti Mahuta Ngāti Mahuta is a sub-tribe (or hapū) of the Waikato (iwi), Waikato tribe (or iwi) of Māori people, Māori in the North Island of New Zealand. The territory (rohe) of Ngāti Mahuta is the Kawhia Harbour, Kawhia and Huntly, New Zealand, Hunt ...

were gifted land by Ngāti Whātua, later establishing a defensive settlement for Auckland. In 1849, the land where the church now sits was granted by Governor George Grey, for the purpose of settlement of Maori from the Waikato. It is recorded that the building project was managed by Rev Arthur Purchas, who served as architect, and

Tāmati Ngāpora Tāmati Ngāpora (died 5 August 1885) was a New Zealand Waikato leader, lay preacher, assessor and adviser to the Māori King. Ngāpora was born in the early 19th century to parents Hore and Kahurimu, and belonged to Ngāti Mahuta. His father Ho ...

. This venture was recorded to be co-funded by Bishop Selwyn and local Māori. The church was built and funded by the resettled Māori bar a £10 donation from

Bishop Selwyn George Augustus Selwyn (5 April 1809 – 11 April 1878) was the first Anglican Bishop of New Zealand. He was Bishop of New Zealand (which included Melanesia) from 1841 to 1869. His diocese was then subdivided and Selwyn was metropolitan bishop ...

. Reverend Robert Burrows oversaw the construction. The church was constructed of

scoria Scoria or cinder is a pyroclastic, highly vesicular, dark-colored volcanic rock formed by ejection from a volcano as a molten blob and cooled in the air to form discrete grains called clasts.Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A. Jackso ...

from the nearby Mangere Mountain, it was completed 1857. Over the years, many efforts to preserve the church and churchyard have been made. The church was renovated in 1917 and the roof fixed in 1928 and again 1974. This included in 1924, a group of female members of the church forming a guild to promote events and raise funds to maintain the church. Later in 1938, further pleas to preserve the historic site were made. This resulted in an extensive renovation of the memorials to Māori chiefs

Ēpiha Pūtini Ēpiha Pūtini ( 1816 – 22 March 1856) , born Te Rangiata-Ahua Ngamuka and later known as Jabez Bunting was a prominent chief of Ngāti Tamaoho, who occupied the area south of Papatoetoe and through the Hunua Ranges to the Bombay Hills. As ran ...

and Kati Takiwaru, who had great significance to the area. During the

invasion of the Waikato The invasion of the Waikato became the largest and most important campaign of the 19th-century New Zealand Wars. Hostilities took place in the North Island of New Zealand between the military forces of the colonial government and a federation ...

the land grant was rescinded but was restored after the war and the church became governed by a board of trustees made up exclusively of Māori. 1965 the trust became governed by both Māori and non-Māori, following a change in rules. The original floor was replaced in 1988; however, the original windows remain today. On 4 April 1983 St James Church was registered by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (now

Heritage New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust; in ) is a Crown entity that advocates for the protection of Archaeology of New Zealand, ancest ...

) as a Category II historic place with registration number 689.

Description

St James Church is built of scoria quarried from Te Pane o Mataaho / Māngere Mountain. Designed by

, St James Church is the only surviving stone church from the Selwyn period in Auckland. It is noted that Bishop Selwyn made several attempts at stone churches in Auckland, most of them left to decay or were completely abandoned. Due to the difficulty of stone construction, the chancel arch and arches of the doors are made from brick, not stone. The church has a rectangular nave by , a chancel at the east and a vestibule at the west. Some of the walls are up to thick. There are buttresses every which support the roof.

Gallery

Side view St James Anglican Church Mangere Bridge.jpg, Side view St James Anglican Church Mangere Bridge, 2024 WelcomeStJamesChurchMangereBridge.jpg, View of St James Church Mangere Bridge from cemetery, 2024 Sign at St James Anglican Church Mangere Bridge.jpg, Sign at St James Anglican Church Mangere Bridge, 2024 St James Anglican Church 20211023 144644.jpg, View of the urupā with

Māngere Mountain Māngere Mountain, also known by the names Te Pane-o-Mataaho and Te Ara Pueru, is a volcanic cone in Māngere, Auckland. Located within Māngere Domain, it is one of the largest volcanic cones in the Auckland volcanic field, with a peak above ...

in the background, 2021 Old stone church, Mangere, Akd, 1090189.jpg, St James Anglican Church c. 1910

References

{{coord, -36.9418 , 174.7833, type:landmark_region:NZ, display=title Churches in Auckland Selwyn churches Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board Area Heritage New Zealand Category 2 historic places in the Auckland Region 1850s churches in New Zealand