The St Stephen's Chapel is a historic

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

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 ...

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

and associated

churchyard In Christian countries, a churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church (building), church, which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language and in both Scottish English and Ulster S ...

located in Judges Bay, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand, and registered as a category 1 building with

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 ...

Description

St Stephen's Chapel is situated on an elevated position above Judge's Bay. The chapel is designed in a

Greek cross The Christian cross, with or without a figure of Jesus, Christ included, is the main religious symbol of Christianity. A cross with a figure of Christ affixed to it is termed a crucifix and the figure is often referred to as the ''corpus'' (La ...

shape, unlike the Latin cross shape used for most churches. The chapel is made up of five different units each one 10ft by . It has high pitched rooves, small

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...

s, and a

belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

in the middle.

History

George Augustus Selwyn, the first Bishop of New Zealand moved to Parnell in 1844. At this time the nearest Anglican church was the old St Paul's Church in Emily Place. Selwyn purchased two and a half acres of land situated above Judge's Bay. Selwyn then funded construction of a chapel, which he named St Stephen's Chapel. The chapel was an

English Gothic English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed a ...

building designed by Sampson Kempthorne and constructed from

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 ...

and

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...

. Bishop Selwyn used the chapel until 1847 when a hurricane caused it to collapse on account of the poor quality of construction. In 1857 Bishop Selwyn commissioned a new chapel.

Frederick Thatcher The Reverend Frederick Thatcher (1814 – 19 October 1890) was an English and New Zealand architect and clergyman. He was born at Hastings to a long-established Sussex family. He practised as an architect in London from 1835 and was one of th ...

designed it. The chapel is unique in that it was almost certainly built specifically as the place of signing of the constitution of the

United Church of England and Ireland The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglican tradition, with foundational doctrines being contained in the '' Thirty-nine Articles'' and ''Th ...

in New Zealand on 13 June 1857, and its floor plan is a Greek Cross as a symbol of the establishment of the church, whilst all other churches built for

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 ...

use the traditional Latin cruciform plan. The chapel fell into disrepair, and was restored in the late 1920s by Archbishop

Alfred Averill Alfred Walter Averill (7 October 18656 July 1957) was the second Anglican Archbishop of New Zealand, from 1925 to 1940. He was also the fifth Anglican Anglican Diocese of Auckland, Bishop of Auckland whose episcopate spanned a 25-year period durin ...

. The chapel and its churchyard were registered on 1 September 1983 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; in ) is a Crown entity that advocates for the protection of ancestral sites and heritage bui ...

as a Category I historic place with registration number 22.

Notable burials

* Charles Baker (1803–1875), missionary * William Cowie (1831–1902), bishop of the

Anglican Diocese of Auckland The Diocese of Auckland is one of the thirteen dioceses and ''hui amorangi'' ( Māori bishoprics) of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. The Diocese covers the area stretching from North Cape down to the Waikato River, ac ...

* Josiah Firth (1826–1897), businessman and politician * James Kemp (1797–1872), missionary *

Frederick Whitaker Sir Frederick Whitaker (23 April 1812 – 4 December 1891) was an English-born New Zealand politician who served twice as the premier of New Zealand and six times as Attorney-General. Early life Whitaker was born at the Deanery Manor House, ...

(1812–1891),

premier of New Zealand The prime minister of New Zealand () is the head of government of New Zealand. The prime minister, Christopher Luxon, leader of the New Zealand National Party, took office on 27 November 2023. The prime minister (informally abbreviated to ...

(twice) * Reader Wood (1821–1895), politician and architect

References

External links

* Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in the Auckland Region 1857 establishments in New Zealand Stephen's Chapel Churches completed in 1857 1850s churches in New Zealand Frederick Thatcher church buildings Parnell, New Zealand 19th-century Anglican church buildings in New Zealand Selwyn churches {{Auckland-struct-stub