There is the remains of a stone house, stone walls and various citrus trees, native trees and shrubs.
John Edmonds was an Englishman who came here from Worcestor and was sent here by the Christian Missionary Society to build the Stone Store. The Missionaries weren't told about this and instead ended up employing William Parrot, a stonemason from Sydney, Australia.
In 1837-1838 John Edmonds, embarrassed about the omission bought about 2,700 acres on both sides of the Kerikeri River and wrote that it was "covered in ferns, volcanic stones, swamps, rough grass and very little wood.
Sometime between 1841 and 1859 he built a stone house which had walls that were over half a metre thick. It was approx 38 foot long and 28 foot wide, it had a large lounge and a big open fireplace, bedroom, kitchen with a stone oven.
Opposite the kitchen door was another smaller building with a fireplace and a stone wash basin. The roof was made of shingles, he named his house "Belle Vue" after his home in England.
John Edmonds and his sons worked the property and created an orchard, a garden and a vegetable garden. Unfortunately around 1885-1886 it was believed that one of his boys was supervising a controlled scrub fire/burn off and the sparks from this spread to the roof thus destroying the house of which the ruins are still there today.
9 comments:
Surprised the stone house was destroyed by fire.
Oh my gosh all that hard work gone in a moment Amy.. still, it happens today also ✨
Those pioneers were tough and resourceful. Amazing how they built the house and farmed 'swamps, ferns and rough grass'!
Wild looking countryside.
I love the tree in the first photo. Ruins are such wonderful subjects to photograph and explore.
well it was the roof and interior more than the house.
yes they were pretty much self sufficient in those days, no nipping out to the local supermarket for supplies that's for sure.
Beautiful shots and interesting backstory. The house, outbuildings, and fence sure involved moving a lot of stone.
That must have been quite a rarity for an 'ordinary' person.
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