Vernon Homestead

331 Redwood Pass Road, Redwood Pass, BLENHEIM

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Vernon Homestead is a ca.1860s home in the Awatere Valley near Blenheim. It has architectural significance as an example of the regionally-characteristic carpenter gothic style and reflects the important role sheep stations play in the Pākehā history of Marlborough. Waitaha and Ngāti Māmoe were early inhabitants of the area; Waitaha are credited with clearing the forest and laying the foundations for the open grassland of the Awatere Valley. Ngāi Tahu arrived in the 1600s and were joined the following century by Rangitāne, who undertook ‘one of the major engineering feats of southern Māoridom’ by turning the natural waterways of the Wairau River mouth into a series of canals, creating ‘a network for the husbandry and harvesting of fish and birdlife’. The early 19th century saw the entry of Ngāti Toa during the so-called musket wars period. In 1842 the first New Zealand Company settlers arrived in Nelson. The Company’s claim that the Nelson purchase included the Wairau Valley was contested by Ngāti Toa and survey attempts resulted in the Wairau affray, in which 22 Pākehā and at least four Māori were killed. An official investigation sided with Ngāti Toa and the land, including the adjacent Awatere Valley, was purchased by the Crown in 1847. Initially depasturage licences were issued; these were converted to freehold titles in the early 1850s. Runholders bought up huge swathes of land and most sheep stations in the valley were between 20,000 and 50,000 acres. Henry Redwood purchased the land comprising Vernon Run from the 1850s and installed his son Thomas as manager. Thomas Redwood (1833-1918) is believed to have built the tōtara homestead in the 1860s and he lived there until 1876. There are different stories about the name, one version being that it was named after his grandmother Elizabeth Vernon’s family and another that it commemorated Vice Admiral Edward Vernon’s capture of Portobello in Panama in 1739. The run was sold to William Clifford in 1882 and was absorbed into what became Ugbrooke Station. Because much of Vernon Run was hilly, Clifford decided to build a new homestead (Ugbrooke Homestead, List No.1497) further south on the Awatere River plains and it is not clear whether he lived in Vernon Homestead. In 1900 the homestead and 5,200 acres was sold to John Greenfield. Vernon Homestead has the steep gables, dormer windows and sinuous bargeboards typical of the carpenter gothic style associated with Nelson and Marlborough. The main north-facing elevation was likely originally faced in plaster and had a verandah at ground level; this was later covered in. John Greenfield embarked on a renovation project as soon as he bought the property, ‘transform[ing] the old house into quite a new up-to-date dwelling, with every convenience’ but whether he covered the verandah in is unknown . The main elevation and covered verandah have rusticated rather than lapped weatherboards used on other elevations, further suggesting a change of cladding. The casement windows appear to be original and are an unusual style in a building of this age.

Vernon Homestead, Blenheim. Image included in Field Record Form Collection | E Hanson | 01/11/1976 | Heritage New Zealand
Vernon Homestead, Blenheim. Image included in Field Record Form Collection | E Hanson | 01/11/1976 | Heritage New Zealand
Vernon Homestead, Blenheim. Undated. Marlborough Museum – Marlborough Historical Society Inc., 1966.049.0035 | Marlborough Museum

Location

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List Entry Information

Overview

Detailed List Entry

Status

Listed

List Entry Status

Historic Place Category 2

Access

Private/No Public Access

List Number

1498

Date Entered

11th November 1982

Date of Effect

11th November 1982

City/District Council

Marlborough District

Region

Marlborough Region

Extent of List Entry

Extent includes part of the land described as Lot 1 DP 318121 (RT 70936), Marlborough Land District, and the building known as Vernon Homestead thereon. Refer to the extent map tabled at the Rārangi Kōrero meeting on 30 April 2020.

Legal description

Lot 1 DP 318121 (RT 70936), Marlborough Land District

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