The Old Methodist Church (Former) at the Cobblestones Early Settlers Museum in Greytown is an important structure in the history of Methodism in the Wairarapa. Built in 1865 as the first purpose built religious centre in the district, its construction represented the predominance of Methodist settlers coming to the Wairarapa in the mid nineteenth century. Its subsequent relocation to the rear of the site at 63 Main Street highlights the rapid settlement of Greytown towards the turn of the twentieth century. The church retained its function primarily as a Sunday School, but since its relocation to Cobblestones in 1979 it is more commonly used for weddings and educational purposes.
The Wesleyan Methodist Mission
The history of Methodism began after the arrival in New Zealand of the Rev. Samuel Leigh and his wife. Appointed to the colony by the Wesleyan Methodist Conference in England they arrived on the 22 of January 1822. They began the Wesleyan Methodist Mission to Maori, and represented the great missionary zeal which marked Methodism almost from its inception under John and Charles Wesley. In the Wairarapa a Methodist Sunday School was started in 1855 by Mr and Mrs Hall, and took place in a school house in Greytown.
Two years later services began to be conducted by a local preacher, Mr Hart Udy, Senior, in the school house. Udy was a well known pioneer who twice occupied the mayoral chair of the Borough of Greytown. He had moved to the Wairarapa region after securing valuable bush land at Matarawa, and transferred his family and a sawmilling business from the Stokes Valley. In Greytown, where he retired to in 1865, he was much beloved, taking an active part in church work including the purchase of the land and construction of the first Wesleyan church on this site.
Settlement of Greytown
The settlement of Greytown had been established by the Small Farms Association in 1853. Joseph Masters formed the Association out of concern that large runholders were stopping working people from accessing Wairarapa farmland. Masters had lobbied to set up a 100-acre town on the Wairarapa plain where citizens would own a one-acre town section and a 40-acre dairy farm. By the end of 1853 the government had approved two settlements, Greytown and Masterton. The association would buy and sell the town sections; farms would be bought directly from the Crown.
The suitability of the Wairarapa region for farming had been discovered in 1841 when the New Zealand Company sent a party from Petone to explore the area of land to the north east, over the substantial Rimutaka ranges. The party was led by Robert Stokes, who upon his return declared that the region had great potential. In 1844 five Wellington entrepreneurs arranged pastoral leases with Wairarapa sub-tribes, with others soon following. As more colonists settled in the region, the value of leases increased.
Runholders, worried that high rents would make Māori unwilling to sell their land, lobbied government to buy and freehold Māori land. The government agreed and in September of 1853 Donald McLean, the Government Negotiator of Native purchases, bought 40,000 acres identified as Tauherenikau No. 4 from Manihera of Papawai and Ngatuere of Waiohine. The government promised to set aside Māori reserves and provide schools and health care, while threatening to relocate runholders if the Maori owners refused to sell.
The first town, Greytown, was sited on the recently purchased Tauherenīkau Block. After negotiations with Ngāti Hamua leader Te Retimana Te Korou, land beside the Waipoua River was bought for the second town, Masterton. The first settlers arrived in 1854. The Small Farms Association was dissolved in the early 1870s, and surplus town sections were put into land trusts to benefit each community.
The first church
The school house that was being used for the church services, a common occurrence throughout rural areas, was declared insufficient for the growing number of Methodist settlers and they were determined to get a centre of their own. Udy chose Section 31 in Greytown as the site most suited for the church. The Small Farms Association sold the section for £5 to Rev. James Buller, Superintendent Minister of the Wellington circuit. Construction soon began without the assistance or permission of the Conference.
In November 1864 a subscription list was opened to raise funds to build a church and the list was subscribed to by Christians of all denominations. Timber from Udy's saw mill was used in the construction of the first church built on this site. In October 1865 the Wesleyan Church was officially opened and it was the first purpose built worship centre in the Wairarapa. Soon however it was realised that this church building was too small for the rapidly increasing number of worshippers.
By the late nineteenth century with the steady increase of Europeans, a stronger emphasis was placed on missionary work amongst the colonisers. The first Methodist Minister in Greytown, Rev J.S. Rishworth, was appointed in 1867, operating in what was known as the Wairarapa circuit. This covered the area from the Rimutaka Ranges to Castlepoint. The parishioners at Greytown had constructed the town's second church by 1872 (St Luke's Anglican). Churches were built elsewhere in the district during the 1870s, including at Carterton in 1871 (Wesleyan, Record no. 3967), Burnside in 1875 (Presbyterian, Record no. 3984), Bideford in 1875 (Anglican, Record no. 1285) and Masterton in 1879 (Catholic, Record no. 1319). Another indication of the rapidly rising numbers was the division of Masterton from the Wairarapa circuit on 2 April 1880, the boundary being just north of Carterton.
A second church
During the six months taken for this decision to pass through Conference and officially take place, local people had been making arrangements for a bigger Wesleyan church in Greytown. They had first considered enlarging the older building, but on 4 June 1879 it was resolved 'that the present Church (opened in October 1865) be moved back to make room for a new structure and that a 'Working bee' be arranged for that purpose.' The relocation of the first church was carried out accordingly, and the foundation stone of the new church was laid by Rev W. Kirk on Monday 10 November 1879. The Church historian, Rev William Morley, records that the Church was opened by Rev W. Connell on 4 July 1880.
For a hundred years there were two church buildings on the 63 Main Street site. They were originally known as the Old Wesleyan Church and the New Wesleyan Church. However by 1913 the Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, Free Methodists, and Bible Christians, who were meeting in almost 1,000 churches, halls, and houses across the country and were over 100,000 people strong in number, were all joined to form the Methodist Church of New Zealand. At this point the names of these buildings evolved to Old Methodist Church and New Methodist Church. However to many they were always the old church and the new church or the Sunday School and the church respectively.
Deterioration
The Old Greytown Methodist Church (Former) remained at the rear of the newer church (which became known as St Andrews (Union) Church) until the late 1970s, where it continued to be used despite the building beginning to deteriorate quite badly. Towards the end of 1978 the Parish Council minutes record a discussion about the state of the old church. The discussion ended with the decision to appeal to those who were interested in restoring the old church.
Early into 1979 no expressions of interest had been received so a notice that the old church was to be demolished was placed in the local papers along with the relevant history, hoping to further stir public reaction. Some time after this article was published, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust expressed interest with regard to the future of the structure. By July a resolution was reached and the church was shifted to Cobblestones Early Settlers Museum heritage park during the following summer.
The Old Methodist Church (Former) was shifted to the Cobblestones Early Settlers Museum site at 175-177 Main Street, Greytown on 1 December 1979. At this point the Trustees wrote to NZHPT asking to register the heritage park as a historic precinct. This request was refused as some buildings within the heritage park are modern reconstructions. However six buildings were earmarked for individual registration, the church being one of them. The church was sensitively restored, and has had very few alterations made. It is now a popular wedding venue with a viable future.