The Langridge Station Cob Oven is an intact and representative example of an 1880s agricultural structure constructed of cob. It is also part of a wider station complex that tells a story about a working sheep station in the late nineteenth century. Set in the high country landscape of the upper Awatere Valley, the cluster of station structures, including a cob stable, dry stone enclosure and various cob ruins, have significant historic, aesthetic, technological, architectural and archaeological values. They are representative of cob design and construction, a place where shepherds, musterers and shearers worked, ate and slept, and they provide an insight into how those men lived.

The Langridge Run was taken up by Thomas Ward in 1851 and after a short time was bought by W.H. Eyes who sold it to the brothers, Alexander Binning Monro and George Hoome Monro, in 1853.

Built when the Monros owned Langridge, the oven is located in close proximity to the ruins of the cob cookhouse and men’s quarters. The cob dome encloses a freestanding iron Balers oven and is built on a base of large flat stones. The oven has a corrugated iron roof that has been used to preserve the integrity of the cob. Cob construction techniques were brought to New Zealand by settlers from certain regions of England and Ireland. The cob is made up of a wet mix of clay, straw and animal dung that sets hard as it dries.

The Monro brothers got into financial trouble after purchasing more land from the Crown. They paid off the debts and A.B. Monro held Langridge until his death in 1892. In 1899 the Langridge Run was sold to Rudolph Walker and Edward Thompson. At that time the run consisted of 7,138 acres freehold, 24,400 acres leasehold and carried 7,490 sheep. The land was transferred to Margaret Agnes Shirtliff, wife of John William Shirtliff, sheep farmer, in 1924. A fee simple title to a number of parcels including Section 9, Langridge Run District of Awatere, was created in 1930. The landholding was transferred to Margaret Helen van Asch, daughter of the Shirtliffs, who had married Ian Tasman van Asch. The van Asch’s sold the 96,000 acre Muller Station, which included the Langridge Station freehold, in 1965. Muller Station has been farmed by Steve and Mary Satterthwaite since 1980.

The Langridge Station Cob Oven is part of a significant cultural landscape that represents the pastoral heritage of New Zealand sheep stations. Cob was an important construction method in the rural South Island high country. The concentration of this building type along the Awatere Valley has created a network of regionally significant structures that are an integral part of a special cultural heritage landscape. The building and structures are a tangible legacy of pioneering farmers and farm workers in the area. They are entered on the New Zealand Heritage List and include the Mt Gladstone Station Cob Homestead (List No.2936), Mt Gladstone Cuddy (List No.1491), Accommodation House (Former) (List No.2924), Molesworth Station Large Cob Homestead (List No. 1492), Molesworth Station Cob Cottage (List No.1492) and the Langridge Station Stable (List No. 1488).