Hungerford Mausoleum

Hospital Hill Road, Seaview, HOKITIKA

Historic Place Category 2

List No. 1703

Quick links:
The Hungerford Mausoleum is in Hokitika's Seaview Cemetery.

The inscription on the main panel reads:
Thomas Walter, died 28th Feb,1873 aged 18 months.
Thomas Walter, died 18th Feb, 1874 aged 10 months
Sons of Thomas Walter Hungerford and Eliza M. Delaney, youngest son of Richard Hungerford and Mary Cranfield Campbell of Corrigan, County Cork, Ireland.
Also interred in this mausoleum- Thomas Knowles only son of Morgal Christian. RVB.
Died April 2nd, aged 53 years. "Not my will but thine be done."

According to cemetery records the mausoleum has just the three occupants, named above. It is a sober reminder of the high rates of infant mortality in colonial New Zealand that the two Thomas Walters died within a year of each other.

[Thomas Walter Hungerford, the father, moved to Greymouth before the second child died, as he had the contract to build the Brunner Railway (1872) and also built/owned the Terminus Hotel (1873) on Mawhera Quay, then later both Greymouth’s breakwaters. He continued working there until the early 1890’s when he went to Newcastle in New South Wales and died in Tasmania in 1908. His eldest son Richard Colin Hungerford, born 1865 also had quite an illustrious career.]

More is known about the third occupant of the mausoleum, Thomas Knowles Christian, who died on April 2, 1878, aged 52. The West Coast Times (3/4/1878) reported:
There are many in this district and in other parts of this colony who will regret to hear of the sudden death of Mr Thomas K. Christian, bailiff of the court here. Mr Christian had only been ailing for a few days. He was attending to his usual avocations last week when he caught a cold, which resulted in inflammation of the lungs. Though he was carefully attended by all available medical aid, he lingered only a short time. Much sympathy has been expressed in town by the friends of the deceased for Mrs Christian's sad and unexpected trail, coming as it has, so quickly after her own severe and protracted illness. As an officer of the Court, M Christian was ever assiduous and obliging, and in his private acquaintanceship, he had formed many warm friends, some of whom had come from Greymouth hearing that that he had been dangerously ill, to render what assistance might be in their power.

The mausoleum, the largest monument in the Hokitika cemetery has intrigued visitors for many years. It was clearly intended to provide for a large number of interments but its many marble panels remain blank.
Hungerford Mausoleum, Hokitika. Photo Competition Entrant 2025 | Tracy Griffiths | 14/02/2025 | Tracy Griffiths
Hungerford Mausoleum, Hokitika. CC BY 4.0 Image courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org | Mike Dickison | 30/08/2020 | Mike Dickison - Wikimedia Commons
Hungerford Mausoleum, Hokitika | N Jackson | 24/10/2015 | Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga

List Entry Information

Overview

Status

Listed

List Entry Status

Historic Place Category 2

Access

Private/No Public Access

List Number

1703

Date Entered

2nd April 2004

Date of Effect

2nd April 2004

City/District Council

Westland District

Region

West Coast Region

Extent of List Entry

Extent includes part of the land described as Res 453 Town of Hokitika (RT WS2C/170), Westland Land District, and the structure known as Hungerford Mausoleum thereon. Refer to extent map tabled at Rārangi Kōrero meeting on 5 August 2022.

Legal description

Res 453 Town of Hokitika (RT WS2C/170), Westland Land District

Status

Listed

List Entry Status

Historic Place Category 2

Access

Private/No Public Access

List Number

1703

Date Entered

2nd April 2004

Date of Effect

2nd April 2004

City/District Council

Westland District

Region

West Coast Region

Extent of List Entry

Extent includes part of the land described as Res 453 Town of Hokitika (RT WS2C/170), Westland Land District, and the structure known as Hungerford Mausoleum thereon. Refer to extent map tabled at Rārangi Kōrero meeting on 5 August 2022.

Legal description

Res 453 Town of Hokitika (RT WS2C/170), Westland Land District

Significance

Why is this place significant?

Historic Significance

Historical Significance or Value It has cultural and historical value as an illustration of the customs and values associated with death in the Victorian period.

Physical Significance

The Hungerford Mausoleum has technological significance as an early and unusual example of the use of concrete.

Why is this place Category 1 / Category 2?

Detail Of Assessed Criteria

(a) it stands as exemplar of Victorian ideas of status, and customs of death. (g) It has technological value as an early example of concrete construction. (j) The mausoleum has rarity value as an example of concrete used on a massive scale in funerary architecture, and as a type of funerary monument seldom seen in New Zealand. It is the only one in a West Coast cemetery.

Why is this place significant?

Historic Significance

Historical Significance or Value It has cultural and historical value as an illustration of the customs and values associated with death in the Victorian period.

Physical Significance

The Hungerford Mausoleum has technological significance as an early and unusual example of the use of concrete.

Why is this place Category 1 / Category 2?

Detail Of Assessed Criteria

(a) it stands as exemplar of Victorian ideas of status, and customs of death. (g) It has technological value as an early example of concrete construction. (j) The mausoleum has rarity value as an example of concrete used on a massive scale in funerary architecture, and as a type of funerary monument seldom seen in New Zealand. It is the only one in a West Coast cemetery.

Construction Information

Construction Details

Start Year

1874

startYearCirca

Type

Original Construction

Construction Materials

Concrete, with iron door and marble panels.

Construction Details

Start Year

1874

startYearCirca

Type

Original Construction

Construction Materials

Concrete, with iron door and marble panels.

Physical Description

The mausoleum is a massive concrete structure, eleven feet square (3.37 metres), with a cruciform barrel-vaulted roof. Concrete paving surrounds two sides of the structure and at the front, where the inscribed panel is located, there is a concrete covered area eleven feet by eight feet (3.37 by 2.8 metres) enclosed by a post and rail fence. Each side of the mausoleum features a central arch with two smaller flanking arches, all defined by concrete pilasters. The capitals of these pilasters provide a stringcourse separating the base from the curving roof structure. On one side is the iron entrance door, now rusted closed and no longer needing the original padlock, with a decorative iron ventilator in the arch above it. In a rondel over the door is a carved coat of arms. Altogether, provision was made for a large number of inscriptions to be added in the many marble panels.

The mausoleum is a massive concrete structure, eleven feet square (3.37 metres), with a cruciform barrel-vaulted roof. Concrete paving surrounds two sides of the structure and at the front, where the inscribed panel is located, there is a concrete covered area eleven feet by eight feet (3.37 by 2.8 metres) enclosed by a post and rail fence. Each side of the mausoleum features a central arch with two smaller flanking arches, all defined by concrete pilasters. The capitals of these pilasters provide a stringcourse separating the base from the curving roof structure. On one side is the iron entrance door, now rusted closed and no longer needing the original padlock, with a decorative iron ventilator in the arch above it. In a rondel over the door is a carved coat of arms. Altogether, provision was made for a large number of inscriptions to be added in the many marble panels.

Reference

Historical and Associated Iwi / Hapū / Whānau

Completion Date

7th September 2004

Report Written By

Pam Wilson

Information Sources

West Coast Times

West Coast Times

New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT)

New Zealand Historic Places Trust

Read, 1999

P. Read, Enter the Crypt - A Brief Look at Some of the Famous and Not So Famous Residents of Hokitika's Seaview Cemetery, West Coast Historical Museum, 1999.

Other Information

A fully referenced version of this report is available from the NZHPT Southern Region Office. Please note that entry on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rarangi Korero identifies only the heritage values of the property concerned, and should not be construed as advice on the state of the property, or as a comment of its soundness or safety, including in regard to earthquake risk, safety in the event of fire, or insanitary conditions.

Historical and Associated Iwi / Hapū / Whānau

Completion Date

7th September 2004

Report Written By

Pam Wilson

Information Sources

West Coast Times

West Coast Times

New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT)

New Zealand Historic Places Trust

Read, 1999

P. Read, Enter the Crypt - A Brief Look at Some of the Famous and Not So Famous Residents of Hokitika's Seaview Cemetery, West Coast Historical Museum, 1999.

Other Information

A fully referenced version of this report is available from the NZHPT Southern Region Office. Please note that entry on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rarangi Korero identifies only the heritage values of the property concerned, and should not be construed as advice on the state of the property, or as a comment of its soundness or safety, including in regard to earthquake risk, safety in the event of fire, or insanitary conditions.

Further Information

Current Usages

Uses: Funerary Sites

Specific Usage: Mausoleum/Tomb/Vault/Ossario

Former Usages

General Usage: Funerary Sites

Specific Usage: Mausoleum/Tomb/Vault/Ossario

Current Usages

Uses: Funerary Sites

Specific Usage: Mausoleum/Tomb/Vault/Ossario

Former Usages

General Usage: Funerary Sites

Specific Usage: Mausoleum/Tomb/Vault/Ossario

Location

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