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This historic place was registered under the Historic Places Act 1980. This report includes the text from the original Building Classification Committee report considered by the NZHPT Board at the time of registration. During the 1870s and 1880s John Grigg established at Longbeach a 'model farm' of international significance. The water wheel powered the flour mill on the station. At its height in the early 1880s Longbeach covered thirty-two thousand acres and supported a small village for its many workers and then families. In 1882 Grigg was forced to sell much of the holding to payoff his financial backer and the property was reduced to sixteen thousand acres. After the sale the property was managed by his eldest son, who employed a peak labour force of 350 to achieve new heights of productivity in grain and meat through the 1890s. Longbeach continued to be a major force in Canterbury agriculture long after John Grigg's death but it was solely through his efforts that the property signified its status in the technology of breaking-in and farming difficult land. The water wheel is part of a complex of historic buildings at Longbeach Station. The Station homestead has been classified "B".

Longbeach Station Flourmill Waterwheel. Image included in Field Record Form Collection | A E McEwan | 16/03/1989 | Heritage New Zealand

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

271

Date Entered

6th June 1990

Date of Effect

6th June 1990

City/District Council

Ashburton District

Region

Canterbury Region

Legal description

Lot 7 DP 8730 (RT 568319), Canterbury Land District

Overview

Status
Listed

List Entry Status
Historic Place Category 2

Access
Private/No Public Access

List Number
271

Date Entered
6th June 1990

Date of Effect
6th June 1990

City/District Council
Ashburton District

Region
Canterbury Region

Legal description

Lot 7 DP 8730 (RT 568319), Canterbury Land District

Detailed List Entry

Significance

Historic Significance

Historical Significance or Value This historic place was registered under the Historic Places Act 1980. This report includes the text from the original Building Classification Committee report considered by the NZHPT Board at the time of registration. The water wheel, though now disused, is a tangible link with the remarkable agricultural enterprise developed by John Grigg and his family in the last decades of the 19th century. Longbeach was famed as a model example of agricultural technology and management in New Zealand.

Physical Significance

This historic place was registered under the Historic Places Act 1980. This report includes the text from the original Building Classification Committee report considered by the NZHPT Board at the time of registration. ARCHITECTURAL QUALITY: A well constructed cast-iron water wheel, in good condition in its original position. TOWNSCAPE/LANDMARK VALUE: None, as obscured by vegetation

Construction Professional

Biography

John GRIGG (1828-1901) the original owner and developer of Longbeach station. During the 1870s and 1880s John Grigg established at Longbeach a 'model farm' of international significance. The water wheel powered the flour mill on the station. At its height in the early 1880s Longbeach covered thirty-two thousand acres and supported a small village for its many workers and then families. In 1882 Grigg was forced to sell much of the holding to payoff his financial backer and the property was reduced to sixteen thousand acres. After the sale the property was managed by his eldest son, who employed a peak labour force of 350 to achieve new heights of productivity in grain and meat through the 1890s. Longbeach continued to be a major force in Canterbury agriculture long after John Grigg's death but it was solely through his efforts that the property signified its status in the technology of breaking-in and farming difficult land..

Name

Grigg, John

Type

Designer

Biography

John GRIGG (1828-1901) the original owner and developer of Longbeach station. During the 1870s and 1880s John Grigg established at Longbeach a 'model farm' of international significance. The water wheel powered the flour mill on the station. At its height in the early 1880s Longbeach covered thirty-two thousand acres and supported a small village for its many workers and then families. In 1882 Grigg was forced to sell much of the holding to payoff his financial backer and the property was reduced to sixteen thousand acres. After the sale the property was managed by his eldest son, who employed a peak labour force of 350 to achieve new heights of productivity in grain and meat through the 1890s. Longbeach continued to be a major force in Canterbury agriculture long after John Grigg's death but it was solely through his efforts that the property signified its status in the technology of breaking-in and farming difficult land..

Name

Grigg, John

Type

Builder

Construction Details

Start Year

1875

Type

Original Construction

Construction Materials

Cast iron wheel. Concrete leat and tailrace to bring water to and from the wheel. Timber fluming to channel water from the leat to just above the wheel.

Notable Features

A rare extant farm water wheel.

Physical Description

This historic place was registered under the Historic Places Act 1980. This report includes the text from the original Building Classification Committee report considered by the NZHPT Board at the time of registration. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: The waterwheel at Longbeach is an overshot wheel, the most efficient of the four basic water wheel types. Approximately three metres in diameter, the wheel is cross-braced about the axle and its iron buckets are tangential to its circumference. The axle is set into the concrete wall of the adjacent mill building.

Reference

Completion Date

3rd March 1990

Information Sources

Acland, 1975

L.G.D. Acland, The Early Canterbury Runs, 4th ed., Christchurch, 1975

Cyclopedia of New Zealand

Cyclopedia Company, Industrial, descriptive, historical, biographical facts, figures, illustrations, Wellington, N.Z, 1897-1908

Parr, 1951

S Parr, Canterbury Pilgrimage: the first hundred years of the Church of England in Canterbury, New Zealand, Christchurch, 1951

Scotter, 1977

Scotter, W.H, Ashburton, A History with Records of Town and Country, Ashburton Borough and County Councils, 1977

Thornton, 1986

Geoffrey Thornton, The New Zealand Heritage of Farm Buildings, Auckland, 1986

Thornton, 1982

Geoffrey G. Thornton, New Zealand's Industrial Heritage, A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington, 1982

Scotter, 1965

W.H. Scotter, A History of Canterbury, Vol. III 1876-1950, Whitcombe & Tombs Ltd, Christchurch, 1965

Porter, 1983

Frances Porter (ed), Historic Buildings of Dunedin, South Island, Methuen, Auckland, 1983.

Brown, 1940

J Brown, Ashburton. New Zealand - Its Pioneers and its History, 1853-1939. A H & A W Reed, Dunedin, 1940

Stevens, 1952

P G Stevens, John Grigg of Longbeach, Whitcombe & Tombs Ltd, Christchurch, 1952

Wilson, 1984

J Wilson (compiler), AA Book of New Zealand Historic Places, Lansdowner Press, Auckland 1984

Hodgson, 1978

T Hodgson, Fire and Decay - The Destruction of the Large New Zealand House, Alister Taylor, Wairua, Martinborough, 1978

Report Written By

A copy 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