Robert Jenkins and his family lived in the tiny cottage and cooked in their stone lean-to kitchen. Jenkins worked as a blacksmith across the yard next to the stables. This cottage and its outbuildings, dating probably from the 1870s or early 1880s gives a real sense of the life in nineteenth century Ophir in its years as a gold mining town and rural service centre.
In 1875 storekeeper John Pitches is the first recorded owner of the land on which the buildings stand. Pitches sold the land to miner Robert Jenkins in September 1878. By 1881 Robert Jenkins was working as a blacksmith. It is possible, therefore, that the smithy and stable (now known as the ‘barn’) date from the late 1870s or early 1880s. The advertisement for the mortgagee sale of Jenkins’ estate gives a good picture of his property in 1886. It included a ‘blacksmith’s shop and stable substantially built of stone and roofed with iron, six-roomed dwelling house partly constructed of stone and part of wood.’ Blacksmiths William and David Hanger bought the estate and worked there till 1893. From 1893 blacksmith William Waldron and his wife Mary Ellen Spain and their family lived and worked there. In the twentieth century John McKnight, another blacksmith, owned the property.
In 1990 Lois and Bill Galer bought the property. The story of their move from busy lives in Dunedin to their ‘bolt hole’ in Ophir is told in Lois Galer’s book Time to Smell the Roses: A New Life in Ophir. The book tells of life in Ophir, and is a biography of the cottage itself and its careful transformation into a permanent residence. The book details the repairs and alterations to the cottage, giving insight and history into the lives of earlier inhabitants as well as its most recent occupants.
The cottage was built in four stages and with a mix of materials. Stage one is the wooden section – a simple single gable form cottage with two rooms and a narrow central hallway. The second stage is the stone kitchen and the third a single roomed mud brick section. In 1997 a bathroom and living/dining room were added. The smithy, stable and bunkroom were built of stone, while the washhouse is rammed earth.
The history of the cottage reflects the mining history of Central Otago and the establishment of mining townships such as Ophir. The cottage in its simple form represents a typical primitive miner’s residence. The subsequent development into a blacksmiths shows the shift from temporary settlement to established town in the nineteenth century. Its twentieth century history shows the decline in the fortunes of Ophir, and the aesthetic character that has been maintained as a result. The cottage itself reflects that history in its fabric – through its nineteenth century forms, its long stasis in the twentieth century, and its rebirth as a permanent home at the close of the century.
In 2012 Jenkins’ Cottage is a private residence.
In 1875 storekeeper John Pitches is the first recorded owner of the land on which the buildings stand. Pitches sold the land to miner Robert Jenkins in September 1878. By 1881 Robert Jenkins was working as a blacksmith. It is possible, therefore, that the smithy and stable (now known as the ‘barn’) date from the late 1870s or early 1880s. The advertisement for the mortgagee sale of Jenkins’ estate gives a good picture of his property in 1886. It included a ‘blacksmith’s shop and stable substantially built of stone and roofed with iron, six-roomed dwelling house partly constructed of stone and part of wood.’ Blacksmiths William and David Hanger bought the estate and worked there till 1893. From 1893 blacksmith William Waldron and his wife Mary Ellen Spain and their family lived and worked there. In the twentieth century John McKnight, another blacksmith, owned the property.
In 1990 Lois and Bill Galer bought the property. The story of their move from busy lives in Dunedin to their ‘bolt hole’ in Ophir is told in Lois Galer’s book Time to Smell the Roses: A New Life in Ophir. The book tells of life in Ophir, and is a biography of the cottage itself and its careful transformation into a permanent residence. The book details the repairs and alterations to the cottage, giving insight and history into the lives of earlier inhabitants as well as its most recent occupants.
The cottage was built in four stages and with a mix of materials. Stage one is the wooden section – a simple single gable form cottage with two rooms and a narrow central hallway. The second stage is the stone kitchen and the third a single roomed mud brick section. In 1997 a bathroom and living/dining room were added. The smithy, stable and bunkroom were built of stone, while the washhouse is rammed earth.
The history of the cottage reflects the mining history of Central Otago and the establishment of mining townships such as Ophir. The cottage in its simple form represents a typical primitive miner’s residence. The subsequent development into a blacksmiths shows the shift from temporary settlement to established town in the nineteenth century. Its twentieth century history shows the decline in the fortunes of Ophir, and the aesthetic character that has been maintained as a result. The cottage itself reflects that history in its fabric – through its nineteenth century forms, its long stasis in the twentieth century, and its rebirth as a permanent home at the close of the century.
In 2012 Jenkins’ Cottage is a private residence.
