St Albans Vicerage and Chapel
at Kurow.
Between 1881 and 1891 the
Anglican community in and around Kurow was served by curates who
resided locally but who were appointed to the vicar of Oamaru. In
1891 this situation changed, however, when the Waitaki Mission
District was established and Hugh Corrie Frere was appointed as the
first curate of the new parish. At the same time Emily Campbell,
wife of the late Robert Campbell who was one of North Otago's
leading landowners, left a large bequest of approximately £5300 to
finance the erection of a church and vicarage in the
district.
Emily Campbell's
generosity proved to be somewhat of a mixed blessing, however, as
the Anglicans of Duntroon initially disputed Kurow's suitability as
the parish's centre. The New Zealand Church News of August 1892
records that Mrs Campbell's legacy was causing divisions within the
district's Anglicans although "Kurow (was) really the proper centre
of operations, and ought probably to have both the church and
parsonage". Happily the controversy was eventually resolved by
Bishop Nevill of Dunedin who recommended that a church be erected
at Duntroon whilst a vicarage and adjoining chapel were built at
Kurow. £2,500 was subsequently allocated for the construction of
the latter, which began forthwith, although St Martin's Church at
Duntroon was not erected until 1901 to a design by Christchurch
architect, Thomas Cane.
The large size of
the Kurow vicarage may in part be explained by the fact that the
first incumbent at St Alban's had a large family and a private
income with which to pay domestic and stable staff. The last
resident vicar at Kurow vacated the house in 1970.
The cache is an
eclipse container, bring your own pen.