Wheriko: Church Built 1862, Historic Place Category 1
Wheriko Church is an important monument to the growth of the Anglican Church in the Rangitikei and the work of the missionary Reverend Richard Taylor. It also has connections with the Ratana Church. The church, built in 1862, was the third erected at the Ngati Apa pa of Parewanui. A simple Victorian Gothic church built of pit-sawn timber, it is believed that it originally had an earth floor. It is not known who designed the building. The local community - both Maori and Pakeha - and the Wellington Diocese of the Anglican Church, funded its construction. Richard Taylor dedicated the church in December 1862, and although he initially named the church Christ's Church, sometime later the name was changed to Wheriko.
In 1897 a large flood threatened Parewanui pa. The village was relocated, and the church eventually shifted (it is not known when), to its present site and rebuilt with the addition of a sanctuary, on land gifted to the Anglican Church by the members of the Ratana family. Wheriko Church is significant because of the involvement of missionary Reverend Taylor and it's association with three religious teachings. The Anglican Church, Haaki o te Wairua Tapu, and the Ratana Church.
Mere Rikiriki, a noted healer later established the Holy Ghost Mission (Haaki o te Wairua Tapu) at Parewanui. Her nephew Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana founded the Ratana Church. Mere Riririki and Ratana's parents are buried in the churchyard.
ARCHITECTURAL QUALITY:
The concept of prefabricated buildings using vertical board and batten construction originated in the 1840s, and is used in Wheriko Church. The technique of using a framed construction depending on morticed studs and timber pegs and vertical cladding fixed in grooved bottom and top plates was not a preferred form and was soon replaced by horizontal vertical boarding fixed by nails.The vertical boarding especially for a simple church building, emphasises the Gothic design.