The old sod whare on the Sumner Road near the Heathcote Bridge, Christchurch
The old sod whare on the Sumner Road near the Heathcote Bridge, Christchurch
[1910?]
The sod hut was the home of Captain James Penfold (1832-1905) who was master of the schooner Excelsior which traded between New Zealand and Australia and was wrecked on the Sumner Bar. Penfold used material from the wrecked ship and sods cut from the river when building his cottage which was occupied until 1908 after which it became a picturesque ruin. It was restored in 1944 by Ernest Parish (d. 1969) in conjunction with the Mount Pleasant Burgesses' Association and boys from the Mount Pleasant Yacht Club and was rebuilt near the Ferrymead Bridge as a memorial to the early settlers of Canterbury. Cob rather than sod was used in the reconstruction. Another reconstruction had to be carried out a few years later after the hut was burnt out by a fire started by a spark from a blaze on Mount Pleasant. Up to the time of Mr Parish's death the hut was opened on Sunday to visitors
File Reference CCL-KPCD07-0044
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