The
Ashburton district has many sites and buildings of historic significance. A small
selection of the places open to the public are presented here. Please note that
entry is not necessarily free, sometimes admission is by donation or koha. Please
pay a visit and help keep our heritage places alive!
Remember to visit
the properties in the care of the Historic Places Trust - you can find out more
about those in the Canterbury region by clicking the map at right.
Ashburton Museum
Baring Square East, Ashburton
The museum is housed in the old County Council Building.
It focuses on domestic items relating to the district.
The lodge of John Cathcart Wason's Corwar estate has
a small museum of colonial artefacts. Nearby is Barrhill village which Wason subdivided
as a township to encourage labourers to settle near his estate. Fine old trees
laid out along the streets and St John's Church (1877) still remain as a reminder
of his vision.
The bridge was completed in 1882. It uses the Bollman
Truss system, invented by a United States railway engineer Windel Bollman as an
economic, easily erected, metal suspension bridge. It is one of only two structures
of this type remaining in the world, the other being in the United States, and
continues to be in regular use.
This was the first major river diversion in New Zealand,
opened 1945. A 67 km long race diverts water from the Rangitata River to irrigate
66,000 ha of farmland, our largest irrigation scheme.
It also provides hydro
power in winter. The inverted syphon is located on the North Ashburton River and
the water is discharged at the Highbank Power Station on the Rakaia to produce
25.2 MW of electricity.
Display of artefacts and photographs of the Foothills
district of mid- Canterbury, reflecting the history of a small community including
timber milling, coal mining, limestone quarrying, farming, transport, community
life, and education.
Housed in the Springburn School building (c. 1876).
Open:
First Sunday each month, 1-5pm or by arrangement.
Signposted from Staveley on State Highway 72. To reach
the kilns, informal walking access crosses farmland from a carpark at the end
of Boyds Road, behind the township of Staveley. Follow the white markers to both
kilns from the carpark.
The two lime kilns of Staveley are fascinating examples
of an important industry in the region prior to the turn of the century. The kilns
are constructed from limestone quarried in the area. The 'pot kiln', is believed
to have been built prior to 1890. The second, the 'Langdon kiln' was built in
1898 by William Langdon. Coal, discovered nearby, was used to fire the kiln. The
kiln was worked by the Springburn Lime and Coal company and operated until about
1911.
The museum is constructed around a village concept consisting
of buildings and displays from early mid-Canterbury. The focus is on working history
including vintage farm machinery, a blacksmith's and print shop, and steam and
diesel trains.
Learn
more about the historic sites in the care of the Historic Places Trust located
in and around the