Barrhill, New Zealand

Barrhill is a small settlement between the Rakaia Barrhill Methven Road and the Rakaia River, located above sea level. It is about from the town of Rakaia and from Methven. The four outer streets, one of which is the Rakaia Barrhill Methven Road, form a trapezoid with the longest side at . Two internal roads run at right angles to one another, dividing the area into four quadrants. The intersection of the internal roads forms the market place. Apart from the main road, there are five avenues, each planted in its own species and named accordingly: oak, poplar, birch, lime, and sycamore. The tree-lined avenues give Barrhill a charming appearance. Wason had trees planted in an unusual pattern around the market square. Residents only noticed in 1975 when viewing an aerial photo that those trees form what appears to be the three circles of Trinity, with the two inner avenues possibly symbolising a crucifix. ==History==

in 1878 Wason emigrated from Scotland to New Zealand in late 1868. In February 1869 Wason set about trying to create an estate village and in the same year, construction of the church began, and these buildings mark the beginning of Barrhill. the village began to decline. Dwindling population forced the closure of the school in 1938, although the Church of St John the Evangelist is still in use. Most of the buildings were constructed from pine wood grown on the estate, but the three original concrete buildings remain: church, school and schoolhouse. Without the railway, Wason saw his project as doomed, and sold up in 1900. and after the contracts were let in February 1925, the Barrhill post office was closed. The school closed in 1938. It was their last project as a branch committee before the pending disestablishment of branch committees through the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Bill, and they chose Barrhill to relaunch themselves as the Historic Places Mid Canterbury regional society as part of the unveiling of the historic panel. Population Barrhill flourished until about 1885, when population in the village itself peaked at 50, and two effects caused a population decline. Firstly, a recession set in across New Zealand that made people move to where work opportunities presented themselves, and locally those opportunities were created near the stations of the Methven Branch railway. Wason began to gradually sell off parts of his land holdings from the mid-1880s. More recent population data can be obtained from Statistics New Zealand. The smallest unit for which data are available is a meshblock, and Barrhill is located within the meshblock with ID 2750400. This meshblock has an area of , i.e. a rural area much larger than just the village, and is within the river bed. Population in this meshblock was recorded at 60 in the 1996 New Zealand census, 60 in 2001, 69 in 2006, and 66 in 2013. ==Notable places==

Three buildings in the township remain from the time of its founding. In addition, there is the historic gatehouse some northwest of Barrhill. Those buildings remain partly because they were built in concrete, with some of the walls thick. The cement was landed in barrels on Kaitorete Spit, barged across Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora, and then transported by dray overland and along the bed of the Rakaia River. St John's Church was mostly paid for by Wason, and construction started in 1876, with the first service held on 8 July 1877 by the vicar of Ashburton, W. E. Paige. A vicarage was also envisaged, but it was never built. A lych gate was added as a centennial project. The church was registered as a heritage building by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (since renamed to Heritage New Zealand) on 23 June 1983 with registration number 1765 classified as C. With the change of the classification system, the building later became a Category II listing. The church is owned by Church Property Trustees (i.e. the Anglican Church). After the land had been surveyed, the first buyer was the Education Board, securing land for a school in the market square, and a teacher's house on the adjacent section. Both these buildings were also built in concrete and exist to this day. Since the school closed in 1938 it has been used for functions and as a hall. The former teacher's house is used as a bach. The other remaining 1870s concrete building is the gate house, located some distance away on the Rakaia Barrhill Methven Road. Wason's homestead was at the end of a drive starting at this gate house, on a cliff top overlooking the Rakaia River. The homestead burnt down not long after Wason had left the country, and a new homestead was built nearby. The gatekeeper's lodge originally had a slate roof, but this was later replaced by iron. The last family moved out in 1935. During the second world war, the iron was stripped off the empty building, and it fell into ruin. A later owner, Colin McLachlan, donated the land and the ruin to the people of the district; it is now vested in the Ashburton District Council. The renovation began in 1970, with work carried out and financed by descendants of previous inhabitants of the building. File:Barrhill St John's Anglican Church.jpg|St John's Church File:Barrhill 028.JPG|Former school; now community hall File:Teacher's house 001.JPG|Former teacher's house File:Barrhill 083.JPG|Corwar Gatekeepers Lodge File:Barrhill 088.JPG|Barrhill Cemetery, with the trees of the village in the background ==Notable people==

Barrhill's founder, Cathcart Wason, was a member of parliament in two countries: first in New Zealand for a total of six years, and then in the United Kingdom for twenty years. ==Notes==