Church name: St Joseph
St Joseph’s Church was built in 1895 by Dean Regnault on five acres given by Allan McLean of Waikakahi. The architect was a Mr Petrie, the builder Mr Woods. While the site is some distance from Morven, Dean Regnault chose it because it was central to the Waihao, Waikakahi and Redcliff districts. The convent and school were built in 1916 in Morven township. Built of brick, the church cost £500. It was blessed and opened by Dean Burke of Invercargill, Bishop Grimes being in Rome at the time. A cemetery was also created, some distance from the church, on the main road.
The church was closed in the mid-1970s and sold with the new owner intending to convert it into a house, but today [2007] it stands abandoned and deteriorating, surrounded by gorse and broom and inhabited by pigeons – an insult to the memory of all those who worshipped there.
(photo courtesy of Waimate Museum)
