John Bedggood came to New Zealand with the Church Missionary Society in 1836 and later built his own house, a blacksmith’s forge and a wheelwright’s shop. His buildings followed the familiar pattern of establishing a blacksmith’s workshop in every community to maintain the tools and horse-drawn transport of the settlers. The house was a two storey weatherboard structure with a shingled, gable roof, a verandah on the north front and a shed to the rear. The other two smaller buildings were situated nearby on the property.
Because of the proximity to The Mission House and the links these buildings have with early rural and industrial history in this country, The Historic Places Trust (now Heritage New Zealand) acquired the property in 1977 but by then the buildings had fallen into disrepair and later collapsed. The site remains however, an important link with early New Zealand history.
This model was made for Scaled Down by Stephen Gardiner