Historic Molesworth Cob Homestead

Management

Molesworth Station, South Marlborough Area Office, Nelson/Marlborough Conservancy, Department of Conservation.

Fabric

A two-roomed cob house each room with separate doorways on the eastern side opening to a low veranda (you have to stoop to enter). There is a robust cob chimney at either end of the building. The cob exterior is limewashed. The roof and veranda are corrugated iron with a skylight (1950s?). The internal partition is wooden, also probably 1950 era. The fireplaces are large and open but no longer allowed to be used. The floor is concrete in the western end, timber in the east. Most of the chattels are comparatively recent including two wooden beds a table and benches. However there are also a few (secured) old artefacts Some repairs were carried out by the Marlborough Historical Society in the early 1980s and DOC did further remedial work in 1994/95. The cottage sits on the edge of the Molesworth road on a grassed terrace above the Molesworth Stream. Groves of cork elms and poplars around it were originally planted for shelter and fuel. There is archaeological evidence of other buildings once associated with the homestead to the north along the terrace.

History

This was the original Molesworth homestead built as a one-roomed hut by the third runholder John (Cornelius) Murphy in 1866 and later extended by his successor William Atkinson. Murphy was the first runholder to over winter which he later described "as a sort of Esquimaux’s life; we were shut up sometimes for four or five weeks". This building remained the homestead until 1885 when the present, larger, cob homestead was built. This original cottage was then used to accommodate musterers and rabbiters. Historic themes are pastoralism, animal pests and farming.

Molesworth Cob Homestead (built
1866)

Fabric significance

A good sound example of an early and modest cob building once common on the pastoral runs of Nelson and Marlborough.

Historic significance

The first homestead on what was to become New Zealand’s largest pastoral run. A strong reminder of the limitations and privations of life in inland Marlborough last century. The cottage has a category two Historic Places Registration.

Future management

Continue as an historic building and tourist attraction. The cottage will be maintained to protect its historic fabric and minimise deterioration. A conservation plan has been prepared (Ian Bowman, 1993) to guide its management, this contains more information about the hut.

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