Oldest woolshed begins repair project

WORDS: Rosemary Baird IMAGES: Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga

Te Waimate Woolshed, over 160 years old, is undergoing repairs with the help of the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga National Heritage Preservation Incentive Fund.

Back in the days of the massive South Island sheep stations, the Studholme brothers, original holders of Te Waimate Station, built the woolshed in 1855 to cater to the sheep on their 98,000 acre property. At its peak there were 22 shearing stands and around 100,000 sheep were shorn annually.

The woolshed, with its distinctive doublegabled profile, is an excellent example of early colonial construction techniques. The roof was originally tōtara shingles laid over sarking but is now covered in roofing iron. Much of the woolshed’s timber is hand-adzed. All the exterior timber is pit-sawn tōtara and the original mānuka railings are preserved by the lanolin from sheep wool. The huge historic Ferrier’s screw wool press still sits inside the woolshed.

Over the years, the building has been added to and repaired. It is now the oldest functioning colonial woolshed in Aotearoa New Zealand and a Category 1 listing on the New Zealand Heritage List/ Rārangi Kōrero. Still owned and run by the Studholme family, parents Michael and Jan Studholme still live onsite but have passed on the running of the farm to their son Henry and his wife Katie.

The woolshed’s long history of use has come at a cost. The ground levels under the north and south sides of the woolshed have built up from many years of sheep debris. As the ground levels have risen, the piles have begun to rot. The bearers (timber beams) that sit atop the piles now rest on the ground. Damp is the enemy of wood; the old native timbers in the bearers and floor joists are in danger of rotting away. On the south side, poor drainage and rotten weatherboards have

Several years ago, the Studholmes heard about the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga National Preservation Incentive Fund and decided to apply. Rather than chip away with repairs gradually, they made a successful application to the fund in 2022 for a more comprehensive repair programme. Having started in January 2023, the project plans to initially focus on repairing or replacing rotten timber: the affected piles, joists, bearers, stud ends, windowsills and weatherboards, followed by a new drainage system, and repainting of the exterior.

“We’re lucky to have our builder Mike Simpson involved,” says Henry Studholme. “He has 25 years’ experience and has done lots of work on other heritage buildings. It’s not a normal building job, but Mike is genuinely interested in the project.”

Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Canterbury/West Coast Conservation Advisor, Mike Gillies, has also been out onsite to support the restoration