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St Stephen's Chapel (Old)

With the need for a chapel Bishop G.A. Selwyn, purchased 2½ acres (1ha) of land above Judges Bay (Taurarua) in 1844, and on it erected the first St Stephen's Chapel, which collapsed in 1847 during a storm.

St Stephen's Chapel

The chapel now on the site was built in early 1857, and hosted the meetings which created the Constitution of the Anglican Church in New Zealand, signed here on 13th June 1857. Approaching the chapel from Judge St, the visitor enters the grounds through a lych gate, and passes through a graveyard in which are buried some of the earliest pioneers of New Zealand and of the Church in New Zealand.

The chapel, striking in its simplicity, sits on a small, leveled patch of land on a relatively steep slope which overlooks Judges' Bay (Taurarua). With a steeply pitched roof, vertical battens, windows of small diamond-shaped panes, and its suitability to its situation, it is a tiny version of the style which has become synonymous with the so-called "Selwyn churches", designed by Frederick Thatcher in close collaboration with Bishop Selwyn.

Built of five squares, each of 10 feet(3.3 metres) side, the chapel was built as a semi-private chapel for the Bishop's use, though open for use by all who chose to worship there.

The chapel is today the "local" church for many people in the district. Holy Communion is celebrated each Sunday morning at 9:00am. St Stephen’s is also used for weddings. For further information please contact the Cathedral Office.