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Trentham Camp building; former memorial chapel and clock tower.
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PhotographerCouncil staff
Descriptioninformation provided by former Commandant and Trentham Camp historian Howard Weddell identifies this building, which dates back to the First World War, as having originally been the Church of England Institute rooms.
The July 28, 1981 'Leader' printed a picture of the clock being reinstalled after a $2800 revamp. It had been out of action for five years, and replacements for two missing faces (there had been three) had been made by the Ministry of Works and Development.
The clock, patterned after one at Bisley (a famous rifle-shooting range in England), was added to the 5100-square-foot (474 square metres) building in 1916.
A March 18, 1982 article and pictures said it had been a chapel; an old choir or organ loft and stained-glass windows had been found. A post-war map marked it as a tent-repair building.
After the re-build, the ceiling had been lowered to conserve heat, and partitions separated the 120-seat auditorium usable as a concert-hall-cinema, an on-stage chapel which could be closed for private devotions with movable solid-mahogany pulpit and altar, and offices.
The amenity, named the Trentham Memorial Chapel in memory of the tens of thousands who had passed through the camp, would be opened on March 25.
On December 1, 1964, the Royal Engineers fired an artillery blank on the dmorning of their patron saint, Eligius; the wad did not fly true, and put a 15 cm hole in the clock tower.
In mid-1990 the former St Francis Catholic church was brought from Onga Onga as the camp’s new chapel.Date Taken7th December 1998
Descriptioninformation provided by former Commandant and Trentham Camp historian Howard Weddell identifies this building, which dates back to the First World War, as having originally been the Church of England Institute rooms. The July 28, 1981 'Leader' printed a picture of the clock being reinstalled after a $2800 revamp. It had been out of action for five years, and replacements for two missing faces (there had been three) had been made by the Ministry of Works and Development.
The clock, patterned after one at Bisley (a famous rifle-shooting range in England), was added to the 5100-square-foot (474 square metres) building in 1916.
A March 18, 1982 article and pictures said it had been a chapel; an old choir or organ loft and stained-glass windows had been found. A post-war map marked it as a tent-repair building.
After the re-build, the ceiling had been lowered to conserve heat, and partitions separated the 120-seat auditorium usable as a concert-hall-cinema, an on-stage chapel which could be closed for private devotions with movable solid-mahogany pulpit and altar, and offices.
The amenity, named the Trentham Memorial Chapel in memory of the tens of thousands who had passed through the camp, would be opened on March 25.
On December 1, 1964, the Royal Engineers fired an artillery blank on the dmorning of their patron saint, Eligius; the wad did not fly true, and put a 15 cm hole in the clock tower.
In mid-1990 the former St Francis Catholic church was brought from Onga Onga as the camp’s new chapel.
Date Taken7th December 1998Depicts or relates to
PlaceTrentham Camp
Part of
CollectionCity planner images
About the original
ReferencePlanner 6.16_ShiftNFormatColour slide, no brandingSize36 x 24 mm original; 34 x 23 mm scanned
FormatColour slide, no brandingSize36 x 24 mm original; 34 x 23 mm scannedScanned byDon McLeod
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Trentham Camp building; former memorial chapel and clock tower.. Upper Hutt Libraries, accessed 18/08/2026, https://uhcl.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/29479