Cheviot Hills has a special place in New Zealand history.
Cheviot Hills was established in about 1852 (or possibly even several years earlier) by John Caverhill on land leased from the government. He called the run “Cheviot Hills” and the name has been in use ever since.
The original Cheviot Hills estate was vast - bordered by the Hurunui River in the south, the Waiau River in the north, the Lowry Peaks range to the west and the coastline to the east, it amounted to approximately 85,000 acres.
In 1856 Caverhill sold the Cheviot Hills lease or licence to the Honourable William Robinson, commonly called “Ready Money Robinson” due to his habit of paying cash for large assets. In the following years Robinson bought the freehold title to the Cheviot Hills run. “A Pastoral Kingdom Divided”, written by W J Gardner about the history of Cheviot Hills, noted that this “was probably the largest and most spectacular transaction of the kind ever undertaken in New Zealand.” Gardner describes that Robinson’s stocking of Cheviot Hills was done “on a grand scale” and that the news of his purchase and stocking of the Cheviot Hills run “caused a sensation in Christchurch”.
Robinson then turned his attention to building a large house on the estate – known as the Mansion House. The house was completed in 1888 but Robinson died only a year and a half later.
Robinson had arranged his affairs so that his five daughters would effectively supervise the continued operation of Cheviot Hills as a single run. However, prior to his death there had been political discussions and debate about the continued existence of large estates such as Cheviot Hills. Pressure was building to subdivide the estates in order to allow a greater number of people to become farmers and to continue the settlement of the country. This political situation, combined with family, tax and financial considerations, led to the Crown’s purchase of the Cheviot Hills estate in 1892/1893.
Gardner considers that the acquisition of the Cheviot Hills estate by the government “was an unexpected breakthrough in a long exercise of agitation for land reform in New Zealand”. Cheviot Hills is described as immediately becoming the symbol of the success of land reform. It was the first of the large runs that was broken up as part of the land reforms.
The Cheviot Hills run was subdivided and sold after 1892. Lady Sara Campbell, one of William Robinson’s daughters, bought the “Mansion House Block”. This included the original homestead and 2,000 hectares of land surrounding it. Lady Campbell lived at Cheviot Hills until her death in 1927, and the Cheviot Hills block was then sold to an absentee owner. The Mansion House wasn’t lived in again and it burnt down in 1936. After World War II the owners of the block sold it to the government for further subdivision for soldier settlement.
Jock Montgomery bought the remaining part of the Cheviot Hills homestead block, surrounding the original Cheviot Hills homestead and the adjacent reserve, in 1960. The main house on the Cheviot Hills farm is now the old "manager's cottage", where the manager of the estate lived in Robinson's day and where the Montgomery family has called home for the past 50 years.
The Cheviot Hills Fine Foods logo uses the image of a deer from one of the historical Cheviot Hills buildings. During Robinson's day a bell tower was built on the hill behind the "manager's cottage" and used to call the estate men to work. The weather vane on the top of the bell tower depicts a deer - which we have used in our logo to continue the links with the Cheviot Hills history.
Cheviot Hills was established in about 1852 (or possibly even several years earlier) by John Caverhill on land leased from the government. He called the run “Cheviot Hills” and the name has been in use ever since.
The original Cheviot Hills estate was vast - bordered by the Hurunui River in the south, the Waiau River in the north, the Lowry Peaks range to the west and the coastline to the east, it amounted to approximately 85,000 acres.
In 1856 Caverhill sold the Cheviot Hills lease or licence to the Honourable William Robinson, commonly called “Ready Money Robinson” due to his habit of paying cash for large assets. In the following years Robinson bought the freehold title to the Cheviot Hills run. “A Pastoral Kingdom Divided”, written by W J Gardner about the history of Cheviot Hills, noted that this “was probably the largest and most spectacular transaction of the kind ever undertaken in New Zealand.” Gardner describes that Robinson’s stocking of Cheviot Hills was done “on a grand scale” and that the news of his purchase and stocking of the Cheviot Hills run “caused a sensation in Christchurch”.
Robinson then turned his attention to building a large house on the estate – known as the Mansion House. The house was completed in 1888 but Robinson died only a year and a half later.
Robinson had arranged his affairs so that his five daughters would effectively supervise the continued operation of Cheviot Hills as a single run. However, prior to his death there had been political discussions and debate about the continued existence of large estates such as Cheviot Hills. Pressure was building to subdivide the estates in order to allow a greater number of people to become farmers and to continue the settlement of the country. This political situation, combined with family, tax and financial considerations, led to the Crown’s purchase of the Cheviot Hills estate in 1892/1893.
Gardner considers that the acquisition of the Cheviot Hills estate by the government “was an unexpected breakthrough in a long exercise of agitation for land reform in New Zealand”. Cheviot Hills is described as immediately becoming the symbol of the success of land reform. It was the first of the large runs that was broken up as part of the land reforms.
The Cheviot Hills run was subdivided and sold after 1892. Lady Sara Campbell, one of William Robinson’s daughters, bought the “Mansion House Block”. This included the original homestead and 2,000 hectares of land surrounding it. Lady Campbell lived at Cheviot Hills until her death in 1927, and the Cheviot Hills block was then sold to an absentee owner. The Mansion House wasn’t lived in again and it burnt down in 1936. After World War II the owners of the block sold it to the government for further subdivision for soldier settlement.
Jock Montgomery bought the remaining part of the Cheviot Hills homestead block, surrounding the original Cheviot Hills homestead and the adjacent reserve, in 1960. The main house on the Cheviot Hills farm is now the old "manager's cottage", where the manager of the estate lived in Robinson's day and where the Montgomery family has called home for the past 50 years.
The Cheviot Hills Fine Foods logo uses the image of a deer from one of the historical Cheviot Hills buildings. During Robinson's day a bell tower was built on the hill behind the "manager's cottage" and used to call the estate men to work. The weather vane on the top of the bell tower depicts a deer - which we have used in our logo to continue the links with the Cheviot Hills history.
