The House of Skudder

"Anyone would think that you have lost interest in the Skudder House," says Lady Mondegreen reflecting on progress. "The occasional picturesque photograph will not a restoration make."

Let's say that since the EQC assessment that followed the February Earthquake, I am in a state of limbo: nothing as demoralising as the uncertainty surrounding the Orange and White zone declarations, and some of the Red zoning, but still a need to wait and see... what repair work the Earthquake Commission is prepared to pay for.  Earlier in the year Gordon painted the main living area for me, and arranged for some crucial repair work, an upgrade for which I am immensely grateful. But to embark on major structural work at this stage might confound the insurance process.

So when someone like Simone comes to visit and, with new eyes, sees what could be with the old house, I feel a renewed enthusiasm for this dream of mine.  But for now let's begin at the beginning.

With someone else's dream. Was it Hannah or Thomas (photograph above) who saw the possibility of a new life on the other side of the world?  She, Hannah Inwood of Thames Ditton had married Thomas Skudder, stone mason of Kingston-on-Thames in 1857.  Did they become disenchanted with the changing face of their town which surely happened with the population explosion that occurred in Kingston-on-Thames during the middle of the 19th Century.  Like many modern-day English immigrants they may have sought to remove their growing family from over-crowding and urbanisation, or maybe they were simply starry-eyed romantics? Whatever the reason, they left England in 1874 with seven children and expecting another, sailing from London on 18th April in the iron sailing ship, Hereford, and arriving in Lyttelton after a voyage of 87 days. The Skudders lived at Ashley Forest before buying an acre of land in 1881 - newly subdivided by John MacFarlane - in Ashley Bank.  And here they built their family home,

not only on the banks of the Ashley River, but of the very river shingle itself: the stone-mason exploring concrete as it became a newly viable building material.  This piece of unpainted wall, high in the stairwell, shows not only the raw material but also the method of construction with shuttering and layers of varying mixtures tamped into roughly 15 inch deep bands.

And here the Skudders raised their family, planting an orchard, the remants of which have inspired Lady Mondegreen's Secret Garden.  The original print of this photograph is marked Scudder [sic] Family??  The children's ages and genders do not quite tally with the written record and the eldest daughter Sarah had probably begun a family of her own by the time this photo was taken. Other named children in order of birth are William, Thomas, Emily, Harriet, James, Annie, Frances, Helen (who died in infancy) and Alfred.

Hannah died in 1900 and Thomas survived her by nine years, dying suddenly of heart failure, one morning while breakfasting at the Ashley Hotel after milking the publican's cow.

He left a legacy of distinctive culverts and bridges across this rural area.  Some quietly decaying but many well maintained, their distinctive coping and faux-stone engravings taken for granted.
This modest culvert greets visitors entering the village along High Street.

I am indebted to the descendants of Thomas and Hannah Skudder, who visit and readily share family notes and memories with me. Elaine Downes has provided me with the family record, while Colleen Young has supplied photocopied photos and identified individuals in them.