About Masterton Anglican History

Masterton Anglican History is a website which tells the story of the Anglican Parish of Masterton, a large and diverse parish which encompasses both town and country.

In its heyday, the Anglican Parish of Masterton had its 

• mother church - St Matthew's - in Church Street, Masterton (at two different sites) - 

• the Church of the Epiphany at Kuripuni, 

and had satellite churches at 

• Fernridge - St Andrew's in the Paddock; 

• Kopuaranga; 

• Bideford - the Church of St Francis of Assisi; 

• Tauweru [Taueru] St Alban's; 

• and held services in other buildings and churches at Rangitumau, Mikimiki, Brancepeth and Wainuioru.

Today the parish is reduced to three churches: 

• St Matthew's in Church Street, 

• St Andrew's in the Paddock at Fernridge and 

• St Alban's at Tauweru. 

• The Church of the Epiphany was separated from the main parish in 1970 and is a separate parish in its own right, although for much of its existence it was a separately run faith community within Masterton Parish.

This website is a work in progress - it started as a sub-set of an earlier Masterton Anglican website and has now moved to its own home - Masterton Anglican History.org 

It has two purposes: 

• to tell the long and complex story of a very large, diverse and busy parish, and

• to provide primary sources for researchers:  vestry minutes, parish magazines and in the future parish registers. (Originals of all the photos and documents transcribed or cited on this website are in safekeeping at Wairarapa Archive.)

• to provide a source of family records for genealogists and others researching family history.

• to contribute to Masterton's social and religious history.

If you'd like more information, or you have photos or artifacts about the parish or any of its churches, please email mastertonanglicanhistory@gmail.com