Topcroft

Topcroft
Image credit Tauranga City Libraries, Ref. 06-456

Samuel Clarke, who arrived in Tauranga in 1860, leased 823 acres of land from the Church Missionary Society to farm. It stretched from what we know today as Eleventh Avenue to Gate Pa. Due to the Land Wars, completion of his house was delayed until 1870 but it remains probably the oldest extant European house in Tauranga. He called it “Topcroft” after the ancestral home of the Clarke family, “Topcroft Hall” in Norfolk, England. Samuel Clarke himself was born in Kemp House, Kerikeri in 1824, where his father George Clarke was Protector of Aborigines. He married Mary Christopher in 1857 when he was farming at Panmure.[1]

Topcroft was built on the farm but a later owner, Josiah Tutchen turned the house 90 degrees to fit the new Edgecumbe Street. In 1987, then owned by local lawyer William Taylor, it was moved to Ranginui Street in Welcome Bay, where Taylor planned a community of renovated old homes. The community did not eventuate but Topcroft is occupied and stands there today.

Samuel Clarke was actively involved in activities in Tauranga having been a member of the Roads Board and several organisations. In January 1878 the Tauranga District School held their “feast” at Topcroft with games in the paddock and meals served in a marquee in the garden. Mr. Clarke read out the list of school prize-winners and presented the prizes.[2]

Part of Clarke’s farm was sold in 1881 to the Reverend R Burrows and John W Duffus and there were several further owners until in 1923 Reginald Shearman bought the house. He was the town clerk of Tauranga Borough and he and his family continued to occupy the house until 1983. During Shearman’s ownership the house was re-piled and re-roofed. This iron roof was the third since the original shingle roof cladding. The Shearmans closed in one end of the verandah and extended the gable, and also replaced the old kitchen at the rear. In 1930 when Shearman married Brenda Mountfort there were only two acres left as he had subdivided and sold the remainder.

Topcroft was built of pit sawn timber by David Lundon and John Conway, two men who built many of the first buildings in Tauranga. There are two stories and the ground floor living rooms have pressed metal ceilings and one of these is lined with wood panelling. The appearance of this house with the verandah and the dormer windows is quite different to other Tauranga carpenter gothic houses of this time but unfortunately the relocation detracts from its significance.

The house is registered as Category 2 registration 4565 with Heritage New Zealand and its importance relates to the ownership by Samuel Clarke and the original proximity to the Battle of Gate Pa (Pukehinahina). Samuel Clarke stated that the gates which gave Gate Pa its name originally came from his farm. He was awarded £9,736 from the Government for damage to his farm during the conflict.

References
[1] Births, Deaths, & Marriages, Department of Internal Affairs.
[2] Bay of Plenty Times, 16 Jan 1878
Heritage NZ. Reg.no.4565 Topcroft.