Hurworth Cottage was the first homestead of Harry Atkinson, one of the first settlers arriving in New Plymouth and future four-time Premier of New Zealand, who previously held many other civic positions.

Hurworth Cottage, the sole survivor after the Taranaki Wars from the small Hurworth pioneer settlement established during the 1850s, keeps many features characteristic of its Colonial construction period.

In 1967 the cottage was donated to New Zealand Historic Places Trust, which restored it to its original size and appearance. It is registered by Heritage New Zealand as a Category 1 heritage building.

History 
After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February 1840 and the declaration of sovereignty from 21 May 1840, the number of immigrants to New Zealand, particularly from the United Kingdom, began to increase. New Plymouth was chosen by Frederic Alonzo Carrington, the 32-year-old Chief Surveyor for the Plymouth Company, as the site for New Zealand's second European colony.

Between the first settlers arriving in New Plymouth in 1852–1853 was Harry Atkinson, together with his brother Arthur and other members of the Richmond and Hursthouse families, calling themselves "the Mob". Harry and Arthur Atkinson each bought a 200 acres (80 hectares) of farmland on Carrington road, just outside New Plymouth and started to clear the bush to build a house. The building work started in 1854, simultaneously with a "town house" in central New Plymouth, called the Beach House. At Hurworth, Harry Atkinson cut the wood for the cottage himself and by the end of 1856 the basic cottage was completed. It was named "Hurworth" after a village in England where the Atkinson brothers had lived as boys, although, as their father worked as an itinerant builder and architect, the family did not settle anywhere.

Harry married in March 1856 Amelia Jane Skinner and settled together into their new home. There they created orchards, vegetable gardens, beehives, an aviary, a cow barn and dairy. Soon they started to sell produce from the Hurworth farming enterprises at a store in New Plymouth.

During the Taranaki Wars of 1860–1861, Hurworth, which was outside of the town's entrenchments, was evacuated for the relative safety of New Plymouth, which was transformed into a fortified garrison town.

At the end of the hostilities, Harry Atkinson was the only one to return and recommence farming at Hurworth. After the death of his wife in 1865, Harry left politics and returned to Hurworth. In 1867, he married his cousin Annie. The same year, he was back in parliament, and was Prime Minister at various times after that. Most of the time during his political career he lived in Wellington, away from Hurworth, but he returned there as often as he could.

Hurworth underwent many additions to cope with a large family, and to house his cadets. The interiors were re-decorated, a dining room and a sitting room were added as well. The roof was re-shingled several times, for the last time in 1874, and thereafter shingles were replaced by corrugated iron in 1878. After Harry Atkinson died in 1892, the property passed through various hands.

In 1967 the house was donated to the Historic Places Trust. After taking possession of the house, the Trust restored Hurworth to the original look, removing all the late additions and uncovering also charcoal graffiti from the war period scrawled on the walls. After the restoration, Hurworth cottage was open to the public by Prime Minister Robert Muldoon in 1967.

Description 
The small rectangular cottage is a typical example of the early settler's dwellings in New Plymouth. It is simple, clad in vertical pit sawn board and batten, with a characteristic Colonial-style pitched roof. It has three small rooms downstairs, a stone chimney, ladder access to an upper level and French doors opening onto a veranda.

All the rooms are furnished with period pieces, artwork and mementoes associated with the Atkinson family such as family china, Harry's invalid's chair, his parliamentary desk and pince-nez reading glasses, and a Maori greenstone weapon ("pounamu mere").

The cottage has also a nice garden in front of it, open to visitors and events.

Image gallery

References

Bibliography
Heritage New Zealand,  New Zealand Heritage List
Porter, Frances; Historic Buildings of New Zealand: North Island, New Zealand Historic Places Trust, Auckland, N.Z., Methuen, 1983, ISBN 0456031103

External links 

Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in Taranaki
Buildings and structures completed in 1856
1856 in New Zealand