Cheviot Hills - History
It is difficult to judge which part of the Cheviot Hills property has the more interesting history – the house or the grounds which were said ”... to have eventually resembled those of Windsor Great Park in England.”
William ”Ready Money” Robinson purchased 85,000 acres of land from John Scott Caverhill in 1853. He gained his nickname because of the way he paid for his Cheviot Hills purchase. After fi nding land that appealed to him, he travelled to New Zealand's Provincial Centre in Nelson. Here he was informed that the land would cost him £10,000. William promptly bought a wheelbarrow, went round to the bank and withdrew the money and then trundled it round to the Land and Deeds Office. Th is stunt earned him the name of ”Ready Money” Robinson.
William commissioned a ”Mansion House” in 1867 and it was completed a year later. It was indeed a mansion, built of totara and kauri and roofed with slate. The house boasted around 40 rooms and was surrounded by numerous outbuildings along with 115 acres of planted woodland. A year later, a new manager's dwelling, which was essentially a smaller replica of the Mansion House, was added. Even though this house was much smaller in scale it still offered 14 rooms plus a basement jail house which was used to maintain law and order on the station.
The grounds were designed by two English gardeners. Thomas Robson had emigrated from Northumberland and worked on William Robinson‹s estate in Australia before coming to New Zealand. James Kidd ”...was specifically sent out to Canterbury under William Robinson's direction.” It was Robson who planted most of the trees while Kidd, who arrived in 1865 after Robson had left, planted trees mainly for visual impact. He brought with him from England plants, game and English hedgerow birds such as pheasants. The garden featured formal borders and a large lawn, an orchard, vegetable garden, oak walk and pine walk. A deer park added extra interest. Kidd also laid out the original garden of the manager's house. A bell tower was erected behind the Manager's house and the bell was used to inform farm hands of any emergencies on the property. This still survives today.
The estate was subdivided after William Robinson's death in 1891 and one of his daughters, Lady Sara Campbell, took up the homestead block and 5,000 acres of land. Tragically the grand Mansion House burned down in 1937 leaving only its smaller replica to preside over the land. A cricket pavilion was erected on part of the house's foundations and the front lawn became a cricket pitch. The grounds, with their woodland trees became the Cheviot Domain.
J.C. Montgomery purchased the property which consisted of the Manager's house and 750 acres of land in 1960. Today Cheviot Hills is still owned by the Montgomery family. The foundations of the Mansion House remain and the 115 acres surrounding them are maintained by the Cheviot Reserves Committee. The Manager's house is in good order and a large garden had been established around it. The legacy and legend of ”Ready Money” Robinson continue to be an intriguing part of Cheviot's history.