Small's Cottage (1870s - 2017)

Small's Cottage was located on the south-side of Pendarves Street, elevated from the road, the third house along from Fort Niger Reserve.

William Small's ownership of the section is somewhat unclear, he is only listed as occupying the section (Town Section 1657) in 1885, so he possibly leased, rather than owned the land prior to this date.

The exact construction date of the cottage is unknown, although it's most likely about 1879-1880. W. T Small appears to still be living on Gover Street in March 1892 - the first known reference to Small actually living on Niger Terrace is August 1893.

Thompson moved to Otago during the gold rush of the 1860s and did not return to New Plymouth - with a new wife - until 1875.

William Small died in 1895 and his wife Isabella in 1905. The property was then purchased by the Presbyterian church; they held on to the land until 1927. It was then sold to the land agent, Nelson Armstrong Hill, who then sub-divided the section into smaller lots. Up until this time the cottage was the closest residence to Fort Niger.

The cottage was purchased by the Watkins family in 1986. The cottage had no heritage listing, however, up until its demolition in 2017, it was undoubtedly among the oldest surviving residences in New Plymouth. The river stone foundations are a particular feature and a marker to its early construction.

An image above shows a pinned mortise and tenon joint on one of the floor joists in Small's Cottage during demolition. The floor joist appears to have originally been used as a wall stud in another unknown building which was deconstructed before being reused in Small's Cottage. A number of these recycled pieces of timber were used as floor joists/bottom plates in the cottage. They had silvered, and thus appear to have been exposed to the weather for a period of time prior to being used in the Cottage. They were constructed from an unknown timber that was relatively dense and heavy - possibly Puriri or Oak. If they are Oak, it may mean that they were part of a building that was pre-fabricated before being sent to NZ - such as the Marsland Hill Barracks, that were demolished around the presumed construction date of the cottage. A local stone pile can be seen underneath the joist.

Town Section 1657: Crown Grant to Charlotte Akers in 1858, Taranaki Land Deed Index I1 Page 332

For more information about the house and section, click here to read Ivan Bruce's Final Archaeological Report - Authority 2017/909. 

Related document and plan:

Small's Cottage History (Watkins Family)

Taranaki DP4842 Sheet 1 Sections 1657 and 1658 (1927), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)