Catholic Church in Gore

Church of the Blessed Sacrament

This church with surprisingly different architecture to what you’d expect down here in the south is opposite the Council offices on Ardwick Street in Gore, Southland, New Zealand. Nigel pulled in by the church to return some books to the library and I took the opportunity to get some photos, 19 March 2020.

Click on either photo to enlarge.

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Further Reading

Brief history | from Gore Heritage Trail information

Gore’s Catholic Church was established in 1882 and the building of the first Church of the Blessed Sacrament, a wooden structure in Halton St in Gordon (East Gore), was completed the following year.

The building of the second church on the present site had just begun when the 1913 flood washed away what had been started.

Declared structurally unsound in the 1970s the church was demolished to make way for the present church which was designed by Dunedin architect, Robert Turvey. Opened in 1988 one of the features is the incorporation of three historical bells in the bell tower – one is from the demolished church, another from the old Balfour Church and the largest of the three was a gift from the Redemptorist Monastery in Wellington.

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Text and photos by Liz; Exploring Colour (2020)