Quilt spans generations

Ruth and David Wall with a quilt Mr Wall's great great great grandmother Sarah Bloor, or even her mother, started in the 1700s or the early 1800s.

A quilt started during the reign of King George III and thought to be the oldest in New Zealand, has made its way to the Bay.

The hand-sewn patchwork quilt was started in the late 1700s or early 1800s by Tauranga man David Wall's great great great grandmother Sarah Bloor, or even her mother.

Mr Wall said the quilt arrived in New Zealand in the 1960s when his mother, Dorothy Wall, immigrated here.

Over the past 50 years it has been housed in an oak chest in his brother John's Palmerston North home. When John sold his house, Mr Wall got the quilt.

"We knew there was a quilt, and that it was fairly old. It was my great great great grandmother who would have kicked it off."

Mr Wall had dated the quilt by the pieces of paper, which were either old letters, account books, copy books and newspapers, which where used to shape the hexagon pieces of the bed cover.

"The earliest says 1700 and something.

"There are a number of dates on them, 1806, 1807 and 1808. There is even one January 25, 17 something, but the last two digits are missing.

"We think some of the writing is from school children who were learning to write on copper plates."

The quilt was still in reasonable condition with only a few of the hexagons disintegrating, he said.

Mr Wall said it was his grandmother, Emily Garner, who completed the quilt in 1949.

"As it came down through the generations it remained incomplete but my grandmother's mother said if anyone would complete it it would be Emily because of her sewing abilities." Mr Wall doubted there would be another blanket in New Zealand of its age and would not permanently part with the family heirloom again.

He said he would like to see it in a museum where others could appreciate it.

Mr Wall's wife, Ruth Wall, said quilts were still sewn the same way today, as they did 300 years ago.

"I think it's wonderful. I'm a patchworker, you can see where different people have done it because of the different colours. You can see where Emily finished it because the colours are brighter."