Historians doubt building was ever a jail

Is it a jail or not?

Regular contributor to the Reader's Pictures, Ken Caleno, supplied this image of a crumbling brick building in Carterton beside Ridgway Cottage.

Mr Caleno described the building as a former jail, quoting a heritage plaque that used to be displayed in the Ridgway Cottage window.

But Clareville historian Adele Pentony-Graham wrote to the Times-Age saying it was never a jail. She cited her research and conversations with the Ridgway family.

"(The family) said it was never a jailhouse, the bricks would not have been old enough for 1867."

She said the old jail, which was next to Carterton's police building at the time on Holloway St, was removed for restoration.

Wairarapa historian Gareth Winter said it was an "interesting" debate.

Old Historic Places Trust records appeared to back up Mr Caleno's photo caption, but they could be unreliable, he said.

"The main centre of Carterton was a bit further south than it is today - it moved to be close to the nearest point of the railway line when it arrived in 1880 " so that was more or less central Carterton."

"The Ridgway Cottage was alongside the bakery on one side, and a store, post office and police station on the other. If there was any kind of jail at the time it would have been in that area.

"The old NZ Historic Places Trust records for the cottage include the claim that the brick building was a jail but their records were notorious for repeating oral history without any verification."

Mr Winter said he suspected the family was correct.