Whanganui District Council infrastructure work hits 19th century drainage system

The find was not impacted by the new sewerage lateral pipe. Photo / Archaeology North

A 14-metre section of brick drain from the 19th century has been uncovered during infrastructure works in central Whanganui.

A report from Archaeology North’s Hamish Crimp says the bricks were probably produced locally from available clay.

“They appeared to be handmade rather than wire cut and some of the bricks recovered from the drain were heavily burnt ‘wasters,’ evidence that the bricks were probably produced in a brick clamp, rather than in a kiln, and likely of a mid-19th century date,” it said.

Brickmaking was a growing industry from the late 1850s.

“The structure represents a very early attempt at formal drainage in an area of Whanganui which was inhabited from the formative stages of European settlement.”

Archaeology North’s Annetta Sutton told the Chronicle that considering it was easily more than 150 years old, the drain was in reasonably good condition.

The recent works did not impact it and the drain has now been backfilled.

“It’s really nice when remains like that can be left in situ,” she said.

“Most of what we do is rescue archaeology – where there is an intersect of development and archaeological remains, and they are going to be destroyed.”

Crimp’s report said mid-19th-century newspapers reported various drainage construction activities - principally involving timber and brick.

They were for draining water from swamps covering much of present-day Whanganui City and waste generated by a growing population.

“By the early 1860s, Whanganui had more than 1000 residents and large numbers of British military troops stationed here at times,” it said.

“Although the date of construction of the present drain is not certain, it probably relates to the 1850s-1860s period and is likely to be amongst the earliest examples of such infrastructure to survive in Whanganui.”

Whanganui District Council three waters contracts manager Stuart Cawley said contractors were repairing and replacing a sewer lateral pipe on Wilson St when they made the discovery.

Council work there three years ago uncovered early plough marks, the ruts of a former road and postholes from a protective palisade.

“When we went down in there in 2021, we came across the drain but only got a snapshot,” Cawley said.

“In this case, we went parallel to it. Now we have a better view of what we actually found.”

Sutton said remains of human activity predating 1900 were protected under the 2014 Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act.

“You have to get an authority from Heritage New Zealand to be able to go ahead and carry out a development that might impact an archaeological site.

“Anything that can be left in situ is always the best-case scenario, as was this case. It’s still sitting there under our footpath.”

She said drainage works in the 1860s were done by the Wanganui Town Board, which contracted Hansen‘s Brick Works for “thousands of thousands of bricks”.

“The predecessor of that is these handmade bricks. In this instance, there were a few small industries there and a little bit of residential housing.

“It’s probably just people trying to cope with the kind of waste we now have carefully controlled, in a way that was slightly better than open drains.”

Last week, a culvert built in the early 20th century to accommodate the city’s tramline was discovered in Castlecliff.

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.