cheviot

Small rural service township 115 km north-east of Christchurch and 14 km south of Parnassus. The township began in the late 19th century after the subdivision of the 33,600-hectare Cheviot Hills run. Owned by William ‘Ready Money’ Robinson, it was one of Canterbury’s largest 19th-century properties. In 1892–93 the government purchased it and subdivided it into small farms – a landmark event in the breaking up of large estates. In the Cheviot Hills Domain are the foundations of Robinson’s Mansion House, which burned down in 1936.