The war memorial lychgate in front of All Saints Anglican Church, Kāwhia, was opened and blessed on 25 June 1925 by the Reverend C.W.B. Seton, MC, the vicar of Raglan parish and a former wartime chaplain. It had been built from Australian jarrah by local craftsman Percy Ward. The text THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE was inscribed on the crossbeam.
For many years, the lychgate was the focus of Kāwhia’s Anzac Day services. However, after the dedication of a war memorial cenotaph nearer the centre of town in 1960, the lychgate gradually fell into a state of disrepair. It was restored in 2013 and rededicated by the Bishop of Waikato and Taranaki, Philip Richardson, on 7 April 2013. In 2015 a brass plaque was attached to one wall listing the names of 34 men from Kāwhia and district who lost their lives in the First World War.
See: ‘Parish News’, Church Gazette, September 1925, p. 162; Peg Cumming, A History of Kawhia and Its District, Kawhia, 2004, pp. 91, 111, 125; ‘Kawhia’s lychgate given new lease of life’, Waikato Times, 9/4/2013; Denise Irvine, ‘Keepers of the gate: the restoration of Kawhia’s lychgate, Waikato Times, 22/4/2013.
Images and text: Bruce Ringer, 2017