Pencarrow Lighthouse

The gravel road out to Pencarrow.

Biking out to Pencarrow Lighthouse and beyond is a pleasure on the right day. Going out is always a pleasure but cycling back into a stiff northerly is never fun and best avoided.
As the day was calm I took the opportunity to give my mountain bike a run. The track is at the end of Eastbourne which is a seaside village on the opposite side of of Wellington Harbour and the city. It is open to walkers and bikers only and is a flat ride all of the way which adds to its attraction. Cars are allowed in with a permit. The metal road is rutted and potholed in places so a mountain bike is a good option.

Looking over to Mirimar Pensinsular

The start of the ride piqued my senses. I was assailed by the smell of flax, gorse, lupin, decaying seaweed and salty sea smells. The noise of my tyres through the gravel was loud and my body jarred constantly even though my bike has great suspension. The sea was gentle and the sky clear enabling me to see across the harbour to Mirimar Peninsular and North Wellington in the distance. Matiu/Somes Island looked very inviting and I made a promise to myself that I would visit it in the near future.

Somes Island in the distance

The light houses in the distance, one perched high on the hill and one on the rocks below.

As I wound along I saw the two Pencarrow lighthouses in the distance. There are two because the first one built high on the promontory in 1859 was often surrounded in fog making its light difficult to be seen by ships. Another lighthouse was built lower down on the rocks in 1905.

The Lower Pencarrow Lighthouse built in 1905

The first lighthouse was ordered from England in 1858 and arrived on the Ambrosire in 480 packages including the light.

I am always attracted to lighthouses as my early ancestors were lighthouse keepers. Charles Hepburn Robson arrived in the 1860s  and his son Charles Hepburn Orlando Robson also took up the trade after him.

Lighthouse Keeper Charles Hepburn Robson, my great great grandfather.

Charles Hepburn Orlando Robson with his wife Rose, my great grandparents.

The first Charles struggled to make his way in his new chosen home of New Zealand. Lighthouse keeping in those days was a tough life. A book, 'Always the Sound of the Sea', by Helen Beaglehole documents the lives of early New Zealand lighthouse keepers and quotes from the second Charles' diary in quite some  detail.

I have several copies of letters I obtained from the Alexander Turnbull Library from the first Charles and a couple mention Pencarrow Lighthouse as the poor man writes to Dr Buller in the hopes that he might be able to help him:

May 19th, 1880.
My Dear Doctor Buller,

After sending me to Godley Head to take charge of the Light there in place of the Principal Keeper who was to be removed to Pencarrow Head Wellington, on Thursday last a Telegram was sent to inform me that I was to proceed to Wellington per Stella on Friday and go thence to Cape Maria Van Diemon  as Assistant Keeper.
I and mine are now in Wellington and under these orders. Pencarrow Head is now vacant and they are playing a trick to get me away from my friends and drive me out of the Service. It is not Capt Johnson's doing and I am sure if you could move Major Atkinson he would in a moment give me Pencarrow.
Cape Maria is the most isolated station in N.Z. and quite unfit for me to go to. Besides, they are trying to keep me as an Assistant and are promoting men who are only a few years in the service over me. I feel sure Major Atkinson does not understand my case and I do not know him. Will you write a telegraph to him so as to get him to see me in person? It will be in time for me to do so till Saturday.
     
He writes again the next day:

Wellington
May 20th 1880

My Dear Dr Buller,
I wrote you last night a very hasty note asking you to do something for me with Major Atkinson so as to stop my banishment to Cape Maria van Dieman. I would much prefer to be sent as assistant to Godley Head to going as Principal Keeper to Cape Maria. I am growing too old for such a place and the way in which I am being used is most unfair.
It has been blowing very hard all day and I have been away in the Stella all day trying to land stores at Pencarrow Head but without success. It was blowing too hard. It is now half past six and have no time for a word more. Hoping to hear from you soon,
Yours truly,
C.H.Robson.

Poor man!  I thought of him as I continued cycling along. He collected bird specimens for Dr Buller while being posted at lighthouses around New Zealand and was clearly hoping for a return favour. I found no further correspondence on the matter so haven't any idea if he was successful in his pleas. Both these letters contain references to birds he had collected, or ones he hoped to collect for Dr Buller.

The sky started to cloud over as I reached the end of the road. Well - it was not the end of the road as I could see it continuing winding around the coast, but a locked gate and fencing prevented me from going further as it was Private Property and I was to keep out. Like many New Zealanders, I feel the strip of land next the the coast should be accessible to all so I was not happy to be thwarted.

The coast here is still rugged and raw with no development

Somewhat aggrieved  I turned around and headed back. The wind had got up a little and  rain showers harried me back to the car park. I observed a solitary surfer catching waves, and a group of skin divers who must have got permission to bring their vehicles in. As I left I saw other people starting out, determined to have their walk despite the rain.
I was pleased I had started out early and had got the best of the day.

A surfer dodging the rocks to catch a wave