Time corrupts. Lansdown came to be written Lansdowne. House came to be called Homestead. For the purpose of Lansdown Festival, we have chosen to revert to the original spelling of Lansdown (named after Lansdown in Bath, England, where William Beckford lived) and to reinstate the name ‘House’.

It is worth doing so, because Lansdown is one of the most historic properties in Canterbury. Its first owner was William Guise Brittan, ancestor of the legendary Capt Charles Upham, who a century later later named his North Canterbury farm after Lansdown. Brittan was the first person to buy land in the Canterbury Association settlement scheme and as such can be called ‘the first Cantabrian’. He arrived in the new colony a year later on board the Charlotte Jane, the first Canterbury Association ship to make the journey from England. Brittan built a substantial two-story house on his Lansdown estate and laid out extensive gardens, planting an impressive stand of trees which, now huge, can be seen about 500 yards to the north of where the present Lansdown House and Gardens are situated. Brittan’s house burnt down and effectively bankrupted him. Shortly afterwards, the Lansdown estate was bought by Edward Stafford (later Sir Edward), a passionate landscaper. However, more famously, Stafford was the longest serving prime minister in New Zealand’s 19th century history. Stafford built the second House at Lansdown around 1870, a large two-story building, in solid, grey basalt stone from the Halswell Quarry using Welsh slate for the roof brought to New Zealand as ship’s ballast. He chose a new section to build his House, but still within sight of the ruins of Brittan’s House, and he laid out spectacular gardens including trees from all over the world, which later came to be known as ‘The Garden of Canterbury’. Stafford’s gardens have survived, albeit in two parts (the smaller part was sub-divided off the main part of the garden and sold around 1960). The present Lansdown Garden covers three acres. Stafford’s house was demolished in 1960 and its building materials, the basalt and slate, were crafted beautifully into the present, third House at Lansdown. It is the work of the finest Cantabrian architect of the day, Heathcote Helmore, and incidentally Helmore’s last work. Lansdown House and Garden is now owned by The John Robert Godley Memorial Trust, named in honour of the man who founded both the province of Canterbury and its capital, Christchurch.