These churches harbour secrets, stories and treasures, and roll calls of dead soldiers They bear witness to benefactors of the church.
They represent a hugely important place in our national and provincial heritage.
One such gem is the chapel of "Our Lady of the Rosary" in the grounds of what was St Patrick's Dominican College Teschemakers, 10km south of Oamaru.
This week, the chapel's Italian altar, gifted by a North Otago family, was controversially due to be removed to the Holy Name Church in Dunedin, under instructions from the Dominican Order of Dunedin. The rimu choir stalls and marble stands were also due to go.
But, on Monday, an interim order issued by the Environment Court meant removal work could not begin.
Resource consent must now be obtained from the Waitaki District Council.
The Teschemakers story begins with the land.
In 1860, William Teschemaker, an educated man of Dutch extraction from Exeter in England, bought 760 acres for 512 granted in lieu of Maori land "sold" earlier at Moeraki Bay.
"Taipo Hill" became famous for its merino sheep.
Mutton carcasses for the second cargo of frozen sheep to England were sent from his estate.
He opened up wilderness areas, providing employment for the area.
He was a JP and served on the Otago Provincial Council.
In 1863, a 28-bedroom house was built for him from limestone quarried from the property.
He lived an idyllic life there with his English wife, Eliza, and their seven children.
Some of the hundreds of larches, cedars, elms, oaks and pine trees they planted survive.
He died in 1888 in his 60th year from heart failure brought on by his attempts to beat out a fire on the estate.
His son Cecil, 15 when his father died, completed his education in England and returned to manage the estate until it was sold in 1905.
The family dispersed around the world.
The names McCarthy and Teschemakers are synonymous.
John McCarthy arrived in Port Chalmers from Ireland with his brother and sister on Wild Deer in 1871.
They walked to Cardrona, where they settled.
John married Margaret Kerrin, the daughter of an established landowner.
He purchased land at Hawea Flat and their two sons became farmers.
The three girls were sent to St Dominic's School in Dunedin.
During school holidays, they were expected to teach their father and brothers what they had learnt during the term.
The McCarthys were devout Roman Catholics and their daughter Ann became a nun, Sr Mary Philomena.
In 1905, Taipo Hill (known now as Teschemakers) was purchased by John McCarthy. His son Peter accompanied his parents and sisters on the six-day journey from Hawea in two horse-drawn wagons.
Their first two years there were drought stricken, with plagues of fleas invading the dried up pasture.
John lived only another two years and died aged 54.
In 1911, the McCarthy family presented the homestead and 25 acres to the Dominican Order in Dunedin, perhaps to be used as a holiday home.
But the nuns decided on a boarding school for girls.
Twenty nuns took "the slow train" to the Teschemakers siding in December 1911 to prepare the school and Peter McCarthy rode around the district telling people of a Christmas Mass to be held in the new convent.
When asked for a suggestion for the name for the school, Mrs McCarthy stated in her broad Irish accent, "You could not pass St Patrick."
There was a grand official opening in 1912.
Many came from Dunedin on a special train. The Dunedin and Oamaru Hibernian bands led visitors up from the railway siding to the convent, the choir from St Patrick's Basilica provided sacred music, and the day was fine enough for a picnic on the lawn.
By the end of 1912, there were 24 girls in residence, and the following year, three more sisters were sent to help.
The girls' uniform consisted of black dresses with white collars, black shoes, stockings, gloves and a black velvet band to hold back every strand of hair.
The nuns not only taught the girls, but grew vegetables, milked cows, fed pigs and hens, made butter and pumped water for baths.
Mrs McCarthy devoted much time to the school.
She read stories to the girls at night. Armed with a large teapot and a bag of sugar buns, she took them on walks to the sea, and picnics by the river.
Peter taught the girls how to play cricket.
Soon, the original building became inadequate.
A wing was added in 1915, providing a dormitory, music rooms and a dining hall.
The old red barn was converted into a classroom and this doubled as a chapel on Sundays.
Mrs McCarthy gave a gold monstrance and a candelabrum for the altar.
Later still, the barn became an isolation hospital.
In 1915, the generosity of Mrs Frances Grant enabled a much-desired chapel.
It was designed by the prominent Dunedin architect F. W. Petre and named as "Our Lady of the Holy Rosary".
The five fine stained glass windows of saints came from Birmingham.
The Hart family donated the glorious Gothic Revival style Carrara marble altar with its alabaster depiction of the Last Supper.
It arrived from Italy in 19 numbered cases to be assembled like a jigsaw.
Four nuns painted the 14 Stations of the Cross and beneath these are the names of the families and friends who made contributions to the costs of the building.
Polished rimu choir stalls, a statue of St Michael over the west door, marble stands and an alabaster angel holding a candelabrum are an integral part of the donated fabric of the church.
In 1918, Peter McCarthy gave a further 100 acres to the school and the generosity of a Miss Ralph paid for a recreation hall. Thus the school grew, and amenities were added for the 140 pupils who came from many parts of New Zealand.
In 1962, fire destroyed one of the dormitories.
It was rebuilt and a swimming pool added to provide a source of water.
Over the years, the girls led invisible lives, appearing briefly on Friday afternoons in their green uniforms in Oamaru shops.
But, by the 1970s, times were changing.
With the advent of forms one to seven in rural schools, pupils could live at home.
The taint of scandal also clouded the school, as a consequence of some girls' nocturnal shenanigans with local lads.
In 1977, the doors of the school were closed for the last time. The Dominican Order in New Zealand decided the school had outlived its usefulness.
The remaining six sisters were retained where their skills in a fast-changing and an increasingly secular world were better suited to running a centre of spiritual retreat and religious study.
Then, in 1996, because of staffing issues and the cost of maintaining the buildings, Teschemakers was closed.
In 2000, a Japanese businessman, Mr Hirotomo Ochi, bought land in north Oamaru and the Teschemakers buildings.
His vision was to re-develop the property into an academy teaching sustainable living, health sciences, and organic farming.
He hoped it could be attached to one of the country's universities.
Oamaru welcomed the idea, seeing opportunities for much-needed employment.
Disaster struck in 2003.
The original homestead and convent was destroyed by fire caused by the burning off of old paint.
The buildings were rebuilt, this time incorporating state of the art facilities.
Mr Ochi died shortly before the refurbishing was completed.
The property is now in the hands of his estate for sale.
It was hoped by people committed to the heritage of Oamaru that a trust could be formed and money raised to buy the chapel and its land from the new owners.
Thus the precious building and its contents, all gifted to the Dominican Order by local people, would be retained as part of North Otago's history.
Joy Monteath, who lives in Christchurch, is an advocate for the preservation of New Zealand's heritage. Her mother, Violet Walker. wrote in the Otago Daily Times in 1981 about the history of Teschemakers.
