The timber Miller's Flat Church, which had been attached to St John's Presbyterian Church since 1959, was attached by wire cables to an overhead frame and lifted by a 55-tonne crane high enough from its foundation to clear St John's Church, about 9.30am.
More than a dozen residents watched as the structure was gently placed on to a Fulton Hogan flatbed truck within 15 minutes. It was transported on Berkshire St, past the fire station on Wiltshire St to the cleared car park on Ramshaw Lane.
The crane was parked on Romans Lane and it lifted the church to a site in the orchard, behind Adam's Cottage, by lunchtime, in a $20,000 operation paid for by the Arrowtown Trust.
Arrow International construction manager Bruce Halligan said the structure was in good condition, was not fragile and had been braced internally. The original porch was also transported for reattachment.
The church had been used as the parish and community hall, but was no longer suitable.
