The Blackbridge Cemetery is located beside Knox Presbyterian Church in Lower Hutt. Although the cemetery was closed early in the 20th century, a memorial stone was erected about 1950, containing the names of those who were known to be buried there. In recent years a second memorial stone has been erected to commemorate people connected with Knox, whose ashes have been scattered in the cemetery. This needs the agreement of the Knox Church Session.

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This website records these names, but is also intended to record the lives of these people, and others involved in the development of the Presbyterian Chapel in the Hutt Valley, most of whom came to New Zealand in the mid 19th century. Many of them came from Scotland, but there are also a number of folk from England, at least one from Ireland, one born in India and even one from Paris. Many of these people had quite an impact on the development of the Hutt Valley, and this is an attempt to tell some of their stories. 

 

History of the Blackbridge name: In 1847 a bridge was built over Black Creek, also known as Opahu or Second River. This bridge was close to the eastern boundary of the present Knox Church property. This bridge was re-constructed in 1873. In 1897 the monthly meeting of the Lower Hutt Borough Council received a report from the Foreman of Works which called attention to the rotten state of the decking of the Black Bridge. At a later meeting of the council in May 1897 it was agreed that Mr. Seaton be employed to draw up plans and specifications for the construction of a concrete culvert at Blackbridge in lieu of the existing bridge, and this appears to have been carried out in November of that year. However the name “Blackbridge” was still used and the district retained the name well into the 1920s.  

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