St Stephen's Chapel

In easy distance to Auckland central, St Stephens Chapel is a great place to amble through. The walk there is well worth it, although it is quite a steep from Tamaki Drive. Once there, the outlook and view is stunning and the setting around is awesome .... a great thing for all ages. The chapel itself certainly invokes a past time, but take the time to read the headstones, and realize how hard the early times were in Auckland. The history just permeates through and you will find yourself spending alot longer than you thought there. Well worth the walk, and fits in exceptionally well with other things nearby, making for a great half day visting Aucklands lesser known features

St Stephen’s Chapel is situated on a headland overlooking Judges Bay in the seaside suburb of Parnell.

St Stephen’s was built in 1857 out of native timber in the gothic style. It is a tiny chapel seating only around 50 people but quite beautiful for its simplicity.

You approach the chapel from Judge St entering through a lych gate and through a graveyard. The graveyard itself is fascinating with some of the earliest pioneers of New Zealand and of the Church in New Zealand buried there.

The church itself has a steeply pitched roof, vertical battens and diamond shaped window panes. It was one of the earliest churches in the so called Selwyn style (named after Bishop Selwyn, the first Bishop of New Zealand).

Holy Communion is celebrated each Sunday morning at 9am using the old Church of England service from the Book of Common Prayer. The chapel is also often used for weddings. It is part of the Cathedral district.