History – Origins of The Grange

By Maureen Young

On the sign outside the new retail centre south of Warkworth, right beneath the golden arches, are the words The Grange. To trace the origin of this name in Warkworth one needs to go back in time and space: in time to 1853 and in space, five-kilometres down the Mahurangi River. At this time three Scottish brothers, all sea captains, settled on the true-left bank of the Mahurangi, on land that was subsequently owned by the Hamilton family and is now at the end of Hamilton Road.

Captain Hugh Grange built a house called Harbour View and continued to sail the Pacific, mostly servicing mission stations. He once returned from Norfolk Island with seeds of Norfolk pines, and the tree he planted near his house still stands, reputed to have the largest girth of any of these pines in New Zealand or Norfolk Island. He died in 1891. 

Brother John Grange commenced building a house closer to the river after a fire in his previous home. In 1893, before this house was completed, the land was sold to William Hamilton. Mrs. Grange requested that the house should be named The Grange and so it remains to this day. 

When William Maxwell Hamilton, of the next generation of the Hamilton family, was shoulder-tapped to take up a career in science instead of farming, his sister Flora, and her husband Alex McNaught, took over the property. Flora, a florist, expanded the beautiful garden at The Grange until its district-wide reputation made it a favoured locality for garden parties. Flora’s son, David McNaught, inherited the green-fingers and floral skills of the family, and as a young man was a formidable contestant at the Warkworth Flower Show. 

In the 1970s, David started a small plant nursery on the property. This he moved to the bottom of Neville Street, Warkworth, where the Tahi Bar now stands, then finally to a much larger site south of the town. This developed into a large, thriving plant nursery which he called The Grange after his home farm. After many years this property was sold and developed into The Grange retail centre.,

And so the trail leads from Scottish sea captains, the Grange brothers, to a 123-year-old house named The Grange at Hamilton’s Landing on the Mahurangi, to a large plant nursery, and, finally, to a modern retail centre named The Grange on the southern edge of the town.