It took less than a minute for years of restoration work on St Mary’s Church in Timaru to be damaged, with the region’s places of worship taking a big hit in Saturday’s earthquake.
Four churches around South Canterbury were damaged in the 7.1 shake and remain closed, with services held at alternative venues yesterday.
St Mary’s Church tower took the brunt of the quake with one of the four pinnacles on the top of the tower crashing to the ground.
St Mary’s Church restoration trust chairman Ray Bennett said he was alerted to the damage after the fire service called and said the three other pinnacles would have to come down because they were not stable.