Granny Low's Teapot
Teapot at the heart of Fyffe House family
A humble teapot takes pride of place in the kitchen of Fyffe House, once the heart of Kaikoura’s close-knit whaling industry and today a historic place cared for by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.
Although it’s not a particularly unusual teapot, it’s what it represents that makes it very special says Fyffe House Property Lead Ann McCaw.
“The teapot belonged to Maude ‘Granny’ Low – the matriarch of the Low family; the third family to live at Fyffe House,” says Ann.
“Maude was the mother of eight children and the eventual widow of Joseph Low. She ‘ruled with an iron hand’, always wore black and always welcomed everyone with a cup of tea from her yellow teapot that rarely stood empty on the kitchen table.”
Granny Low’s teapot is still there – thanks to a descendant, Matthew Hicks, who decided to return it to Fyffe House in the late 1990s after inheriting it following the death of George Low in 1980, the youngest son and only family member who was living in the house. Matthew was determined to return Granny’s teapot to its rightful place.
When the Lows moved to Fyffe House in the early 1920s it was a bit of a backwater according to Ann.
“Some years earlier, Fyffe House had been the hub of the town with the wharf located close by in the bay behind the house. There were also warehouses on the lawn and a pub, the Pier Hotel,” she says.
“All that changed in 1909 with the opening of a new wharf closer to where town was developing. Even the pub was cut in half and relocated to be close to the new wharf in time for its opening that year.”
Many fishing families still lived near Fyffe House, however, and were known as the ‘east-enders’. Thrift was a common virtue within this community – including the Lows.
“The Lows like the other families were poor, and although they had fabulous fresh food which they either caught or grew, what they never had much of was money,” she says.
“Their belongings were treasured and cared for. Waste was not part of the way they lived – though they were always hospitable. And for Granny Low that meant always having a pot of tea on the go.”
For the technically minded, Granny Low’s teapot is an example of Crown Duccal Ware, produced in England after 1915.
“The important thing, though, is that according to family it was never empty,” says Ann.
Visitors to Fyffe House today are also guaranteed a warm welcome.