Severn Street, Oamaru · Est. 1946
Still the only yard to cut letters by hand.
A stonemasons' yard working Oamaru limestone, Central Otago schist and granite. Three generations of the Hallam family have run it, and the apprenticeships matter more than anything else here.
What we do
Memorials, heritage, and building stone.
Each service runs from the same yard and the same thinking. Nothing cut until you sign the drawing.
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Since 1946
Memorials
Headstones, plaques and full monuments, lettered by hand in the yard. There is no hurry to any of it and no charge for talking it through.
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Churches, halls, civic
Heritage restoration
Repair and replacement in kind for churches, halls and civic buildings, working to a conservation architect's schedule.
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Houses and gardens
Building stone
Walls, fireplaces, thresholds, sills and entranceways in schist and limestone, for houses and gardens.
The yard at work
Stone from Weston, worked in Severn Street.
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Plate 01 A single stone, set. Winter setting is done in the frost because the ground is at its firmest. -
Plate 02 Banker work. Everything on this page was cut standing at a bench like this one.
What people say
Three customers on why they chose this yard.
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2025
We went in twice before we decided anything and were never once made to feel we were taking up time. When it was set they sent a photograph the same afternoon, which mattered more than I can explain.
Margaret W., Kakanui
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2024
They told us plainly that two of the four elevations did not need doing yet. Nobody else who quoted said that.
St Luke's Vestry, Church warden, Oamaru
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2024
The wall has settled into the hill as though it had always been there. They built a metre of it first and left it a fortnight so we could be sure.
R. and H. Tainui, Bendigo
The story
Eighty years in one yard.
Arthur Hallam bought the yard in 1946 from the estate of J. R. Wilson, who had been cutting memorials on the site since 1889. The saw shed came with it, and so did the crane gantry, which has not moved since 1963.
Arthur's son Peter joined in 1971 and brought granite into a yard that had only ever cut limestone. That was not popular at the time.
Jane Hallam took over in 2004 and is the first of the family to have trained formally, a City and Guilds in banker masonry served at Salisbury. There are six masons and two apprentices now.
Hand lettering takes about four years to become worth paying for. If nobody is training it, then in twenty years nobody will be cutting it. The apprenticeships matter more than anything else here.
Hallam Stonemasons, Severn Street
The years
Seven dates that made the yard what it is.
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1946
Arthur Hallam takes over the Severn Street yard
Bought from the estate of J. R. Wilson, who had cut memorials on the site since 1889. The saw shed, the crane gantry and about half the tools came with it.
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1963
The Waitaki Boys' memorial gates
Cut in Oamaru limestone over fourteen months. Still the largest single commission the yard has taken and the reason the crane gantry was rebuilt.
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1971
Peter Hallam joins his father
Second generation. Brought granite into a yard that had only ever cut limestone, which was not popular at the time.
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1998
First Category 1 restoration
The Oamaru Courthouse parapet, after a survey found forty-one failing stones and a great deal of Victorian ironwork that had begun to split what it was holding.
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2004
Jane Hallam takes over the yard
Third generation, and the first in the family to have trained formally, with a City and Guilds in banker masonry served at Salisbury.
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2011
Christchurch
Eighteen months on cathedral and civic stone after the earthquakes, most of it recording and salvage rather than repair.
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2026
Eighty years on Severn Street
Six masons, two apprentices, and the same gantry. Still the only yard in North Otago cutting letters by hand.
Get in touch
Come and see the stone.
There is never a charge for a conversation and nothing has to be decided on the day. Ring, or call in at the yard.
03 434 7712- Yard and office
- 18 Severn Street, Oamaru 9400
- Open
- Monday to Friday8am – 4.30pmSaturdayBy appointment
- Working across
- North Otago, Canterbury, Central Otago, Southland
What happens next
- 01 RingA conversation about what you need. We listen, we do not sell. There is no charge and nothing has to be decided on the day.
- 02 Visit the yardCome and see the stone, the tools and the work in progress. Put your hand on the material. That is how you know what you are choosing.
- 03 We draw itOnce you have decided, we draw the work to scale. Nothing is cut until you sign the drawing. That is how we make sure it is right.