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Halcombe is a small settlement in the Manawatu-Wanganui region of the North Island, New Zealand. It is situated 10 km north west of Feilding and 4 km east of the Rangitikei River.
Contents
Map of Halcombe, New Zealand
It is located at 40° 10' south, 175° 19' east at an altitude of approximately 120 – 140 m above sea level.
The population was 534 in the 2013 Census, an increase of 102 people, or 23.6 percent, since the 2006 Census. Halcombe has 1.9 percent of Manawatu District's population.
Geography
Halcombe is situated on rolling hill country. The village centre is in a relatively low lying gully. There are quite high hills to the west and low lying hills to the east.
Climate
The Halcombe area experiences a temperate climate which is similar to much of the Manawatu, with moderate wind and reasonable sunshine and rainfall; a good gardening climate. Frosts occur in winter, with one or two severe frosts each year due to the inland location. There are occasional fogs yearly.
About
Halcombe's settlement was organised by the immigration agent Arthur Halcombe who lived in nearby Feilding and took his name. The nearby locality of Stanway was named for his wife, Edith Stanway Halcombe (née Swainson).
There is a primary school (years 1-8) with a roll of approximately 120 pupils, a dairy, a pub, a public hall, two tennis courts, a playground, public toilets and a rugby field. The pub featured briefly on a DB TV beer ad in the 1990s. A travelling circus large enough to own an elephant once set up on Halcombe rugby field.
Halcombe has its own Rugby Football Club with club rooms on Willoughby Street.
The North Island Main Trunk railway line runs through Halcombe. There used to be a station in the centre of the village, however it is no longer the case.
Halcombe was intended to be the main centre of Manawatu. For various reasons this did not come about. As a consequence a lot of farmland around Halcombe has paper roads on it.
The main industry in Halcombe is farming.
Points of interest
In the centre of the village there is a war memorial.
There is a dilapidated taxidermist's in the central area, Zentveld Taxidermy.
History
Halcombe was once the main railway junction in the central north island. An active riverbed on the Rangitikei River stopped further development. Development was shifted to Palmerston North.