Vincent Place in the suburb of Opawa, Christchurch

Vincent Place in Opawa – formerly Church Road (later Vincent Street), Station Road (later Lucas Street) and Railway Terrace. Named after Richard Vincent (d. 1888). Vincent was a farmer of Opawa. In 1887 he advertised part of Rural Section 20 for sale in the Star. This was in between “Ferry Road and Heathcote”, land originally purchased by B.W. Mountfort. Church Road, Railway Terrace and Station Road first appear in street directories in 1892, all in the vicinity of the Lyttelton railway (later Opawa Railway Station). Church Road was re-named Vincent Street and Station Road was re-named Lucas Street on 24 May 1926. Vincent Street, Railway Terrace and Lucas Street were combined to form Vincent Place in 1929. A reasonable amount of information from the library website. There was a Mr Lucas mentioned in Papers Past so my best guess is that Lucas Street was named after him. In 1905 there were sections for sale in what was called the Opawa Estate. The reason given for the name change in 1929 was because of another Railway Terrace in Riccarton. A councillor described the street as a parallelogram. Many of the smaller councils were being merged with Christchurch Council around this time. In 1931 a man wanted permission to build a shop on the corner of Vincent Place and Opawa Rd but it was refused. I am assuming that he eventually got permission as there has been a shop on that corner for as long as I can remember.In 1936 there were new bungalows available for sale but there is only one house left on this street from the 1930s. Only 12 properties now and most from 1970s. One or two from 1910 and one from 1890. The one from 1890 would have been gorgeous but now looking rundown and junk piled up on parts of the section.This street is in two halves and the low numbers are on the same half that has St Mark’s Church on the corner of Vincent Place and Opawa Rd. The house from 1890 is in the section as well. There is then a walkway beside Brougham St that leads to the houses with the higher numbers. There is a house from 1910 here but I couldn’t see if it was in good condition or not because of a high fence. The shop is on the corner of this half of the street. The street numbers here start at 67 whereas the other half of the street has street numbers 1 to 5.The section where the walkway beside Brougham St is where the original Railway Tce used to be and the street numbers would have gone from 6 to 65. The houses were obviously demolished where Brougham Street was extended. I remember when growing up and spent time visiting friends in the area that there was a walkway that took you across the railway track from the Opawa Railway Station to Vincent Place. The railway station is long gone and the children who went to St Marks School got off at this station. I couldn’t find much information about Richard Vincent on the ancestry website. He was described as a grazier from Opawa and that is all I could find. I couldn’t even find a family tree for his family and at this stage I would have been happy to find even one one that had mistakes. Papers Past gave a little bit more information. His wife Ellen died November 1882 aged 35. Richard himself died in 1888 but I don’t have an exact date but guardianship for the infant children was given to Thomas Whelan. One son George died in 1899 aged only 26. A daughter Alice married in 1905 and another married in 1900. The electoral rolls n the 1890s have them living had different addresses so it looks like they were split up after the parents died. I spent a lot time looking for where they are buried but couldn’t find any information. I searched several websites with no luck. Richard was a landowner so I would have expected that he would have had money for a gravestone for his wife. He had his property for sale in 1887.