Cecil Place in the suburb of Waltham, Christchurch

Cecil Place in Waltham – Horsley Street and Cecil Street. Probably named after Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne Cecil, 3rd Marquis of Salisbury (1831- 1903). Horsley Street was re-named Cecil Street on 31 October 1898 at the suggestion of Harman and Stevens. Probably re-named to continue the theme of “poets and writers” streets of Sydenham, Addington and Waltham named by a committee of the Sydenham Borough Council on 19 January 1880. Maps in 1983 street directories show Cecil Street split into two, the section between Brougham Street and Shakespeare Road becoming Defoe Place and the section between Hastings Street and Brougham Street becoming Cecil Place. A small amount of information from the library website. The only mention of Horsley St was when the street was renamed in 1898. I did find a Mr J Horsley who was superintendent of Sydenham Methodist Sunday School until he resigned in 1914. There is also a place in England called Horsley. There was also an English artist John Horsley who died in 1903 and credited with the painting of the first Christmas Cards. In 904 there was a letter to the editor complaining about the state of the street and that they were better off with the Borough Council rather the the Greater Christchurch Council. Apparently one side of the street was partly asphalted and the other side had weeds two foot high. In 1928 Fowler and Son applied to the council for permission to erect a brick building for storage of petrol on the block of land bounded by Shakespeare Rd, Waltham Rd and Cecil St. The application was refused for safety reasons. Cecil Street was a lot longer until motorway was built and it is now Cecil Place. I walked this street on Friday and there are only 11 houses here and the ones from 1905 and 1915 are lovely. There is an entrance to Tommy Taylor Courts here which is city council housing and built in 2001. The traffic noise from Brougham St would put me off living here.