Woodchester Ave in Richmond – Named after Woodchester, the house belonging to Henry Dent Gardiner (1828- 1909). Gardiner retired to this house after leaving Purau in 1886. The land around the property was subdivided after his death in 1909. Two “beautifully-situated sections in the Woodchester subdivision, Gardiner’s estate, Richmond” are advertised for sale in the Star in 1909. The Presbyterian Social Service Association converted the house into a home for elderly women in 1952. Named on 16 September 1926. First appears in street directories in 1928.
A reasonable amount of information from the library website. Papers Past mostly had information about the various subdivisons starting in 1910 after Henry Dent Gardiner’s death. The main subdivision was in the 1920s when the street was formed. The other mentions on Papers Past were births, deaths and engagement notices.
Henry Dent Gardiner was an active person who was born in 1827 and then went to Adelaide in 1851. Eventually went to Bendigo where he married his wife Mary Ann. He purchased the brig Colchester and came to New Zealand. Purchased land in Styx now known as Gardiners Rd. Next he was farming in Irwell before purchasing Rhodes property in Purau. After a trip back to Great Britain in 1886 he purchased Woodchester on his return to New Zealand. I don’t know if the property was already called Woodchester when he purchased it as there doesn’t seem to be a family connection to Woodchester in England.
There are only 11 houses here mostly built in 1920s and 1930s and on one side of the street. The other side did have houses before the earthquakes but is now a big green space. The street runs from Medway Street to Richmond Park and it looks like a pleasant street to live on.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 