Bowenvale Ave in Cashmere – Named because it runs through Bowenvale which in turn, is named after Charles Bowen (1804-1871). Bowen, an original land purchaser in 1850, bought Rural Section 82, 50 acres on the “south bank River Heathcote, foot of hills”. He was the first Speaker of the Canterbury Provincial Council but eventually returned to England. First mentioned in The Press in 1923 when it is reported that the Bowenvale Residents and Ratepayers Association had asked the Heathcote County Council to install drainage facilities along Bowenvale Avenue. First appears in street directories in 1923.
A reasonable amount of information from the library website and I suspect that they have managed to muddle up the father and son as it was the son who was the first Speaker of the Canterbury Provincial Council. Who actually purchased the land is also a bit confusing going by the information in the book Place Names of Banks Peninsula and the Port Hills by Gordon Ogilvie. The first section was purchased by C Bowen and the title deed has Reverend Christopher Bowen on it. Charles Bowen senior the same year purchased a large block of land in Fendalltown. The son was Sir Charles Bowen of Middleton Grange.
Papers Past was no help in this situation and neither was the ancestry website. In the 1920s there were many entries referring to it as Bowen’s Valley. In 1925 the Mildren brothers had purchased the Bowenvale quarries but couldn’t find out more about the quarry. There were sections for sale in the 1920s and one ad confused me as it said corner of Bowenvale Ave and Port Hills Rd. I went checking maps and Centaurus Rd used to be Port Hills Rd. Most entries on Papers Past related to the many market gardens on this street. There must have also been a sheep farm here as well because in 1929 there were complaints about mobs of sheep being driven down the road.
The market gardens are now all gone and have been replaced by houses. There was a recent article only a few weeks ago where there are apparently plans to build another 50 plus houses at the end of this street. I don’t know how it will affect the walking track but I believe that the mountain bike track has already been closed.
The houses here date from every decade from 1920s with a big increase in houses from 1990s onwards when the various market gardens were sold off. So many different styles of houses and the ones from the 1920s weren’t obvious. As usual some of the modern ones were fairly ugly.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 