Port Hills Rd in Heathcote Valley and Hillsborough – formerly Hills Rd. Port Hills Road follows the lower slopes of Murray Aynsley and was once used to avoid ferry fees. Hills Road, Opawa, was renamed the Port Hills Road by the Heathcote Road Board in 1909. Port Hills Road first appears in street directories in 1914.
A small amount of information from the library website. I ended up having a good look at old maps for this street and it isn’t as simple as the explanation on the library website. The map for 1922 has Hills Rd going from Heathcote Valley to either Vernon Tce or Albert Tce and then it is Port Hills Rd to Dyers Pass Rd. The map for 1929 is similar except for an extra road at the bottom of Huntsbury Ave. That map seriously confused me. The map for 1930 has Hills Rd from Heathcote Valley to St Martins Rd and the bit that was called Port Hills Rd is now called St Martins Rd and this goes to Dyers Pass Rd. There is still an extra road at Huntsbury but it has moved up the hill a bit. This extra road doesn’t match up with an current existing roads. The map for 1941 has Port Hills Rd running from Opawa Rd to Heathcote Valley and Hills Rd is running from Opawa Rd to a road called Victoria Tce which seems to be where Albert Tce is. The map for 1950 has Port Hills Rd exactly the same as modern maps. I hope that you are all now as confused as me. Have a look at the maps on the library website as they are fun to look at especially for someone like me who loves maps.
There were a huge amount of entries on Papers Past and this wasn’t helped by there being several Hills Roads in the Christchurch and Canterbury area. I decided to search using Port Hills Heathcote and then Hills Rd Heathcote. Under Port Hills Heathcote there was mostly death notices in Papers Past. A Mrs Favell lived on this street and there is a Flavell St in Heathcote. In 1936 the AA wanted the dangerous corner at the corner of Bridle Path Rd and Port Hills Rd to be improved. The reply to the AA was that the majority of drivers had no problems with this corner. In 1961 the council was looking for the history of an old homestead that was possibly about 100 years old. The house and land had been given to the council several years earlier and it was part of Mary Duncan estate. The house had been neglected but the council were hoping that the historic society would take it over. I suspect that this house is long gone and there is a Duncan Reserve off Port Hills Rd. Mr F C Garland’s poultry farm is frequently mentioned especially in ads. That explains Garlands Rd. In 1973 a company called D F Nuttall Steel Ltd was mentioned and this explains another street in the area. The Canterbury Malting Company had a few mentions and I remember this building in Heathcote Valley. In 1978 a telephone box on the corner of Port Hills Rd and Curries Rd was destroyed by an explosion on Guy Fawkes Night and a youth was arrested. Shows that we have always had idiots.
In January 1972 passenger trains between Lyttelton and Christchurch were to stop. They would be replaced by a bus service that would go to Christchurch via Port Hills Rd and Opawa Rd. This was a big thing for Lyttelton as we travelled by train to Christchurch to go to High School. My last year at High School was in 1971 so I never had to travel by bus to High School. Students in Lyttelton were given free transport to Christchurch to go to school after the High School in Lyttelton was closed. I am now going to have to find out the date of when the High School in Lyttelton closed. The bus from Lyttelton used to go down Ferry Rd as I used to catch this bus when I went to Woolston Primary school in 1968. My Nana used to catch the bus from Lyttelton to Woolston and then walk to the various cemeteries that are near Linwood Ave. I honestly can’t remember if there were two bus routes for a while after the passenger trains stopped. I just know that she walked from Ferry Rd to the cemeteries and after they stopped the Ferry Rd route she used to walk from Opawa Rd. Note she was in her 70s and 80s when she was doing this. Get the feeling that my walking ability is genetic.
Under Port Hills Rd, Opawa it was mostly just ads for Glenmore Bricks Ltd. In 1976 Isaac Construction Ltd subdivided an old clay quarry opposite the Coca Cola plant into 22 sections. I did find a death notice for 1867.
Many entries in the 1870s and 1880s seem to be about the condition of the road or drainage issues. There was a water course that crossed Hills Rd which frequently caused problems after heavy rain. I got the impression that this water course was near the railway line but I couldn’t figure out exactly where it was. In 1872 the Valley residents requested that they be allowed to use the swing bridge free of tolls until Hills Rd is passable again. I think that I am going to have to visit the library or archives to find out exactly where this swing bridge was. Edited to say that the swing bridge was the Ferry Road Bridge.
I also had a memory of going to functions at a building on this street. Found several entries for The Old Orchard and these were mostly in the 1970s and 1980s. I don’t know when it stopped holding functions but it was sold to an Australian company in 1988. I checked street view and the building was still there before the earthquakes but didn’t seem to be a function centre any longer. I couldn’t find out any information about the original orchard but there were lots of orchards in this area.
I actually walked most of this street in January 2020 and got a bit of a shock when I checked the dates on my photos as I hadn’t realised it was so long ago. I had caught a bus to Heathcote and then walked home to Addington. When I checked maps I realised that the road did a sharp turn at Opawa Rd and continued to Centaurus Rd. Finally walked the final bit this week.
The street starts at the Bridle Path Rd and the Heathcote Domain is one side and houses are on the other side. The houses here date from 1880 to 1920 and there are at least 30 older houses and many are still looking good. I took a photo of a rundown older house when I walked here in 2020 and I expected it to have been demolished. I was surprised to find that it had been done up and as looking good so I took a screenshot from google maps.. My niece lived on this street at one stage but don’t ask me to remember the dates. If I have the figured out the correct house she possibly lived in a house that was built in 1915.
Where the Canterbury Malting Company used to be there are now about 60 units and they are called Maltwork Villas. The factory was still there in 2018 but by 2019 it was a big empty section and the units were built in 2020. The villas are aimed at older people. There is then a few shops including a cafe. In 2020 I ended up talking to Flo from Lyttelton and she will be sadly missed in Lyttelton. As I continue walking the older houses are still on the hill side of the street while newer houses are on the flat side. I eventually walked under the overbridge of the Tunnel Road. This part of the road has businesses on one side until you get to Opawa Rd. On the other there is Duncan Reserve and then a few houses. These houses are mostly from the 1970s. On the same side of the houses and getting closer to Opawa Rd there is a big block of storage units. A few houses and then it is Opawa Rd. At Opawa Rd it is a sharp turn left and the road continues to the top of the hill. This road has always done a sharp turn here. This road going by old map used to continue but it is now part of Centaurus Rd. The houses here are mostly from the 1990s as this is where the Brickworks and the quarry used to be. A few gaps where demolished houses haven’t been rebuilt. I walked as far as the giraffe as every time I drive past I say to myself that I must get a photo. The giraffe is actually at a Centaurus Rd address. When I walked this part of Port Hills Rd this week I was able to observe the helicopters and the monsoon buckets. The monsoon buckets were smaller than I expected.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 