Stenness Ave in Somerfield – Probably named after Stenness in the Orkney Islands, Scotland. First mentioned in The Press in 1928. First appears in street directories in 1929, running off Selwyn Street.
A tiny amount of information from the library website. This street was in the same 1925 subdivision as Cardiff Ave. Several entries on Papers Past for birth and death notices. In 1934 the Christchurch Reserve Committee planted potatoes at No 1 Stenness Ave. I found a couple of references to a reserve but couldn’t find it on any maps. The mayor Robert Mafeking MacFarlane lived on this street and he was burgled in 1940. Note Macfarlane wasn’t his name at birth but was the name of his stepfather. I did doublecheck the Ancestry website at this stage as my stepmother always claimed to have been related to him. Note my stepmother wasn’t the brightest of people so this is why I doublechecked plus I don’t recall that they were ever in contact and I also don’t recall that he came to my father’s funeral. Yes they were related as they shared the same mother and he would have been her half brother. He was a good 20 years older than my stepmother.
I hope that the people living in this area liked pipe bands. Every New Year in the 1950s and 1960s a man called Reg H Stillwell had an open air event and the public were invited to celebrate the New Year. In 1955 the locals were invited to bring their bagpipes but after this he had the Riccarton Pipe Band at the event. He was a busy man Reg Stillwell but in searching his name I discovered that he has a street name after him. I feel an urge to have a walk over in the New Brighton area coming on.
This is a lovely street with most houses built in the 1920s and 1930s. The houses are lovely and I really hope that the developers with their ugly modern houses stay away from this street. There is an older house which looks like it is being renovated.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 