Wales Street in Halswell – Named after Wales, the country. The developer, Karl Scott (1910-1997), put several suggestions for the street name to the council, all of which were declined. In desperation he said – “England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales…Wales will do”. First appears in street directories in 1960. Information supplied in 2008 by Bede Cosgriff (d. 2011) in an interview with Margaret Harper.
A small amount of information from the library website and I would love to know what names were rejected. I have covered Karl Scott fully when writing about nearby streets.
When looking at Papers Past there were lots of entries for Wales Street in Dunedin and Rangiora. The earliest entry that I could find for the Wales Street in Halswell was in 1960 and was about the bus service. The water mains were mentioned in 1962 and the street was sealed in 1966. First entry that I found for the kindergarten was in 1978 and I tried to find when it was opened but had no luck. In the 1970s and 1980s it was mostly death notices.
I walked this street a month ago and it runs from Lillian Street to Checketts Avenue. Ensign Street becomes Wales Street and it then becomes Lancewood Drive. Most of the houses were built in the 1950s and the 1960s and they were typical of that era. A few looked rather shabby. There was a kindergarten here and a playground called Wales Reserve. There was a walkway that takes you to Santa Rosa Avenue. One house had a Rawleigh’s sign outside it and I hadn’t realised that they were still around. I remember these products from when I was a child. The house was blocked by a container but google maps from a couple of years ago shows a nice house. I did have a nice chat with a local here and he said that it was a nice street to live on.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 