Gowerton Place in Richmond – formerly Part of Vogel Street. Named after Gowerton in Wales. Gowerton was the birthplace of George Manning (1887- 1976), the mayor of Christchurch 1958-1968. Every year at Gowerton School a major prizegiving award is given in Sir George’s memory as he attended the school. Named in 1959.
A small amount of information from the library website and yes I know that I said that I wasn’t going to walk any more streets until I have researched all the ones that I have already walked. I visited Avebury House today and had to park miles away.
I only checked Papers Past for Gowerton Place and the new pensioner cottages were opened in April 1960. There were 30 new units for single women. There was a letter to the editor a few months later from someone complaining that the council didn’t make a profit from such cottages. The rest of the information on Papers Past were death notices and all the death notices were for women. There was an article in 1989 about the Richmond area and it commented about the stream’s grassy gully can be seen winding along beside the flats on Gowerton Place. I found the 1963 maps for drains and streams but this stream wasn’t on it.
I did walk the street and the grassy area has a wee path to walk on. You can’t see where the stream goes but it would be beside the path. All the units here were built after the earthquakes and the old units were demolished. It is now social housing rather than pensioner cottages and they are crammed in like sardines whereas the old cottages had plenty of grassy spaces. I felt safe walking here which doesn’t usually happen in such streets. I looked at street view from before the earthquakes and it was a very different looking street. I took a screenshot of the street from before the earthquakes. I did doublecheck google maps for Gowerton in Wales and I haven’t been there.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 