Author Archives: lytteltonwitch

Fountainhead Lane – Named after the book The Fountainhead. Named by architect Ray Hawthorne. The book is the fictional story of architect Howard Roark and was written by Ayn Rand in 1943. First appears in street directories in 1993.That is interesting information from the library website. The naming of this street surprised me and I …

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West-Watson Ave – Named after Campbell West Watson (1877- 1953) – West-Watson was the third Anglican bishop of Christchurch 1925/26- 1951 and also Archbishop of New Zealand 1940-1952. He was a Warden at Christ’s College in 1925. One of the streets in the area formed on land belonging to Christ’s College. First appears in street …

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Wolsey Place – Named after Cardinal Wolsey (1471-1530). Wolsey was an Archbishop of York. Named because of its proximity to Cardinal Drive. Named in 1966.A small amount of information from the library website and I am amused that this time the website has his DOB as 1471 whereas for Cardinal Drive they had his DOB …

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Cardinal Drive – Named after Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (1473?- 1530). Named in 1966. That was brief bit of information from the library website. Not sure why a question mark for year of birth as Thomas Wolsey is a well-known historic person who was born in March 1473 in Ipswich. This area of Hillmorton was mostly …

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Edinburgh Street – First mentioned in The Press in 1899 in a report of a meeting of the Spreydon Road Board. A letter was read from Harman and Stevens stating that the forming and metalling of Edinburgh Street had been completed and they were now requesting that the Board take it over. First appears in …

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Plunket Street in Spreydon – Formerly Schauman Street. May be named after Karl Osten Schauman (1874?-1935). Re-named Plunket Street. Named after Sir William Lee Plunket, 5th Baron Plunket (1864-1920). Schauman was born in Finland and emigrated to New Zealand. He was described as a gentleman of Sumner in 1906 and was involved with the Canterbury …

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Rustic Lane in Spreydon. This street isn’t on the library website. It is a private lane that runs off Lyttelton Street between 353 and 355 Lyttelton Street. I couldn’t find out how the lane got it’s name and the meaning of rustic is relating to countryside or rural. All the houses here are from the …

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Redruth Ave in Spreydon – Probably named after Redruth in Cornwall, England. Not much information from the library website. I found a reasonable amount of information on Papers Past but not much on ancestry website. The land was owned by James William Smitham who lived on Selwyn St. Some of the land possibly originally belonged …

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Dundee Place in Spreydon – Named in 1955. Not a lot of information on the library website. This street runs off Edinburgh St where 17 and 19 Edinburgh St would have been. Most streets in this area have a Scottish theme. Most houses are built in 1950 and at the end of the street there …

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Urella Place in Spreydon. This street isn’t on the library website yet it dates back to the 1970s. Strangely for a street that was developed back then there is a footpath on only one side of the street. Older streets normally have footpaths on both sides of the street. Most houses date from 1970s with …

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