Author Archives: lytteltonwitch

Tabart St in Woolston – Named after Francis Christopher Tabart (1830- 1901).Tabart was the mayor of Hokitika 1869-1877. He later moved to Opawa and became an auctioneer and general merchant in Christchurch. First mentioned in The Press in 1909 when “five fine building sites facing Tabart Street” are advertised for sale. First appears in street …

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Whittington Ave in Woolston – formerly Rhodes Street. Probably named after Whittington, a small village near Worcester. Rhodes Street first appears in street directories in 1908. Whittington Avenue is first mentioned in The Press in 1909 in a report of a meeting of the Woolston Borough Council. A small amount of information on the library …

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Vintners Lane in Woolston – Named because the German couple who owned the property for many years grew grapes in glasshouses on the property. The development company, Opawa Residential Ltd, wanted to recognise this in the name of the right-of way, developed at 83 & 85 Mackenzie Avenue. Named in 2007. A small amount of …

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Youngston Lane in Woolston and nothing on the library website. I suspect that this lane is named after a person but I couldn’t find anyone with that surname in Christchurch. There were several people with the surname Youngson but none seemed to live in this area. Only 7 houses here and most built from 2016 …

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Seaforth Place in Woolston and nothing on library website. I did find a couple of people with the surname Seaforth but they lived in Lyttelton and died in 1919. It also wasn’t their real name as their original name was German and they adopted an English sounding name. Seaforth is a place near Liverpool. Most …

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Palamino Place in Woolston and nothing on library website. I thought that it was possibly a surname but no one with that surname in Christchurch that I could find. It is probably named after a grape as there is a nearby lane called Vintners Lane. Most houses here were built in the 1980s and 1990s …

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MacKenzie Ave in Woolston – Formerly Parkes Street. Named after either Sir Harry Smith Parkes (1828- 1885) or his cousin, Horatio John Parkes Horatio Parkes was a cousin of Sir Harry Parkes, a Chinese-based British diplomat, who had purchased Rural Section 37, a land order of 50 acres in “Heathcote, near Ferry Road”. Horatio Parkes …

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Keswick St in Woolston – Named after William Keswick (1835-1912). Keswick was a China based businessman and a British politician. He established a branch of Jardine Matheson & Co. in Japan in 1859. He was a trustee and executor of the will of Sir Harry Smith Parkes (1828- 1885), a diplomat in China who owned …

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Judge St in Woolston – First mentioned in The Press in 1909 in a report of a meeting of the Woolston Borough Council. First appears in street directories in 1912. A small amount of information from the library website and I suspect that this street is named after a person. There were at least two …

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Finlay Place in Woolston – Named after William Duncan Finlay (1871?- 1955). Finlay is listed in early 1940s street directories living at 108 Mackenzie Avenue where this street was later formed. First appears in street directories in 1950. A small amount of information from the library website and nothing that I can add about the …

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