Author Archives: lytteltonwitch

Bowen St in Upper Riccarton- Named after Charles Christopher Bowen (1830-1917). Bowen was an administrator, politician, poet, magistrate and educationalist. His home was Middleton Grange, in Riccarton. One of the five residential streets containing mainly workers’ cottages making up the area known as Peerswick. First mentioned in The Press in 1882 in a report of …

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Brulay Courts in Upper Riccarton and nothing on library website. It is on google maps and on NZ Postcode website but there isn’t a street sign actually at the street. It is possibly social housing or over 60s units. It is also possible that it is just a right of way for the 10 units …

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Peerswick Court in Upper Riccarton and nothing on the library website. Technically this isn’t a street but is a right of way for the 12 houses at 43 Waimairi Rd. Peerswick is from the fact that this area used to be called Peerswick Township after the huge property that was owned by one of the …

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Reading St in Upper Riccarton and nothing on the library website yet most houses here were built in 1960s I walked this street by accident as I thought that I was still on Kiltie St. There wasn’t any signpost to say that I was on a different street. I originally was going to comment that …

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Kiltie St in Upper Riccarton – Named by Joseph Irvine Colligan (1910-1965). Colligan, a hairdresser, was chairman of the Waimairi County Council 1960-1965. His cousin, Charles “Charlie” Gibson, lived at 40 Waimairi Road, opposite where Kiltie Street was formed. He was a member of the Caledonian Pipe Band, members of which wore a kilt when …

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Leslie Street in Upper Riccarton – Formerly Harper Street. Named after Dr Henry John Chitty Harper In 1886 John Hanson and others wrote to the Riccarton Road Board requesting that Harper Street be formed. Harper Street first appears in street directories in 1887. Harper was the first Bishop of Christchurch and the second Primate of …

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Owens Tce in Upper Riccarton – Formerly Curletts Terrace. Named because it runs off Curletts Road. Re-named Owens Terrace. Named after John Owens (1833?-1930)Curletts Terrace first appears in street directories in 1936. Re-named Owens Terrace on 8 June 1948. Owens settled in Upper Riccarton about 1872. His wife recalled in his obituary that at that …

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Roche Ave in Upper Riccarton – In a block of 28 acres bought by the government for state housing in 1953. The land was formerly owned by Pyne, Gould Guinness Ltd and was in Curletts Road between Blenheim Road and Riccarton Road. First appears in street directories in 1958. A small amount of information on …

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Haynes Ave in Upper Riccarton – Named after Mary Jane “Jennie” Ballantyne, née Haynes, (1869- 1952) of the family of Herbert, Haynes & Co. of Dunedin. The family of William Ballantyne (1864-1934) and his wife, Mary Jane, lived on a one hundred acre farm there 1896- 1946. Their family home, Nydfa, was in Hansons Lane. …

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Ballantyne Ave in Upper Riccarton- Named after the Ballantyne family, of Ballantyne’s Department Store. The family of William Ballantyne (1864-1934) and his wife, Mary Jane, née Haynes, (1869?-1952), lived on a one hundred acre farm there 1896-1946. Their family home, Nydfa, was in Hansons Lane. First appears in street directories in 1952. A small amount …

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