Mathers Road in Hoon Hay -Named after John Mather (1843- 1921). Mather was a draughtsman and, at one time, a captain with the 14th King’s Hussars, a cavalry regiment in the British Army. He used an inheritance received in the 1880s to buy land in Hoon Hay. He and his family were living at Tankerville, in Lincoln Road, in 1901. Mathers Road is first mentioned in The Press in 1907. First appears in street directories in 1912. Information supplied in 2007 by William Mather in an interview with Margaret Harper.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. This street seems to be have been in several suburbs over the years including Halswell and Spreydon. In early 1900s there were many birth notices. In 1907 there were a couple of properties for sale. In the 1920s through to 1940s Digby Neave and Mrs Neave were mentioned frequently. Mrs Neave had several ads looking for servants. They also held fundraising garden fetes on their grounds. In 1943 their property including farm equipment was for sale. I was surprised to find this couple living on this street as there is a Neave Place in Hillmorton which is named after a Digby Neave who lived in Ilam but suspect that the Digby Neave living on Mathers Rd is the son of the Neave Place Digby Neave.

In 1944 the property at 57 Mathers Rd sold and this included house and 12 acres. The owner Mr Yeatman was giving up farming due to ill health.

In 1952 and 1954 there was a big subdivision which looked like it was at the Hoon Hay Road end going by the information in the ads. The first mention of the new Domain was in 1955 and this Domain covers a large section of land. There were drainage issues in 1950s and 1960s.

John Mather lived at a property called Finch House in an area called Tankerville. He was also a member of the Halswell Road Board. This man had an interesting past and I recommend reading an article about him in Papers Past dated 15th March 1882.

Most houses on this street were built between 1950s to 1970s with a few older houses and one dated from 1910. This street runs from Hoon Hay Road to McCarthy St. Not far from the Hoon Hay Road end there is an entrance to Spreydon School. This school has only been here since 2018 and they moved to where Manning Intermediate School used to be. The only buildings left from Manning Intermediate are the school hall and the office block. I assume that Spreydon School now goes to Standard 6 which is possibly now called Year 6. I am showing my age here. Hoon Hay Park which is now the name of the Domain takes up several blocks of the street. In this same block there is a church that is called The Church in Christchurch and I am positive that it had a different name when I was living in Hoon Hay. Then there is a kindergarten and next to this is a preschool. I don’t remember this preschool and was so sure that the Plunket rooms used to be in this building. I did look at sending my sons to the kindergarten on this street but they had fences that were too low for my liking. My older son was a climber and it would have been too easy for him to escape. I could bore you for hours with all the stories of his escapades. The houses near McCarthy St end have a State House look about them. There is a house on this street that has free books and I had a good look through the books but managed to resist taking any. A pleasant street but I imagine that in the weekends it would get busy with sports being played in the park.

Haslam Crescent in Hoon Hay- Named after Alec Leslie Haslam (1904-1997). Haslam was a lawyer and judge. He graduated from Canterbury University in 1926. In a 145-acre housing subdivision planned by the housing division of the Ministry of Works. The land was purchased from the Church Property Trustees and the Loughnan estate. In 1968 the street names sub- committee of the council felt that as Halswell was named after a prominent English Queen’s Counsel it would be appropriate to record the names of judges in street names there. Many of them had been QCs or KCs before appointment to the Bench.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. All the houses here date from 1970s and are built in the typical style for 1970s state houses. A few houses were looking slightly run down but the street actually looked better than I expected. The street runs off McCarthy Street and there is also a walkway through to Rowley Ave. There were a few nice gardens. I was slightly nervous walking this street because of a bad experience from many years ago but I thought that the street was looking OK. It would have been about 40 years ago when I had to visit a family on this street to retrieve items stolen from a local kindergarten.

Alpers Place in Hoon Hay – Named after Oscar Thorwald Johan Alpers (1867-1927).Alpers was a teacher, journalist, writer, poet, lawyer and judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand. In a 145-acre housing subdivision planned by the housing division of the Ministry of Works. The land was purchased from the Church Property Trustees and the Loughnan estate. In 1968 the street names sub-committee of the council felt that as Halswell was named after a prominent English Queen’s Counsel, it would be appropriate to record the names of judges in street names there. Many of them had been QCs or KCs before appointment to the

Bench.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. There are only 13 houses here and they were all built in 1970s. One house has been demolished and it was next to the walkway that takes you through to Rowley Ave. The street runs from Haslam Crescent and it has a footpath on both sides of the street. A couple of the houses had nice gardens and the houses are typical style for 1970s state houses. Nothing really stood for me on this street.

McCarthy Street in Hoon Hay – Named after Thaddeus Pearcey McCarthy (1907- 2001) McCarthy was a lawyer and judge. In a 145-acre housing subdivision planned by the housing division of

the Ministry of Works. The land was purchased from the Church Property Trustees and the Loughnan estate. In 1968 the street names sub-committee of the council felt that as Halswell was named after a prominent English Queen’s Counsel it would be appropriate to record the names of judges in street names there. Many of them had been QCs or KCs before appointment to the Bench.

A reasonable amount of information on the library website. Interesting that these streets were formed on land known as Loughnan estate and the names of men in the legal profession were chosen to be the street names as there were at least 2 or 3 generations of lawyers in the Loughnan family. I couldn’t find any information about the street in Papers Past. Most houses here were built in 1970s with a couple built post earthquake. There is one house dating from 1920 that is on a huge section of land. It is possibly the original house for the Loughnan land but was unable to find information about it with a quick look on google.

The street starts at Rowley Ave where there is the McCarthy St Shops. There are only two shops here that I remember from when I lived in the area and they are the wee supermarket and the fish and chip. There used to be a chemist, haberdashery shop, Post Office and possibly a bookshop. I used to occasionally work at the Post Office when I was on the relief team. The shops are very colourful now with street art.

Many of the houses still have a state house look about them especially the ones opposite the shops. The Plunket Rooms look smaller than I remember and I thought that the entry to the building was actually on Mathers Rd but the entry is from McCarthy St now. My youngest child has just turned 40 so it was a long time ago and my memory could be wrong. The houses this end have some lovely gardens. Right at the end of the street is two big sections and you can’t see the houses and one is the one from 1920. There is also a walkway through to Hoon Hay Park which I didn’t realise existed. It actually looks like a pleasant street.

Like

Comment

Share

Waters Street in Hoon Hay -First appears in street directories in 1957.

A tiny amount of information from the library website. Very little information on Papers Past. Just a few entries in 1950s and they were mostly about ballots for crown land sections. There was mention of sealing of the street in 1955 and the street being in the newly amalgamated area. Most the houses here were built in the 1950s with a couple built in 1970s and 1990s. As most of the other streets in the area are named after judges and lawyers I suspect that this street is also named after a lawyer. I found a lawyer Charles Lawrence Waters who in 1989 was reappointed to the Canterbury Law Society Disciplinary Tribunal and he is described as retired. The cemetery database has his occupation as Director of Social Welfare and he died in February 1998.

The street runs from Mathers Rd to Cedar St and it is near Hoon Hay Park. Most houses are brick houses but a few are wooden. There wasn’t really anything outstanding in the street that jumped out at me.

Corgwyn Ave in Halswell – First appears in street directories in 1993.

A tiny amount of information from the library website.

Only 14 properties here and most built in 1990s and 2000s but two were built in 1970 and one built in 1960 so I was surprised that it was only named in 1993. A good look at google maps answered this as it looks like the street was developed at 867 to 873 Cashmere Rd. I was also surprised that it is an Avenue as it doesn’t seem to fit the rules for an Avenue especially as it is more like a place being a no exit street. This street had no footpaths so I had to walk on the road but luckily it isn’t a busy road. The houses here were large and modern and expensive. None that I could see had flowers or gardens and just had lots of lawns. At the end of the street there was a huge section with a very long driveway. The house looked huge and very definitely beyond my budget.

Interesting name for the street as it is either the plural for corgi or the word for Welsh corgis.

Somerton Rise in Westmorland and nothing on library website for this street. This surprised me as most the houses were built in the 1990s. Somerton is a place in Somerset not too far from Glastonbury. The house called Highcrest is on the corner of this street and Highcrest Heights and I suspect that the names relate to the developer of these streets. The names don’t have any connection to the Lake district like many of the other names in this area. Some really nice houses here including an art deco style that was built in 1990. I chatted with a man who lived in this street and I got the impression that the house called Highcrest was the first house in the development. The man I chatted with said that when he was building his house they found moa bones on the property. I might have liked the houses here but they were well above my budget. Great views

Highcrest Heights in Westmorland and there wasn’t anything on the library website. I was surprised as many of the houses were built in 1990s but most were built in 2000s. I searched to find a reason for the name but couldn’t find a place name in the UK. The name is probably from the street being on a hill. There is a house on the corner of Highcrest Heights and Somerton Rise called Highcrest and I suspect that this house belonged to the original developer of the streets.

Several of the houses were built in what I always think of as Mediterranean style. The houses here were large with lovely gardens but well above my budget. I don’t normally like modern houses but I did like many of the houses on this street. There is also a reserve with a playground and guess where I was geocaching. One of the locals told me that they found moa bones when the area was being developed. There was one idiot who was so badly parked that they were blocking part of the street.

Chaloner Lane in Westmorland – Probably named after Sir Thomas Chaloner (1521- 1565). Chaloner was an English statesman and poet. The name Chaloner Place was approved in 1995 for a legal road cul de sac. The application was never completed and the proposed cul de sac became a private right of way. These are always suffixed with “Lane”. Becomes Chaloner Lane in 2001.

A small amount of information from the library website. I did find someone with the surname Chaloner living in Sydenham in 1890 but they didn’t have any connection to this part of Christchurch. There weren’t any family trees for this surname with a NZ connection. I also couldn’t find a place name in the lake district. I half expected to find some sort of connection to the lake district because of the theme of many of the other streets in the area. Personally I would like it to have been named after William Chaloner a con artist from the 1600s. I had been geocaching nearby and I didn’t actually walk this private lane. It looked like a driveway to just one house but there are apparently 6 houses here. Google vehicle must have driven down the lane as there is street view on google maps and the houses look rather large and they mostly date from 2000.

Ennerdale Row in Westmorland- Named after Ennerdale Water, one of the smaller lakes in the Lake District of northern England. Named to continue the theme in the subdivision of naming streets after places in historic Westmorland in England, since 1974 part of Cumbria. Formed post-1997.

A small amount of information from the library website. Most the houses here were built in 2000 and they have great views. A variety of styles and are mostly quite nice. The houses are fairly large with nice gardens. The street runs off Highcrest Heights and I was geocaching nearby. I have actually stayed at the YHA at Ennerdale Water and it is rather off the beaten track.