Rutherford St – formerly Princes Street, Probably named after Sir Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937). Princes Street first appears in street directories in 1887. Re-named Rutherford Street on 1 September 1948 when 120 streets were re-named. Rutherford was a scientist. [It was extended in 1985 as the only vehicular bridge across the Woolston Cut.]A small amount of information from the library website and I forgot to check if anyone with the surname Rutherford lived on the street. Got seriously sidetracked with Nurse Turner.Princes St was a popular name for streets in New Zealand and thousands of entries on Papers Past so I limited by search to Princes St Woolston. In 1886 it was referred to as Cemetery Rd but that was possibly just an informal name. In 1924 the cemetery was referred to as Old Time Cemetery as was described as nearly full with a well built mortuary chapel. Sexton was paid £50 a year and plots cost £23. Locals were objecting to extending the cemetery. A few years later there was a complaint about the state of the graves and the chairman of the trust replied that it was up to the families to maintain the graves and the trust had no money to be able to do maintenance. Cemetery now called Rutherford St Cemetery but previously was known as Woolston CemeteryIn 1914 a company called Gerstena Food Manufacturing Company was established on the street. In 1919 there was mention of the Woolston Tannery on the corner of Princes St and the Heathcote River. In 1920 a fire destroyed the wool scouring and tannery plant owned by Walter Hill. Fire believed to have started in the wool drying area. In 1943 there was mention of a small fire at the wool scouring works.In 1930 there were tenders received for the building of a bridge over the Heathcote River and going by the description of the finished bridge I suspect that it is the one on the corner of Garlands Rd and Rutherford St. The bridge at Ferry Rd end probably wasn’t built until the 1980s.Many babies were born at Nurse Turner’s nursing home at 28 Princes St. Her name was Jessie Turner and she was married to John Richard Turner. They had a house destroyed by fire in 1894 and they lived on this street a long time as they were still there were she died in 1931 and he died in 1945. Sadly they lost three sons in the first World War.This street runs from Garlands Rd where the bridge crosses the Heathcote River and ends at Ferry Rd just after the other bridge over the Heathcote River. The houses here cover most decades starting from 1890. Many empty sections. There are about 5 houses from 1890 and a couple are in terrible repair. At the Garland St end of the street there are businesses plus the cemetery and I know that there were complaints about smells in recent times but the factory responsible for the bad smells was at the back of the cemetery and was destroyed fire a couple of years ago. The houses are a real mix of well looked after to rundown dumps.

Woolston Courts and this private lane isn’t mentioned on the library website. There are only 6 brick houses here and they were all built in the 1970s where 12 Rutherford St would have been

Vincent Place in Opawa – formerly Church Road (later Vincent Street), Station Road (later Lucas Street) and Railway Terrace. Named after Richard Vincent (d. 1888). Vincent was a farmer of Opawa. In 1887 he advertised part of Rural Section 20 for sale in the Star. This was in between “Ferry Road and Heathcote”, land originally purchased by B.W. Mountfort. Church Road, Railway Terrace and Station Road first appear in street directories in 1892, all in the vicinity of the Lyttelton railway (later Opawa Railway Station). Church Road was re-named Vincent Street and Station Road was re-named Lucas Street on 24 May 1926. Vincent Street, Railway Terrace and Lucas Street were combined to form Vincent Place in 1929. A reasonable amount of information from the library website. There was a Mr Lucas mentioned in Papers Past so my best guess is that Lucas Street was named after him. In 1905 there were sections for sale in what was called the Opawa Estate. The reason given for the name change in 1929 was because of another Railway Terrace in Riccarton. A councillor described the street as a parallelogram. Many of the smaller councils were being merged with Christchurch Council around this time. In 1931 a man wanted permission to build a shop on the corner of Vincent Place and Opawa Rd but it was refused. I am assuming that he eventually got permission as there has been a shop on that corner for as long as I can remember.In 1936 there were new bungalows available for sale but there is only one house left on this street from the 1930s. Only 12 properties now and most from 1970s. One or two from 1910 and one from 1890. The one from 1890 would have been gorgeous but now looking rundown and junk piled up on parts of the section.This street is in two halves and the low numbers are on the same half that has St Mark’s Church on the corner of Vincent Place and Opawa Rd. The house from 1890 is in the section as well. There is then a walkway beside Brougham St that leads to the houses with the higher numbers. There is a house from 1910 here but I couldn’t see if it was in good condition or not because of a high fence. The shop is on the corner of this half of the street. The street numbers here start at 67 whereas the other half of the street has street numbers 1 to 5.The section where the walkway beside Brougham St is where the original Railway Tce used to be and the street numbers would have gone from 6 to 65. The houses were obviously demolished where Brougham Street was extended. I remember when growing up and spent time visiting friends in the area that there was a walkway that took you across the railway track from the Opawa Railway Station to Vincent Place. The railway station is long gone and the children who went to St Marks School got off at this station. I couldn’t find much information about Richard Vincent on the ancestry website. He was described as a grazier from Opawa and that is all I could find. I couldn’t even find a family tree for his family and at this stage I would have been happy to find even one one that had mistakes. Papers Past gave a little bit more information. His wife Ellen died November 1882 aged 35. Richard himself died in 1888 but I don’t have an exact date but guardianship for the infant children was given to Thomas Whelan. One son George died in 1899 aged only 26. A daughter Alice married in 1905 and another married in 1900. The electoral rolls n the 1890s have them living had different addresses so it looks like they were split up after the parents died. I spent a lot time looking for where they are buried but couldn’t find any information. I searched several websites with no luck. Richard was a landowner so I would have expected that he would have had money for a gravestone for his wife. He had his property for sale in 1887.

Opawa Rd – Named because it runs through the suburb of Opawa which, in turn, is named after Opawaho, the Māori name for the Heathcote River. First mentioned in the Star in 1877 in a report of a meeting of the Heathcote Road Board. Appears on an 1879 map. A small amount of information from the library website and nothing that I can add about the name of this very long road. The road is in three suburbs and they are Hillsborough, Opawa and Waltham. I walked it in two halves and was shocked when looking at my photos that I did the first walk a year ago. In January 2020 I had caught a bus to Heathcote and walked home to Addington and in the weekend just gone I parked up near the Opawa shops and walked to where Shakespeare Rd starts and Opawa Rd ends. In 1876 there were complaints about the state of the road and in 1919 and 1929 there were many letters to the editor about potholes in the road. I don’t think that they were the same potholes as the ones in 1876 and this was a busy main road with a lot of traffic so a lot of wear and tear. In 1901 there were objections to widening the road. In 1904 there were arguments about who should should pay for the maintenance of the road as the road was in the three districts of Heathcote, Woolston and Christchurch. Might explain why problems with the state of the road. In 1922 council housing was appoved for Opawa Rd. I was interested to see that there was a business called Wigram’s Brickyard on Opawa Rd. An interesting wee snippet from October 1919 was a birth notice for Mr and Mrs Lyttelton. Wonder if they had any connection to Lord Lyttelton. This street has houses dating from every decade but the older houses are between the river and Brougham St and at least 4 or 5 are dated from 1905. The road starts at Port Hills Rd and there houses one side and businesses the other side plus empty land. You then reach Hillsborough Park and a little bit further one there are shops on Grange St corner. I continued along until I reached Munro Playground and there are still houses on just one side of the road in varying degrees of condition and repair. A few empty sections. That day a year ago I continued my walk along Brougham St and didn’t expect it to take me a whole year before returning. From Munro Playground there is a short walk on the wide Opawa Rd which is a main link to Lyttelton before turning into the rest of Opawa Rd. There is a short section just before the river where there is a community garden and the Opawa Community Church. Cross the bridge over the Heathcote River and there are several shops plus a library. From the shops to Brougham St there are houses and some are gorgeous older houses. St Mark’s Church is still cordoned off but a notice said ‘We will be back’. There is also a bowling club near Ensors Rd end and there was a plaque on the gates. I love plaques. Multi dwelling apartments are being built at the Brougham St end, The short section from Brougham St to Shakespeare Rd is full of businesses.

Bronte Place in Waltham – Named after Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte. The Bronte sisters were 19th century authors from Yorkshire, England. Named to continue the theme of “poets and writers” streets of Sydenham, Addington and Waltham named by a committee of the Sydenham Borough Council on 19 January 1880.First appears in street directories in 1983.A reasonable amount of information from the library website and can you see their mistake. A tiny street with only three houses. One house was built in 1910 and the other two were built in 1915. There was no mention of this street on Papers Past and the article from January 1880 didn’t mention the street by name. The street runs from Walpole Street to a wee reserve that is on Brougham St.

Manatu Lane in Waltham and this street wasn’t on the library website. There are only 14 houses here and most were built in 1970s but one dates from 1930. This lane is where 56 Opawa Rd used to be and I suspect that it would have been the address for the house from the 1930s. Possible meaning for Manatu is to think and from the Samoan language as that was all I could find from googling. If anyone knows another meaning that would be great. This looked like a pleasant wee street and some lovely gardens.

Raycroft St in Waltham – formerly Reycroft Street. Also part of York Street. First mentioned in The Press in 1898. First appears in street directories in 1909 as Reycroft Street. Becomes Raycroft Street in 1914. York Street north of Opawa Road was incorporated into and renamed Raycroft Street on 1 September 1948 when 120 streets were renamed. A small amount of information from the library website and I am going to disagree with some of the information on their website. I only found the name Reycroft about four times and three were death notices for the same person and the fourth was an ad for a house being sold in 1930.In 1894 there was a cottage for sale on the corner of Ball’s Rd and Raycroft St. An ad in 1913 is used Raycroft St and was described as being off Ball’s Lane. In 1939 the street was described as being off York St. In 1922 the mayor inspected the street after complaints from residents about coal dust from the Railway coal dump. It was mentioned that there were only a few houses on the street. No houses on the street now and it only has businesses on it. It looked very dreary. The only memorable thing about this street was the man who chatted me up. He even wanted my address and that was not going to happen. I don’t know where the name came from as I couldn’t find anyone with that surname living in Christchurch.

Mowbray St in Waltham- Probably named after Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, England. Named in 1897 by Harman and Stevens, land and commission agents.A small amount of information from the library website. I found the same information about Harman and Stevens in Papers Past. There were several ads in 1897 for the sale of sections. In 1904 there was a request from residents for street lights. In 1913 there was a letter to the editor about Mowbray St being a neglected street and complaints about the street being a mess because the council kept digging it up to lay pipes and not repairing it properly afterwards. Some things don’t change. There were many birth and death notices for the street but there are no longer houses on this street. The railway line and sheds are on one side of the street and businesses on the other side. There is an entrance to a tunnel that goes under the railway lines here and if it hadn’t been starting to get dark the evening that I walked this street I would have explored the tunnel. I vaguely recall this tunnel from when I was young and I am also fairly sure that there was a geocache somewhere in the tunnel many years ago.There are a couple of possible reasons for the street name and obviously being named after Melton Mowbray is one of them. Harman was born in Dublin so he is unlikely to have a connection to Melton Mowbray. Edward Stevens possibly has a connection through his wife but this depends if she was born in Longborough in Gloucestershire or born in Loughborough near Melton Mowbray. There were at least two or three families in New Zealand with the surname Mowbray in New Zealand but they don’t seem to have lived in Christchurch in the 1890s.

Defoe Place in Waltham – formerly part of Cecil Street. Named after Daniel Defoe (1660-1731). Maps in street directories in 1983 show Cecil Street split into two, the section between Brougham Street and Shakespeare Road becoming Defoe Place and the section between Hastings Street and Brougham Street becoming Cecil Place. Defoe was the author of Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders. Probably named to continue the theme of “poets and writers” streets of Sydenham, Addington and Waltham named by a committee of the Sydenham Borough Council on 19 January 1880.A reasonable amount of information from the library website and nothing that I can add to it. A lot of streets were affected by Brougham St extension. I will research Cecil St when I walk Cecil Place which won’t be today with temperatures predicted to be in the 30s.This street runs from Shakespeare Rd to Brougham St and at the Brougham St end there is a reserve / green space which didn’t seem to have a name. There are many older wooden villas here from 1905 through to 1925. A couple of houses from 1955 and 1985 and a few more recent modern houses. Most of the older houses were in good condition but a couple were looking a bit rundown.

Thackeray Place and Thackeray Street – formerly Thackeray Street Named after William Makepeace Thackeray (1811- 1863). Thackeray was a novelist and essayist. One of the “poets and writers” streets of Sydenham, Addington and Waltham named by a committee of the Sydenham Borough Council on 19 January 1880. Developed on land owned by Harman and Stevens, land and commission agents. They asked the Sydenham Borough Council to complete its formation in 1894. Thackeray Street first appears in street directories in 1887. Becomes Thackeray Place in 1983.A reasonable amount of information from the library website but their website doesn’t mention Thackeray St as there still is a Thackeray St. The naming is pretty obvious so I don’t need to cover that.In 1884 the council mentioned streets lamps to be installed for this street. In 1893 someone was fined for allowing his cow to wander on the street and in 1895 there was a letter to the editor complaining about the state of the street. It was about the abnormal growth of weeds on the street and is the street for public grazing purposes and do they need a councillor living on the street for things to be fixed. The street was slightly about which suburb it was in as both Sydenham and Phillipstown were used but mostly Waltham was used. In1906 there were several birth notices that mentioned Kia Ora Nursing Home.There was one sad article from 1886 where a William Hosking died at his residence in Thackeray St after being injured by a fall of earth while working on fortifications on Ripa Island.There are a few houses dating from 1910 through to 1940 and they are mostly really lovely but two of them are in a bad state of repair. The ones dated from 2000 onwards are horrible and look like state housing but are probably just apartments crammed together on sections that originally would have had just one house.Thackeray Place runs from Shakespeare Rd to Brougham St and there is a wee reserve called Thackeray Reserve at the Brougham St end. If you cross Shakespeare Rd you come to Thackeray St which runs to Mowbray St. This section is full of businesses and there are no houses here. There is also a wee kink in the streets so that Thackeray Place doesn’t join up direct with Thackeray St.