Templetons Road – nothing on library website which surprised me as this road has been here since at least the 1960s. I often used to walk in this area when I lived in the area over 29 years ago. In those days the houses were only on one side of the road with paddocks on the other side. The houses on the older side are mostly brick and would date from the 1960s and the newer houses on the side where the paddocks used to be probably date from 2012. The new houses are mostly brick as well. This road is blocked off at the Halswell Rd end which is fairly new as you used to be able to drive into this road from Halswell Rd. There is a large kindergarten on the Halswell Rd corner. I suspect that this road is named after a family called Templeton who lived in the area. There was a John and Ivy Templeton and they had at least one son Isaac but Isaac died as a baby. My photo is from the park end. I found my information on Past Papers and Ancestry websites.

Neave Place – Named after Francis Digby Spencer Neave (1842-1913). Neave owned the Mount Algidus run for 27 years. He was also a fellow of Christ’s College and he lived at Okeover in Ilam. One of the streets in the area formed on land belonging to Christ’s College. First appears in street directories in 1972.Interesting information from library website. Another street where the land still owned by Christs College was sold to an Auckland developer. A short street but because it is in a slightly older suburb the footpath is on both sides of the street. Difficult to photos as the street was really busy. There was Enable contractors plus glaziers. A woman was walking her dog as well. I managed one photo and I was so sure that this was where a former boss from my Postbank days at Barrington but the house looked different from what I remembered,

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 might need to search out the book. There was only about 5 to 6 houses here and no footpath. I only took a few steps into the street as I didn’t feel comfortable walking it. It looked like a glorified driveway but did manage a sneaky photo. The houses looked flash.

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 directories in 1970.A wee bit of information from the library website. The land no longer belongs to Christ College and this has been in the news recently. The land was sold to an Auckland developer without the knowledge of the house owners and not only did the cost of their leases increase but they no longer had the same option to freehold the land.The houses are mostly made of summerhill stone and of a similar style. Many had modern chimneys and I am assuming that the original ones were damaged in the earthquakes. There is a lovely big park here. Didn’t manage to get photos of the houses here.

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 as 1473. The information that I put for Cardinal Drive relates to this street as well. A small street that ends at a wee park. One interesting fact is that this street had a footpath on both sides of the street whereas in more modern streets of this type tend to lack footpaths.

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 named after Anglican church members. I don’t know if it is still the case but much of the land here was owned by the Anglican church and houses were cheaper because the land was leasehold. Houses mostly brick or summerhill stone and built in the 1960s. There was one house that I would loved to have taken a photo of but there were a couple of men in the next door driveway. I couldn’t figure out if it was an old cottage that had been added to or was built this way. I used to know this street well as I knew people who lived here but just can’t remember this house. I have a feeling that it is an older cottage that has been modernised. My one photo is of a vehicle in someone’s drive and it amused me.

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 street directories in 1902.A reasonable amount of information from the library website and I found the same report from 1899.I don’t know why the name Edinburgh was chosen for the street and my best guess is that a local landowner was from Edinburgh. There were a huge number of entries for this street on Papers Past and there was another Edinburgh Street in Riccarton. The Riccarton street had a name change in 1941 because of the confusion of having two streets with the same name. Most entries were birth or death notices plus ads. There were several sections available in the 1940s. There were a couple of entries from 1915 that amused me. One from February 1915 was titled A Rocky Road and it was a complaint from a group of residents who said that there were huge rocks on the road and these rocks were causing accidents. In March 1915 the road was inspected and the inspectors couldn’t find the ‘boulders’. This is a long street and runs from Domain Tce to Barrington St. The houses date from 1900 to 2015 and cover every decade. A real mixture of house styles and many of the older wooden villas have survived. Most are in reasonable condition but there was one place that was fenced off. It looked like it was originally a State House. There is some sort of church building at the Barrington St end. I actually have ended up walking this street three times and kept forgetting to write it up.

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 Investment Company. He was naturalised in 1905 but this was revoked in 1917. He later moved to California and died in England. Schauman Street is described as a “new street” in a report in The Press of a meeting of the Woolston Borough Council in 1905. Appears in 1907 street directories only.Re-named Plunket Street in 1908. Lord Plunket was the Governor of New Zealand 1904-1910.A huge amount of information the library website but I am not sure that it is correct.

The first entries on Papers Past were in 1911 when there were several ads for the sale of a house and stables. In 1913 there were several sections for sale. I couldn’t find anything about the naming of this street. I could find no evidence of any street called Schauman St. Karl Schauman lived in Sumner with his second wife Lucy. He was naturalised on 30th May 1905 but couldn’t find any document to say it had been revoked but as he was no longer living in New Zealand by 1917 it is possible that it automatically revoked. It doesn’t sound like he was living in New Zealand for very long as he married his second wife in 1901 in England. This was the same year his first wife died. He appears in English census records for 1901. The new street mentioned in the library website was actually near Opawa Railway Station and all his land dealings seem to be in the Opawa area. In 1904 he was using Risingholme as an address in ads for the selling of land from estates originally belonging to Judge Williams and Mr Rhodes. I couldn’t find any other information linking Karl Schauman to Risingholme apart from these ads. I couldn’t find any evidence of Karl being in New Zealand after 1907. He married his third wife in England in 1933 and he died in England in 1935. Interesting history but I personally feel that he had no link to Plunket St.Karl’s history was far more interesting than Lord Plunket even if he has nothing to do with the street.This street runs from Neville St to Edinburgh St and the houses date from 1905 to 2016. A pleasant looking street with some nice houses.

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 1990s except for one from 1940.

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 to his father-in-law Joseph Cox who died in 1909. James married Alice Cox in January 1895. James is described as being the only son of James Smitham of Redruth in Cornwall. This explains the name of the street. James was the proprietor of the Cashmere Picnic Grounds. He must have also had a store in Cashmere as he sold it in 1909 along with a large section of land. In 1910 in is mentioned that J W Smitham has submitted plans for the new street that runs from Selwyn St to Strickland St. There was an auction of sections along with a description that the estate is now roaded and channelled by Mr Blogg under the direction of the well know surveyor Mr F W Freeman. In December 1910 there was an auction of furniture and other goods as Mr Smitham was leaving for Queensland. On a cemetery website I found his grave and he is buried at Apple Tree Cemetery in Queensland and he died in November 1929 aged 65 years and his wife Alice died in 1941 aged 75.Most the houses on this street are wooden bungalows built in 1910, 1915 or 1920s. There are 4 or 5 from 1970s or 1990s that are on back sections. There are some seriously cool houses on this street and I love them. One or two have been ruined by being modernised. I did like this street. The street no longer runs to Strickland St as James K Baxter Place is between Redruth Ave and Strickland St.