Stambridge Place in Cashmere. There is no mention of this street on the library website and I couldn’t find any information on Papers Past. I was surprised when I checked the QV website to find out the ages of the houses here. The earliest was built 1910 and another one was built 1915. The other two were built 1950 and 1980 and the 5th house had no information about it on the QV website. This street is where 85 and 87 Hackthorne Rd would have been. Stambridge is a village in Essex so my best guess is that the original builder or owner had a connection to this place. Stambridge means stone bridge. There was a mill in Stambridge called Stambridge Mill and the owner of this mill did visit Christchurch.
I didn’t walk this street as it just looked like someone’s driveway.

Heaton Rhodes Place – Named after Robert Heaton Rhodes (1861- 1956) Rhodes was a lawyer, runholder, stock breeder, politician, horticulturist, philatelist and philanthropist. Formed on a subdivision of land belonging to the Rhodes Memorial Convalescent Home in 1968. First appears in street directories in 1972.
A small amount of information from the library website and the Rhodes family are well known in Christchurch so I didn’t see the need to research them. A quick google will give you lots of information about them. It is a small street that runs off Dyers Pass Rd and has 19 houses here. At least one house built in 1920 and a few from 1960s and 1970s. I was a bit confused by the QV website as it had several houses built in 2014 but had details for the properties from 1980s and earlier. I checked google maps and they are obviously rebuilds from after the earthquakes. The rebuilds are really ugly. I couldn’t see the house from 1920 as it is set well off the road. There was a sign saying The Bothy but the address for this B & B is actually Dyers Pass Rd.
Nice views here but the street didn’t actually do a lot for me. Not that I could afford to live here as house prices were all over a million dollars.

Lady Polson Lane – Named after Mary Victoria Cracroft Polson, née Grigg, (1897-1971). Mary Polson was a politician and community leader. Developed at 64 Hackthorne Road. An existing right-ofway further developed in 1995 and named then by residents. Mary Polson had lived there.

A small amount of information from the library website and some of the information is incorrect. I didn’t search Papers Past as there is a Wikipedia page for Lady Polson but the best information was on Findagrave which included a photo of her.

Mary was born Mary Victoria Cracroft Wilson and she was the granddaughter of John Cracroft Wilson. She married Athur Grigg and they lived in the Ashburton / Mt Somers area. After Arthur was killed in Libya in 1941 Mary took over his seat in parliament under something called widow’s succession. She was then elected in 1942 and was only the fourth woman elected to parliament but was the first for the National party. Mary was only in parliament for a year but stayed active in politics. She remarried William Polson who was a politician in the North Island. Mary was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1946 and her husband was knighted in 1951.
After William’s death Mary moved to Christchurch and lived at 64C Hackthorne Rd. She was active in the guiding movement when living in Christchurch and she is buried at Bromley cemetery. She sounds like she was an interesting person.

There are only about 12 houses in this lane and the oldest is from 1910 and another is from 1960 with the rest dating around the 1990s and 2000. QV website played up and I couldn’t get more information about the dates of the houses. I didn’t walk this lane as it was very obviously a private lane. This was a pity as I suspect that the house from 1910 would be lovely. This lane is on land that would have originally been owned by Lady Polson’s grandfather.
A lot of information for a tiny lane.

Rhodesvale Tce – Named because it was formed on land formerly belonging to the Rhodes Memorial Convalescent Home. Named in May 1980 by the committee of the Home.

A small amount of information on the library website. The QV website has 15 houses here and all seem to date from 1980s. The Rhodes Memorial Convalescent Home most likely is named after Robert Heaton Rhodes who was a major landowner in the area. I found a newspaper article about residents protesting the building of a new rest home after the original was demolished because of the earthquakes. Claimed it would affect the value of their properties. There has been a nursing home on this site since 1886 so my personal feeling is that the complaining residents need to get over it. When googling I found out that there is a book about the original nursing home and even better it is available at the library.
I didn’t actually walk this street as it had a very private feel about and looked like a private driveway.

Sherwood Lane – First appears in street directories in 1957. A small amount of information on the library website.

I searched Papers Past and the Ancestry website and couldn’t find any information about this street. QV website had 18 properties on the street ranging from 1915 to 1990. I couldn’t get information for all the properties as QV website said information unavailable. There is an entrance to Ngaio Marsh’s house on this lane.
There were several people in Christchurch with the surname Sherwood but they all lived in either Sydenham or New Brighton. There also used to be a Sherwood Lane in St Albans.So it is either named after a person or after Sherwood Forest. Take your pick.
I only walked part of this lane and I realised that I have been here before visiting a bookcrossing friend who is now back home in Germany.

Valley Road – First appears in street directories in 1914.
Tiny amount of information from the library website. The road is in a valley so name is fairly obvious and I can’t expand on the name.
Information from Papers Past had sections for sale in 1913 and 1920 but I couldn’t find the name of the original land owner but there was a quarry here under the name of Craig and Roberts so they were possibly the owners.Quarry was still being worked in 1916. In 1917 a J H Menzies sold three building sites to a Mr Morgan.
In 1932 there was a proposal for a War Memorial to be built on land known as Winter Gardens but it was turned down by the council. In 1935 there was a road extension and relief labour was used. The Recreation Club, Bowling Club and tennis club have been on this street since at least 1923.

There is a mixture of ages and styles of houses on this street ranging from 1920 lovely wooden houses to an ugly 2019 house. There was an unbelievable fantastic house near the end of the road but the QV website said information was unavailable. Lovely street but parking would be terrible. At the end of the street there is a walkway that takes you up to MacMillan Ave. The most famous house would be the 1940s house that belonged to Ngaio Marsh but you can’t really see it from the road.

Patchett Place – Named after Sydney David Patchett (1908- 1991). Patchett, a farmer of Governors Bay, was a member of the Heathcote County Council in the post World War II period. First appears in street directories in 1972. At that time Patchett was living at 99 Kidson Terrace.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website and nothing that I can add to it. Only about 13 properties on the street and all built in the 1970s. Good views over Christchurch and they all looked like pleasant houses to live in but parking is terrible. The road runs off Hackthorne Rd.

MacMillan Ave – Named after Professor John Macmillan Brown (1845-1935). Brown was a university professor and administrator. His home was at 35 Macmillan Avenue. First mentioned in The Press in 1908 when Professor Macmillan Brown advertises “60 beautiful hillside sections” for sale. Macmillan Avenue was expected to be the “finest thoroughfare to be found anywhere on the Port Hills”. First appears in street directories in 1912.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website and I found the same article from 1908. There were also sections for sale from 1910 to 1913 and the area was called MacMillan Brown Estate. Professor MacMillan Brown was born in Irvine, Scotland and after attending local schools in Irvine and Glasgow he went to Oxford University. He travelled to New Zealand for health reasons and took up a position at Canterbury College. He married Helen Connon who became principal at Christchurch Girls High. Their grandson was James K Baxter. Both Professor MacMillan Brown and Helen Connon have Wikipedia pages.

This street has houses covering every decade from 1910 onwards and there are several still being rebuilt after the earthquakes. At least two toilet block styles being built. The older houses are gorgeous and I had a lovely chat with the owner of the Art Deco house. I am pleased that he went against the advice of friends who recommended that he demolish the house. This is a narrow street in many parts and parking is difficult. The houses prices here are well beyond my budget. I used to visit a friend who lived on this street but I couldn’t work out which was her house and it has been so long that I don’t know if she still lives on this street.
I came up the walkway from Valley Rd to get to MacMillan Ave and there was a geocache hidden on the walkway.

Lowick Ave – Carter’s Lane Re-named Lowick Avenue. Named after Lowick, a village in Northumberland, England. Carter’s Lane first appears in street directories in 1924. Re-named Lowick Avenue in 1933 by the Public Utilities Committee of the Heathcote County Council.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. I checked Papers Past and very little information there. The street was renamed because there were several other Carter’s Lane and Carter’s Streets in Christchurch. In a report in 1932 it used the word Lawick for the renaming but Lowick used in later reports.It is likely that Carter’s Lane was named after someone with the surname Carter but I couldn’t prove this. The central city Carter’s Lane would have been named after James Carter a carrier but I couldn’t find any connection to the Cashmere lane. I searched ancestry website but had no luck finding out more information. I was hoping to find someone born in Lowick or a family connection to Lowick.
The earliest mention I could find on Papers Past was in 1918 and a section was for sale in 1921.
I didn’t actually walk this lane as it looked like a driveway and there are only four properties here. Checking the QV website there are two houses from 1910 and one from 1920 with a 4th one demolished. The lane runs off Hackthorne Rd.

When researching Dyers Pass Rd I found a Miss Carter living on Dyers Pass Rd in the 1940s.

Dyers Pass Rd – Governors Bay Road Named after John Dyer (1828-1876). One of the oldest ways over the hills. The Maori used this way to travel to their villages and their pallisaded pa at Governors Bay. First used by Europeans as a horse track. Road formation was undertaken by the Provincial Government 1862-1863. Dyer bought Rural Sections 228, 442, 443 and 1874, all parcels of land in “Governor’s Bay, Port Lyttelton”. Dyers Pass Road is first mentioned in the Star in 1869 and first appears in street directories in 1911 with a see ref. to Governors Bay Road, Heathcote. First appears with residents listed in 1914.

A reasonable of information from the library website.On Papers Past I found information from 1869 and one was a letter to the editor complaining about the state of the road. Another was a surveyor’s report about the road being unsafe. Several ads with sections being sold in 1937. The QV website had houses dated from as early as 1905 but there are at least two historic buildings dating in the 1890s. Two well known buildings on this road are Sign of the Takahe and Sign of the Kiwi. Papers Past has the Rhodes Convalescent Home with a Dyers Pass address.
There is a real mixture of houses on this road and most are lovely old houses with a few modern ones. There was one particularly large building from 1910 which is the most fantastic looking house but I just couldn’t found out the history of the house or who originally owned it.
Most of the housing is on the Christchurch side of the road and on the Lyttelton Harbour side there would only be a handful of houses but most are near Governors Bay.

I obviously didn’t walk the full length of this road as it goes from Cashmere Rd and over the hill to Governors Bay. I did find an article on Papers Past where a group of people had walked the full length but it was in a safer era. I walked up the road on the Christchurch side until the footpath ended. It wouldn’t have been safe to have attempted to walk any further and on a lovely Sunday afternoon the traffic was busy.
There is a small group of shops at the Hackthorne and Dyers Pass corner with a couple of cafes. Just below this corner there is an entrance to Cashmere Primary School and there is a pedestrian crossing here. This corner is not safe for pedestrians and there is no footpath to get to the pedestrian crossing and it is safer to go through the school grounds from Hackthorne Rd. There is a Masonic Lodge on the corner of Hackthorne Rd and Dyers Pass Rd and I was tempted to ask the man who was working on the building if I could look through it.