Deyell Crescent – Named after Joseph Deyell (1867?-1936) – The stables of J. Deyell and Co. were at the corner of Deyell Crescent and Strickland Street in 1940, the year it first appears in street directories.

This is the sort information that I like to get from the library website as it gives a bit of history of the street.

I am not sure why it is called a crescent as is it a short straight street of mostly nice older house with nice gardens, There was just one wee problem and that is a leaking water meter. This is really common sight that I see when walking around the streets. The City Council keep telling the people of Christchurch to conserve water but they are wasting huge amounts of water by not fixing the leaks. The older suburbs are the worst and I suspect that the cause is a mixture of earthquake damaged older pipes that haven’t been repaired properly. Cars using the footpaths as car parks don’t help plus a council that doesn’t seem to care.

Riccarton Avenue formerly Middle Park Road and Riccarton Road. Named after Riccarton, a village and parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland. Named to continue the theme of naming Riccarton streets after places in Ayrshire, Scotland, from whence the Deans family originated.

A small amount of information from the library website and I have nothing to add.

Goes through the middle of Hagley Park and the Public Hospital is also on this Ave. The Nurses Memorial Chapel has been fully restored and reopened recently. They are still working on the new addition to the hospital.

I actually walked this for my project just over a year ago but I often walk here as I like to go to the Botanic Gardens frequently. I visited the Nurses Memorial Chapel when they were open to the public during Heritage Festival.

I remember being in Edinburgh and seeing buses with Riccarton on them.

Deans Avenue – West Belt and West Town Belt. Also part of Rolleston Avenue for a time. Named after the Deans family. Named by the Canterbury Association surveyors who laid out the boundaries of the original city within roadways called “belts” or “town belts”. The other three Town Belts were re-named in 1904. The suggestion to re-name the West Belt, Deans Avenue was also made in 1904.

A reasonable amount of information from library website. I have nothing to add here and didn’t bother to look at Papers Past as I feel that everyone knows about this family.

This Ave has Hagley Park on one side and a mixture of new and old houses on the other side. The modern houses actually look good and are probably very expensive. A couple of Tudor style older houses. Also a hotel and a couple motels. There is also a mosque. The old sale yards are a bit of an eyesore on this road as they are an empty overgrown section. Also found new street art.

Please note that I actually walked this street just over a year ago and sadly it has been in the news far too often since then.

Grebe Place – not on library website and De Lange Street which was on the library website but had no information.

Both are modern streets so no point searching Past Papers. Grebe is a bird so it is likely to be named after this bird. As this is Wigram I would assume any street names to be aviation related but couldn’t find anything related to De Lange. It does sound like someone’s name.

Again it was a couple of boring streets with modern houses

I have done more research by visiting Airforce Museum which is a great place to visit. Grebe Place is likely to be named after the Gloster Grebe biplane. Found limited information about De Lange Street but mostly likely named after Theo de Lange 1914 to 2005 who was a senior officer in the RNZAF. He was awarded DFC in 1944 and CBE in 1965. I have found references to De Lange Cup and De Lange Trophy both being awarded to pilots. Possibly cup and trophy references refer to the same item.

Doppler Place -Named after the Pulse-Doppler, a 4D radar system. In the Wigram Skies subdivision where the streets have an aviation theme. Named in 2014.

A small amount of information from the library website and I have nothing to add. Very modern houses here and none of them stood out for me. Very boring.

Chancery Lane in the Central City. Nothing on the library website as a street but Christchurch suburbs list has it on it’s list. The library does have a good article on it’s website about this lane.
Sadly this lane is no longer there as it suffered badly in the earthquakes and today I couldn’t see where it used to be. The new convention centre is being built in this area.

Papers Past had on 25/01/ 1881 a council note about the newly formed right of way that appears to be known as Chancery Lane. Note there was also a Chancery Lane in Auckland and obviously the one in London so there was a huge number of entries on this website.

I was amused to see that there was a lot of complaints about cyclists in this lane.We all know how I feel about cyclists. The fact there was a Matrimonial Agency here I found amusing and that was dated 1895. One naughty person in 1913 was running a gaming house.
The was a Chancery Lane Hall that seemed to be a busy wee place. Some of the societies that used the hall were Canterbury Women’s Institute, NZ Fabian Society, Plunket Society and Social Hygiene Society. In 1912 there was a meeting of Natives of Sussex.
I didn’t go past 1920 as there was too many entries.

Chancery Lane was a narrow wee lane and I loved it. When going to High School I would get the bus from the train station to the Square and then walk to school through this lane. I wish that I could remember all the shops that were here. The only one that sticks in my mind is the magic shop.
In my late teens and early 20s I vaguely remember a nightclub that was upstairs. I also remembering visiting the Media Club and I have no idea how I managed to get into that one.

In my later years especially when I was working in the Square it was my short cut to the library.
I am sure that my Christchurch friends will have other memories of this lane. Their memories hopefully will trigger more memories for me.

Lightning Close – Named after the Electric Lightning, a supersonic jet fighter aircraft of the Cold War era. In a further stage of the subdivision of Wigram Base. Continues the theme of using the names of military aircraft for street names in the subdivision. Named in 2001.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. Nothing that I can add to this. A Christchurch suburb list had this street in Hornby but I personally feel that it is in Wigram.

I was challenged here as to why I was walking on the street. We ended up having a pleasant chat. This is the older part of Wigram. Why do new streets these days only have a footpath on only one side of the streets.

Mosquito Place – Named after the De Havilland Mosquito aeroplane. In a further stage of the subdivision of Wigram Base. Continues the theme of naming the streets in the subdivision after military aircraft. Named in 2001.

A small amount of information from the library website and I can’t add anything to it.A Christchurch suburb list had this street in Hornby but I personally feel it is in Wigram.

There is a cache hidden here but practically everyone on this tiny street were mowing their lawns.This is the older part of Wigram.

Dow Square – Named as an alternative to the spelling of the small fishing vessel, a dhow, and because the road is set out roughly in a square. Developed at 101 Awatea Road by Awatea Property Developments who wanted a small easily pronounced road name. Named in 2014.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website and I am not able to add to it.

The houses looked so small but they are probably bigger than they look as they are narrow but long.

The Runway – In the Wigram Aerodrome subdivision by Ngāi Tahu Property Ltd where the street names have an aviation theme. Named in 2012

A small amount of information from the library website. This is a very long road and I did walk the entire length. There is a park / green area at one end and a few businesses at the other end. It goes through the shopping centre The Landing. There is now a primary school on this road and a church. Both are very boring building. None of the houses appealed to me and they were all modern houses.
I vaguely recall that this road follows the original airport runway which is how it got the name but the library website didn’t mention this. There also used to be a car race here when it was a airport.