Sefton Place formerly Sefton Street – Sefton Street first appears in street directories in 1947. Becomes Sefton Place in 1987.
Kinver Place – Named in 1966.

The library website had very little information. Both streets looked like they had old Housing Corp houses on them. Sefton Place had some brand new houses that were really small but were of an interesting design.

Couldn’t find any information on Papers Past. Kinver Place is possibly named after a place in Staffordshire and there were at least two houses with that name in Christchurch. Edited as I found out that Kinver is a place not far from Hagley Hall so it is highly likely that this is the reason for the name as many other streets in this area have a Lord Lyttelton connection.

I found an Arthur Sefton living on Strickland St in 1900 so this is a possibility for Sefton Place. Edited to say that there is a Sefton in the UK but it is in the Liverpool area and nowhere near Hagley Hall area.

Wilmer Street – Named after George Wilmer (1816-1904). Wilmer imported horses and cattle, leased Packer’s brewery and founded the Christchurch Veterans’ Cricket Club. He lived in Durham Street near where this street was developed. In 1903, he was supposedly the oldest cricketer in the world.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website.

A car sales one side and the new New World supermarket being built on the other side. Note I walked this a year go and the supermarket is now open.

George Wilmer owned the land and put it up for sale by auction in 1874 as residential sections. Article in 1877 with a complaint about the condition of the street. In 1880 there was an article about forming and channelling the road. Found the same article about George being the oldest cricketer in the world.

Walker Street – Taken over by the council as a public street in 1877. That was boring information from the library website.

This street only has businesses on it and they are mostly all connected to the vehicle industry. Couldn’t find any extra information on Papers Past or Ancestry website. Found a couple of men with the surname Walker who the street could have been named after but couldn’t confirm this.

Orbell Street – formerly Harper Street. Harper was the first Bishop of Christchurch and the second Primate of New Zealand. Re-named Orbell Street on 1 September 1948 when 120 streets were re-named. Orbell was the vicar at various times of several Anglican parishes in Christchurch. [This was a residential zone (railwaymen’s cottages etc.) until the 1970s when it became a light to heavy industrial area.]

A reasonable amount of information from the library website.

It is years since I walked this street. Used to walk part of it frequently when I worked at Sydenham ANZ. It is a street of businesses with a big empty section where Lane Walker Rudkins factory used to be. The factory shop for merino clothing is still on this street. There is a new to me factory shop for Globalculture and I might have to pay it a visit as I quite liked some of the T-shirts that I saw in the window.

This week I ended up chatting to an older woman who had lived on this street when growing up. She used to go to dances at a hall on Selwyn St and there was a short cut to get home that included walking through the cemetery. She liked cemeteries but one evening had a boyfriend with her and he was scared of the cemetery at night, The one and only time he walked through the cemetery he ended up being a gibbering idiot afterwards. The relationship didn’t last.

Could find nothing on Papers Past relating to the naming of this street.

Sydney Street – formerly Little Simeon Street – May be named after Sir Philip Sydney (1554- 1586). Little Simeon Street first appears in street directories in 1903 as a “blind street off the right side of Selwyn Street”. Re-named Sydney Street in 1913 when it was extended further towards Simeon Street. Sir Philip Sydney was a poet, diplomat, courtier and soldier. May continue the theme of “poets and writers” streets of Sydenham, Addington and Waltham.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. Mostly older villas here in various conditions. Some have been done up nicely but others need serious work done on them. A pleasant street.

Nothing in Papers Past about why this street was given this name. I found Sydney St mentioned as early as 1911. Thought that it might have something to do with Simeon family but they didn’t seem to have a connection to Sydney and had already left New Zealand to return to England.

Garnett Ave – First appears in street directories in 1938. This is all that the library website had about the street. A small wee cul de sac with a croquet club at the end of it. Really nice houses here.

No information on Papers Past about naming of this street. There are two possible reasons for the name. One is that in keeping with nearby streets that it has an author theme and is named after Dr Richard Garrett 1835 – 1906 scholar, librarian, biographer and poet. He was the son of Richard Garnett an author and was also keeper of printed books in the British Museum.

The other possibility is another Richard Garnett 1890 – 1964 who was a nurseryman and he lived on Clarence St. I couldn’t find out where his business was situated. His father was Arthur Henry Garnett who lived in Opawa. The Ancestry website didn’t have a lot of information and it wasn’t helped by people making mistakes when linking ancestors to family trees. This is all pure guesswork but the name had to come from somewhere.

Bolton Ave – Named in 1921 and this is all the information that the library website had about the street.

The man who was the original owner of the property that I have just sold used to live on this street. A nice private wee street but too close to Brougham St for my liking as it would have too much traffic noise.

I couldn’t find out why the name Bolton was used but the name Bolton Ave was used in ads as early as May 1917 when the company Ford and Hadfield were offering sections in the new subdivision. Included in the ad was information about the tram passing both ends of the new street of Bolton Ave.

In 1921 Ford and Hadfield applied for consent for the new road to be named Bolton Ave. This was agreed to as the layout of the new road had already been approved by the Spreydon Council in Nov 1913. I am assuming that the name Bolton was relevant to Ford and Hadfield. I found a Charles Ford who joined this company but he left in 1914 to move to Wanganui. I found a John Hadfield who was mayor of Sydenham but there was no obituary for him which was a bit surprising as he seemed to be very active in local affairs. Couldn’t find out if he was connected to this firm. He did own land on Brougham St. Nothing on Ancestry website. It is possible that there is a connection to Bolton in the UK but couldn’t find anything.

Everard Street – First mentioned in The Press in 1913. Part of the street disappeared when Barrington Mall was developed. Video Village of Barrington incorporated the Everard Street sign and original power pole in their shop development.

A small amount of information from the library website. The Video Village shop is no longer there. This is a tiny street and the few houses looked really nice.

I couldn’t find anything extra on Papers Past or Ancestry website. This street runs off Milton St which is named after a poet so it is possible that this street is named after Rev George Everard who was the author of several Christian themed books. This is just guesswork by me and I could be totally wrong.

Athelstan Street – Probably named after Athelstan (c.895- 939) – Athelstan was the first king of all England, and Alfred the Great’s grandson. Athelstan Street is first mentioned in The Press in 1913 when 32 sections in Spreydon were auctioned.

A small amount of information from the library website.

Barrington Mall is one side and there is a medical centre and dentist plus some houses on the other side of the street. I usually do my shopping at this Mall plus I worked at the Post Office / Postbank here a very long time ago. The Post Office building is now a Coupland’s Bakery.

After searching Papers Past I have come up with some ideas for the naming of this street. It was surprising how common this name was especially as a middle name. There was a Leonard Athelstan King who was a builder and he died in 1935. There was Edward Athelstan Worthy who was a teacher at Christs College. He drowned in France in 1894. There was also John Athelstan Parsons who lived in Kaikoura but he moved to Christchurch in 1897. He was employed by the Land Board. The other possible reason for the name is the Druid Lodge Athelstan and the first meeting of this lodge was in 1880. There were also several articles about the history of Athelstan, King of England especially in connection with Malmesbury Abbey.

There was nothing on Papers Past to say why this street was given its name but as the library website mentions the first mention of the street was in 1913.

Coronation Street – Named to commemorate the coronation of Edward VII (1841-1910) on 26 June 1902.

A small amount of information from the library website. Not a lot that I can add here. I don’t normally walk the full street here as I usually divert through the park and play Pokemon. Lots of older villas on this street with a few newer places. This street runs from Selwyn St to Barrington St and it feels like it should be part of Selwyn St. I checked Papers Past and couldn’t find anything about the naming of this street. In the 1910s several articles and one was about tramlines. Also the articles sometimes said Spreydon and others said Woolston. The same street or was there two Coronation Streets.