Allison Place in Shirley – formerly Bond Place. Developed on farmland previously owned by Arthur William Emmett (d. 1948) and sold after his death. Part of the land was bought by the government for a state housing area “laid out on modern town planning lines”. It was referred to as Emmetts Block. Bond Place was named on 24 June 1948. Re-named Allison Place on 14 September 1948 as Bond Place was seen as “a name conflicting with a similar name in the Christchurch City”.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. I couldn’t find out anything about the name of this street. There didn’t seem to be a connection to the Emmett family. Not much information on Papers Past and there were a few ads plus a few death notices.

The houses here were built in 1940 and 1990. Two of the houses from 1940 are privately owned but the rest are still state houses / social housing. It wasn’t the most comfortable street to walk and many of the houses looked unkempt with lots of rubbish in the front yards. The houses from 1990 were behind the 1940s houses.

Mary McLean Place in Hillsborough and nothing on library website. This was a bit surprising as this street has been there since 1969.

It is named after Mary Elizabeth McLean who was a city councillor and was on the traffic committee. She died in November 1969 and is buried in the Balcairn cemetery in North Canterbury. She received the MBE in 1961. She was a physiotherapist plus she was on so many committees that it is impossible to name them all. She only gets a very brief mention online and another woman who has the same name gets a much bigger write up. That one got a CBE.

There are 40 units on this street and they are now considered social housing but when they were built they were pensioner cottages. I didn’t actually walk this street as I don’t feel safe walking such streets. Not that I am aware that there have been any issues on this street.

Earl Street in Hillsborough – formerly Overend’s Lane. Named after Dr James William Earle (1804?- 1878). Overend’s Lane first appears in street directories in 1906. James Overend (1854?- 1939), a tannery employee, is a resident. Re-named Earl Street in 1912. Earle emigrated on the Randolph in 1850. He bought Rural Section 44, 50 acres, Christchurch District, near Hills Road (later Port Hills Road). He practised medicine in Lyttelton, later moving to Opawa where he built The Grange. [Legend has it that the “e” was omitted by mistake.] First appears in street directories in 1912.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. I couldn’t find any mention of Overend’s Lane on Papers Past. The electoral rolls only gave James Overend’s address as either Opawa or Woolston and no street details. A reasonable amount of information about Dr James Earle in Papers Past and he served on the local Road Board along with a Mr Garland. It doesn’t sound like he had much time to actually be a doctor as he was on the Road Board plus bred cattle and had a large orchard. He also frequently gave lectures. His orchard was partially destroyed by fire in 1874 as he had been burning rubbish during a norwester. The reason he came to New Zealand was to start a new life after losing a large fortune in a railway speculation.

Several Earl Streets in New Zealand and there were the usual death notices. Between the 1950s and 1970s there were several ads for the sale of sections. The most interesting relates to the Christchurch Urban Land Sale Committee refusing the sale of a section in 1945. The owner of the land had arranged to sell it to a Mrs Green for a certain price but the committee wanted him to sell the land a returned serviceman for a cheaper price. The landowner refused and took it off the market. In the 1970s the ads all used Earle Street rather than Earl Street.

A pleasant street and the two houses dating from 1920s have been altered so that they have lost their character. The houses here cover most decades but nothing really stood out for me.

Bishopsworth Street in Hillsborough and nothing on library website. This was rather surprising as I found the street mentioned in Papers Past as early as 1911 when channelling and asphalting the footpaths were done. In 1914 there was a house and a large section for sale and it was on the corner of Grange St and Bishopsworth St. Several sections and new houses for sale in the 1950s and 1960s. The street also appears on a map of Christchurch dated 1912. Between 1917 and 1918 there were a couple of ballots where this street was the men’s addresses. These ballots relate to men being called up to serve in the war. My best clue was in 1919 where Mrs F Cooksley had received a notice that her husband would be returning home to New Zealand. Ancestry was a big help here and Frederick Cooksley had been a brickworker in the nearby brickworks and sadly his brother died after being crushed at the brickworks. Frederick eventually became a market gardener on Bishopsworth St. The father John Henry Cooksley was a carter and he transported the stone from the brickworks and a nearby quarry. The Cooksley family lived on Grange St and Bishopsworth St runs off Grange St. John Henry Cooksley’s mother was Sarah Gadd and the original name for Curries Rd was Gadd Rd after Sarah’s brother Elijah Gadd. The Cooksley family had a connection to Bristol and there is a place called Bishopsworth in Bristol.

There is one house here that dates from 1930 but most houses were built between 1950s and 1980s. This is a pleasant tree lined street and on one side a big portion is taken up with Hillsborough Park. I am so sure that this park used to have more trees than what it now has. On the other side some of the houses have a hill behind them and this seems to be where some of the newer houses were built between 2013 and 2016. There was one house that I really liked and the house itself was fairly ordinary but it had a skeleton in the window. I am not the only nutter in Christchurch with skeletons. I also liked the tree in the front yard as it had been partially chopped down but in the remaining branches they had built a giant nest and put large blue balls in the nests.

Stoneleigh Green in Parklands – The Community Board commended the developer, Smith Developments Ltd in its use of a forestry theme when naming streets in the Forest Park Estate subdivision. Named in 2004.

A small amount of information from the library website. There are lots of places in the UK called Stoneleigh and leigh means a woodland clearing in Old English.

This is a tiny street next to Crofts Reserve with only 7 houses but the houses are fairly large and built in 2000. Footpath on only one side of the street. There is one brick house which has it’s brick fence /wall propped up by wooden props as the there is a bit of a lean to the wall. I looked at street view and it has been like this since the earthquakes. It actually looked like a pleasant street.

Linkwater Way in Parklands – Name proposed in 2002. This is from the old library website street information. Then I decided to look at the new library website information – Forest Park Estate Smith Developments Limited Name proposed in 2002. The street would link Bottle Lake Drive and Lamorna Road.

I then found this information on an archived council page from 2002 – That the Board ask Smith Developments Limited to choose a name from the list of approved Maori street names to substitute for Linkwater Way.

As the street is still Linkwater Way the developers obviously ignored the council. I don’t know what waters the street is linking without trying to find a map of the various waterway.

I am not sure why I didn’t take photos here as I quite liked the street. The houses were all different styles and many had nice gardens. There is an entrance to Arthur Adcock Memorial Reserve here and I am now wondering if the large boulder in the middle of the reserve used to have a plaque on it.

Foresters Crescent in Parklands – The Community Board commended the developer, Smith Developments Ltd in its use of a forestry theme when naming streets in the Forest Park Estate subdivision. Named in 2004

A small amount of information from the library website and I couldn’t found out any more information. Most houses here were built in 2000 but a few were built later. When I looked at street view comparing the latest street view with older street views it looks like there were some houses demolished after the earthquakes.

It looked like a pleasant street with a footpath on both sides of the street. A few had nice gardens but it was mostly immaculate lawns with shrubs. There was one garden which had a piece of driftwood that I liked.

Crofts Lane in Parklands – First appears in street directories in 1995. A tiny amount of information from the library website. I couldn’t find out any more information about this street. When there is an S on the end of a street name it usually means that it is named after someone. There is also a Crofts Reserve. This was a private lane so I didn’t actually walk it as it looked like it was a driveway. There isn’t a street view for the street but looking at google maps it seemed to show a walkway leading to the reserve. I was in the reserve and I didn’t see a walkway here. The valuation website said that there are 14 houses here which were built in 1990 and 2015. That is more houses than I expected as it only looks like there are about 5 or 6 houses here.

Rue De La Mare in Parklands – Named after Ronald Cyril de la Mare (1925- 1975). De la Mare was the managing director of the Bower Egg Farm Ltd., 467 Bower Avenue. Formed post-1997.

The information from the library website is totally wrong and sent me down a weird rabbit hole. Ronald Cyril de la Mare AKA Delamare had what looked like a complicated domestic life. The Bower Egg Farm was set up in 1954 by Cyril John de la Mare from Guernsey. Cyril came to New Zealand in 1953 with his wife Joan and sons Roger and David. Roger was running the Bower Egg Farm when it went into liquidation in 1998. Cyril eventually went back to Guernsey where he died in 1975 aged 66. The electoral rolls have Cyril John de la Mare living at 467 Bower Ave with occupation as poultry farmer. As usual many of the family trees on Ancestry website were confusing. Ronald de la Mare AKA Delamare father’s name was also Cyril so many people have muddled up the two families. I found an article on Papers Past from 1968 about the Bower Egg Farm being the largest in New Zealand. The article said that Mr Delamare set up the egg farm when he emigrated to New Zealand from Germany. In the same article it mentions that he had farmed eggs in his home town of Guernsey. This shows that our reporters have always struggled with geography as they are certainly rather challenged in this department these days. The Guernsey connection explains why Rue was used in the street name. I couldn’t find the council details for the naming of the street.

The street had a footpath on both sides of the street which I like and the street is in a T shape. A very tidy and pleasant street but nothing stood out so no photos. The houses here were built in 1990 and 2015. The gardens were almost too tidy but a few had shrubs rather than just immaculate lawns. There was an entrance into Crofts Reserve here and the reserve had a playground plus a wildflower garden. I quite liked the street. Edited to say that I am an idiot as I did take a photo of this street.

Tunnel Road in Ferrymead and I obviously didn’t actually walk this one. Too dangerous plus I would probably be arrested if I attempted to walk it. Nothing on the library website for this road. It is 5km long and goes through at least three suburbs. I have driven this road frequently. There is a Wikipedia page for the Road Tunnel and this road is mentioned. You can’t really separate the Tunnel Road from the Road Tunnel. Huge number of articles in Papers Past starting in 1920. Many of the articles and letters to the editor were about which was the best option for transport of goods to Christchurch. There were three groups and one wanted a canal and this would have followed Linwood Ave with wharves near Lancaster Park. Then there were the ones who wanted a port to be built in the estuary at McCormacks Bay. Obviously the ones who wanted a tunnel through the hills won this battle. Before 1900 there was a bit of talk about a tunnel from Sumner under Evans Pass but engineers decided against this. One of the arguments against the tunnel was the risk of earthquakes and that the tunnel would be blocked by landslides and that it would be impossible to dig out the trapped people. From 1950s onwards a lot of the articles and letters to the editor talked about traffic would be too busy for Lyttelton. The Road Tunnel was on TV in September 1961 when there was a ceremonial blast at the Heathcote end of the tunnel. This was attended by the Prime Minster Keith Holyoake. The Tunnel Road was constructed at the same time as the Road Tunnel was being constructed. In the 1960s the arguments were about the maintenance of the tunnel and the Tunnel Road. The Road Tunnel Board had to pay for the maintenance as the National Road Board refused to have responsibility for it. This is why there was a toll for driving through the tunnel. I can’t remember when you no longer had to pay tolls. I have just googled and it said that the 20c toll was abolished in 1979. I remember having a bag of coins in my car for the toll. I am also old enough to remember when the toll was a half crown coin.

We used to walk up the hill to the Summit Road and were able to see the Tunnel Road being built. We used to walk up what we called the Old Hikers Track and is now called the Major Hornbrook Track. The hills above Lyttelton were our playground and we thought nothing of roaming the hills even at a young age. The tunnel was opened in 1964 and I would have been 10 years old that year. I can’t remember if I went to opening ceremony and I am fairly sure that we didn’t walk through the tunnel as many people did. We did drive through the tunnel when it was first opened. We possibly didn’t walk through the tunnel as my Mum was probably not well enough to do this.

The Tunnel Road goes from Ferry Road to the Road Tunnel entrance and going by Papers Past there were lots of accidents. There are still accidents happening on this road.