Bexley Road in Bexley Red Zone – formerly Lower Flat Road. Named because it runs through the suburb of Bexley which, in turn, is named after Bexley in England. Lower Flat Road is first mentioned in the Star in 1881 in a report of a meeting of the Drainage Board. It does not appear in street directories. Bexley Road is first mentioned in the Star in 1898. Bexley was named by George Thomas Hawker (1840-1924), a baker of St Albans. He named several places in Christchurch after places in England where he had lived. First appears in street directories in 1911.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. Papers Past also had a reasonable of information. Lots of death notices plus it was a road that had lots of accidents on it. As Lower Flat Rd it was mentioned in 1881 when there were ads for tenders to clay the road. The road was connected to Dyer’s Rd in 1886. In 1894 there was a section available to buy and then in 1902 there was two acres of land for sale and it was known as Barker’s Clay Pits. Last entry under the name of Lower Flat Rd was in 1916 and it was a complaint about the state of the road.

Bexley Rd was mentioned in 1899 and both names were used until 1916. In 1910 there were 17 sections for sale. The tram is mentioned frequently. Mr Yelland in 1918 was selling his land as he was giving up farming for health reasons. The flooding in 1929 caused a lot of damage to houses and crops. Poultry farms suffered large losses and the cows on a farm were in water at least a foot or more. There must have still been a dairy farm here in the 1930s as residents complained about cows wandering in the street. In 1956 land with frontages to Bexley Rd was purchased by the council for a refuse dump. Also in 1956 the Bexley Rd primary school was to be built. This one confused me for a moment but with further checking plus looking at older maps I worked out that the school was on the corner of Eureka St and Bexley Rd but then Anzac Drive was built and the two streets were no longer connected. The school was demolished after the earthquakes. In 1962 it was suggested that a memorial plaque be put on the corner of Bexley Rd and Eureka St to remember Dr L Cockayne. I don’t know if this actually happened. The proposal for the Woolston – Burwood Expressway was mentioned in connection with Bexley Rd as early as 1969. In the 1970s there was a riding school here and a reserve was to be built at 72 Bexley Rd and it was called John Hinton Reserve. In 1974 the council was considering selling land on both sides of Bexley Rd but it would probably be a few years before this could happen. There was the issue of the future realignment of Bexley Rd and drainage board plan to connect the area to sewage. In the 1980s the Samoan Assembly of God was mentioned a few times usually for funerals. It was decided that the mobile library would stop here. In 1989 several residents were upset to find out that the council were planning on developing a footpath through their backyards. They thought that it was their property but it was apparently a paper road.

Bexley Rd ran all the way from Wainoni Rd to Bridge St but after the Burwood Expressway now known as Anzac Drive was built Bexley Rd was half the length it used to be.

There is still one house standing on this street and I think that it is still occupied. Between Wainoni Rd and Pages Rd much of the land surrounding the road is blocked off by fencing. I hadn’t realised that there was a reserve at the Wainoni St end of the road but did find the John Hinton Memorial. I did need information from the memorial for a geocaching Adventure Lab. Cross Pages Rd and the road goes through open space until it comes to a dead end. I did find a wee footpath to walk on and this followed Anzac Drive.

Looking at Street View from 2007 I started from the Wainoni Rd end where John Hinton Reserve used to be. It looked like it was a lovely reserve. The houses were a mixture of styles and ages. A few looked like they were possibly from the 1910s or 1920s. Some of the houses looked very ordinary and others were a bit more interesting. On the corner of Bexley Rd and Pages Rd there was a large building that was fenced off and looked like it was possibly a power substation. At the dead end art of the road by Anzac Drive there was a huge big building and that would have been the carpet factory.

Between reading Papers Past and comparing old maps with modern maps this took me several hours to research.

Brook Street in Bexley Red Zone – First appears in street directories in 1914. A tiny amount of information from the library website.

I found a reasonable amount of information on Papers Past but probably missed a lot of information. There were a lot of streets with the same name in New Zealand. Lots of death notices and the saddest was a child who drowned in the nearby river. There were photos of the street in 1929 after flooding in the street. Sections were available in the 1950s. There was a carpet factory on the corner of Brook St and Bexley Rd. The factory opposed rezoning of the land to residential and in 1957 the application for extensions to the factory were declined. The factory was called Tattersfield Ltd until it was taken over by Feltex in 1970.

This was another street which had the end of it chopped off when the Burwood Expressway / Anzac Drive was built. When I looked at street view from 2007 I was curious about what the huge building at the Anzac Drive end was and I know know that it was the carpet factory. Most houses in street view looked like they were from the 1960s and 1970s but a couple had a 1920s look about them. Obviously there are no longer any houses here.

Everton Road and Victoria Street. Off Bexley Road. Victoria Street was renamed Everton Road on 22 November 1932. Disappears from street directories in 1987.

Anthony Road formerly Albert Road. Off Bexley Road. Albert Road first appears in street directories in 1952. Re-named Anthony Road in 1955. Stopped when the Pacific Park subdivision was developed in the 1990s although it disappears from street directories in 1987.

These streets no longer exists and I came across these two streets when researching Birch St. Both streets were mentioned in relationship to the Employment Zone / Industrial Park that was planned for this area. I looked at Papers Past but apart from death notices and Employment Zone there wasn’t much information. I did a google search with no luck. Checked old maps of Christchurch and found the streets. Both streets were roughly where Morganwood and Wetlands Grove were developed. There were a couple of council notices that I found regarding the Burwood Express Way being deferred. The notices also mentioned the cost of buying property and that the residents whose houses would be in the path of the Expressway were getting fed up with the delays. They also felt that the council were short changing them and that the value of their properties were dropping because of the delays. They were needing to move and buy elsewhere but the delays were costing them.

There was talk of building the Burwood Expressway in the early 1980s and they were still talking about it in 1998. In the meantime homeowners were in limbo. By 2002 it sounds like they were starting to build the Burwood Expressway which was eventually called Anzac Drive.

Birch Street in Bexley Red Zone – First mentioned in The Press in 1912 when a “cheap building site” is advertised for sale there. First appears in street directories in 1918.

A small amount of information from the library website and I found the same ad from 1912. The owner of the land was leaving the Dominion. Lots of entries on Papers Past and in 1923 the road was metalled. There were sections available in 1956 and in 1959 there was discussion about the zoning of the land in this area. Some wanted it to be zoned residential and others wanted it to be zoned industrial. Being an older street there were several death notices. Between 1975 and 1985 there was a lot of discussion about this area. The residents objected to the plan of a car park being built behind their houses. The car park was to be for an employment zone. The development was also called a Garden Industrial area that would be separated from the houses on this street by a playing field. The original plan for this land was for Housing Corp houses and it was to be called Kirklands after Norman Kirk. A change of government and the discussion is about an employment zone ie industries. Eventually the land behind Birch St was sold to developers and it took several years to get consent and more than one developer before houses were built there. In the 1980s the Burwood / Woolston Express is mentioned and some properties on Birch St were purchased by the government so that the Express Way could be built. Another street was occasionally mentioned in connection with Birch St but Everton St seems to have disappeared and most likely this happened because of the Express Way. The Burwood / Woolston Express Way is probably what we know as Anzac Drive.

Street view from 2007 show a street with houses from various decades especially the 1960s. There was at least one older cottage and an art deco house. When I was walking back to my car along a wee footpath that I had found at the end of Bexley Rd I came across a walkway into Birch St from the walkway beside Anzac Drive. Looking at street view from 2007 there were two little walkways into the street from Anzac Drive and the wee walkway that I had been walking along had been a nice wide walkway / cycleway.

Morganwood Street in Bexley Red Zone and nothing on library website. This was surprising as the library mentioned Morganwood subdivision in connection with two nearby streets.

I couldn’t find out much information about this street apart from it being part of the Morganwood subdivision that was built on reclaimed wetlands.

The street ran from Wetlands Grove to Wairoa St. Looking at street view from 2007 the houses looked like typical 1990s brick houses. About half way along the street it is narrowed and on both sides of the narrowed part of the street is Harold Henry Park and playground. On the curve where Morganwood St met Wairoa St there was an entrance to Bexley Wetlands plus a car park. I managed to find a brochure online for the wetlands. Next to Harold Henry Park there is an area that is fenced off and it is a special dog park called Canine Neuropark.

Brynn Lane in Bexley Red Zone – Named after the Brynn Stream in County Cork in Ireland. Named in 2007.

A tiny amount of information from the library website. This street ran off Almont Gardens and would have been in the Morganwood subdivision. I couldn’t find out any other information about the street but Quake Studies do have photos of this area.

This street wasn’t on google maps and street view of Almont Gardens just shows the entrance to the street. Apple maps on my phone did show the street and it looks like it curled around the back of Almont Gardens.

When I walked here today I couldn’t see where the street used to be and my photos are pure guesswork of where I thought that the street was.

Almont Gardens in the Bexley Red Zone – In the Morganwood subdivision. Named in 1996. A tiny amount of information from the library website.

I couldn’t find out much information about this street or the subdivision apart from the subdivision being built on reclaimed wetlands. That was seriously not a good idea.

Street view from 2007 shows the street as a fairly typical 1990s street with brick houses. Unusual for more modern streets of this type is that it had a footpath on both sides of the street. It ran off Morganwood Street and there are no longer any houses here.

Charles Gallagher Place in Bexley Red Zone – Named after Charles Vaughan Gallagher (1918- 1974). Gallagher was the foundation headmaster of Shirley Boys’ High School 1957-1970. First appears in street directories in 1981.

A small amount of information from the library website and yes he had been headmaster at Shirley Boys’ High School but is not why this street received his name. Papers Past had good information and from 1969 until his death in June 1974 he was director of Christchurch Technical Institute. The carpentry students at Tech built pensioner cottages and the first cottages that they built were in this street. The official opening of the cottages was in October 1974 and this was attended by Mrs Gallagher with the mayor Mr Pickering. Charles Gallagher was only 55 when he died.

I didn’t walk this street as it no longer exists and it is part of a large area that is fenced off. No photos either. Edited to say that a friend reminded me that we went to high school with Charles Gallagher’s daughter. I hadn’t picked up on the connection and I hadn’t been a close friend of hers at school.

Arncliff Street in Bexley Red Zone – Formerly Alexandra Street. Named after HM Queen Alexandra (1844- 1925), consort of King Edward VII. Re-named Arncliff Street. Probably named after Arncliffe in North Yorkshire, England. Alexandra Street first appears in street directories in 1914. Re-named Arncliff Terrace in 1933 by the Public Utilities Committee of the Heathcote County Council.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website but there is a mistake as the street wasn’t renamed Arncliff Terrace but was renamed Arncliff Street. The information on Papers Past from the Heathcote County Council very clearly states the name change as being Arncliff St and it was to avoid duplication. There was already an Alexandra Street in Richmond. Most entries on Papers Past were for the Alexandra St in Richmond but did find a couple of death notices for this Alexandra St. Possibly a dairy farm here as there were ads for cows in the 1930s. There was a poultry farm called Raecliff Poultry Farm on this street but the ads stop in the mid 1950s. Sewage was connected in 1963 and in 1966 there were ads for tenders for work on kerbing, channels and footpaths.

Several sections available in 1955 and I wondered if this was connected to the poultry farm no longer advertising in the same year. The year 1971 saw several ads for new homes and sections.

Street view for 2007 showed a variety of houses that looked liked they covered most decades. Street view for 2012 showed a road that was a huge mess with liquefaction and many houses had already been demolished. When I walked the street on Boxing Day it was very wet and flooded in some parts.

Waikare Lane in Bexley Red Zone and nothing on library website. Only one entry on Papers Past and that was a death notice in 1988. I vaguely knew the person from my days at Barrington Post Office. This was a tiny lane that ran off Waitaki St and going by street view for 2007 it just looked like a driveway to a house.

I had walked this area on Christmas Day and went back today to doublecheck the streets. Where this street used to be is now mostly fenced off and you can’t access it.