Oakvale Lane in Halswell – Oakvale Farm Limited, has been the naming entity of this land for circa 20 years. It reflects the large Oak trees that have been established in the area (such as Halswell Domain).

A small amount of information from the council minutes about the naming of streets in the subdivision. Oakvale is the name of the subdivision in this area and there isn’t a tree in sight. There used to be lots of trees on the land here but they have all been chopped down. I did find an interesting report online about the land here concerning stormwater drains, floods and streams. Note there is a map on the library website which clearly shows this land to be a swamp.

The street is too new to be on maps and there are no houses here yet. Personally I wouldn’t buy a house here even if it is close to Halswell Quarry which has some nice walks.

Songpa Street in Halswell – Songpa-Gu, South Korea is one of Christchurch’s sister cities. Halswell Quarry is known for the sister city gardens, and naming the streets after the sister cities strengthens the areas connection to the sister cities.

A small amount of information from the council minutes about the naming of streets in the subdivision. Nothing that I can add about the name of the street. Street is too new to be on maps and there are no houses here yet.

Hean Road in Halswell – Victor Hean (1901-1979) designed the former Halswell Quarry Manager’s house in Halswell Quarry. The house was built in 1926-1927. Hean was Christchurch City Council’s architect at the time he designed the house. During his time at Christchurch City Council he was responsible for designing many other Christchurch notable buildings, such as Edmonds’ Band Rotunda and the MED Building on Manchester Street. He was also a member of the Government Architect’s Office, a technical advisor to the Royal Commission after the Ballantynes Fire, and was involved with state housing.

A reasonable of information from the council minutes about the naming of streets in the subdivision. Papers Past under the name of Victor Hean it was mostly prize giving from when he was at St Michaels School. He left Christchurch in 1936 for the North Island and then it was information about his involvement with the Manawatu Repertory Society. The architectural information on Papers Past was under the name V Hean.

The street is too new to be on maps and there are no houses built here yet.

Ned Place in Halswell – Ned Paterson was Quarry Manager of Halswell Quarry from 1901 to 1938. Paterson House in the Quarry Park is named after Ned Paterson. Ned worked under owners R Pitcaithly and Son (1899 -1925) and Christchurch City Council from 1925 to his retirement in 1938. Under Ned’s watch the quarry development increased significantly from an annual output circa 10,000m3 to an output of circa 30,000m3.

A reasonable amount of information from the council minutes for the naming of the streets in the subdivision.

Not much information on Papers Past. There wasn’t anything on Papers Past under Ned Paterson but there was information under his name Edward Paterson. His wife died in 1934 and Edward died in 1956. He was mentioned in articles about a death at the quarry. I am not sure that the information from the council about R Pitcaithly and son is correct. Robert Pitcaithly was bankrupt in 1912 and charged with theft in 1915. There was an article that said Robert Pitcaithly association with Halswell Quarry was prior to 1910.

This street is too new to be on maps but there are some half built houses here. They looked like they will all be identical houses. There was a walkway that led to Whites Tramway Rd.

Pitcaithly Street in Halswell – Pitcaithly and Co purchased the Halswell Quarry in 1899. The quarry supplied stone for the Sign of the Takahe, the Robert McDougall Gallery and some Dunedin buildings during their tenure. The quarry was made into a public company during their ownership, and was sold to the Christchurch City Council in 1925. R Pitcaithly was also a member of the Halswell Road Board in the early 1900’s

A reasonable amount of information from the council minutes about the naming of streets in the subdivision.

Pitcaithly and Co were brothers Robert and William Pitcaithly. They owned a ship and were shipping agents. Their father was a butcher in Lyttelton. Robert was USA consul until he resigned in 1903 and he lived on Halswell end of Lincoln Rd. Robert was declared bankrupt in December 1912. In 1915 Robert was living in Wellington and he was charged with theft. William Pitcaithly in 1911 was charged with indecently assaulting a domestic servant in his employ. The case was eventually dismissed. There was a reasonable amount of information on Papers Past about the brothers. Amazing how many streets in Christchurch are named after men who have been made bankrupt.

Another street that is too new to be on maps yet and no houses have been built here yet.

Piopio Lane in Halswell – A now extinct bird that use to inhabit the forest margins and riverbanks of the area. Piopios are part of the Oriolidae family of birds being the Old World family of passerine birds. Passerine birds are also known as songbirds, with the Piopio is particularly known to mimic calls of other birds.

A small amount of information from the council minutes about the naming of streets in this subdivision.

This street is too new to be on maps and it doesn’t have any houses.

Riroriro Lane in Halswell – Riroriro is a native New Zealand bird part of the Acanthizidae bird family. Also known as grey warbler. Its natural habitat is temperate forests.

A small amount of information from the council minutes about naming of the streets in this subdivision.

This lane is so new that it isn’t on maps yet and no houses yet. I had to take photos of the signposts to know which streets that I had walked.

Cabbage Close in Halswell – Cabbage Street – William “Cabbage” Wilson, was Christchurch’s first mayor. He has significant links to the Halswell area, being an owner of the quarry between 1872 and 1886. William was a politician and nurseryman. He was known as “Cabbage” because he used to wear a hat made out of cabbage.

A reasonable amount of information from the city council minutes about the naming of several streets in a subdivision.

I couldn’t find any information on Papers Past about William Wilson being an owner of Halswell Quarry apart from in his obituary in 1897. He never lived in the Halswell area and if you want to know more about him read my write up of Bedford Row. He had been bankrupt at least twice and charged with fraud at least once. He was a nasty violent man who frequently beat up his wife.

I decided to walk the streets here after a letter to the editor in The Press on 12th May 2023. The letter writer was complaining about the name of this street. This street is so new that it isn’t on any maps and there aren’t any houses here yet. It was only a couple of months since I was last in the area and at that stage the area was fenced off and part of Kennedys Bush Rd was only one way and controlled by lights.

Hawthorne Park in Hoon Hay. This technically isn’t a street and the houses have Sparks Rd addresses but there is a signpost with the street name on it. At least one house is an exclusive B&B

Benrogan Drive, Perks Drive and Eastman Drive in Halswell. Too new to be on library website and the roads are still only half formed. No houses yet. The land was was sold in 2020 and had a 1970s house on it. The nearby wetlands area is called Eastman Wetlands and it is possibly named after Roy Eastman who had a connection to the council but I couldn’t find out any information. I was amused to see that the property developers are offering a free geotech report. As this land used to be a swamp I would arrange my own geotech report rather than trust the developer’s one. The council meeting that approved the names didn’t give a reason for the names.