History of Christchurch streets revealed

Monday, 27 May 2024

The Christchurch City Council has created a website with the origins of almost all street names in the city.

What’s in a name? Well Christchurch residents need wonder no longer after the city council created an interactive street names map featuring almost every street in the city.

Council head of libraries and information Carolyn Robertson said the map aims to give a back story to the city’s street names.

“Our street names tell a story, some older than others, and the history behind them helps us to connect to our city and environment,” she said.

Some of the highlights include Shammys Place in redzoned Brooklands, named in 2002 after Shammy the horse, who grazed on the paddocks that were subdivided to form the street.

Aldersley St was named in 1941 after Philip Atkinson Aldersley, who ran a bakery in the area in the 1940s. He gave the then Mayor, E. H. Andrews, £5 (about $600 today) to give to the family of the first baby to be born on the street, in acknowledgement of the naming.

Shotfirer Lne in Kennedy’s Bush, near Halswell Quarry was named after the shotfirers who worked with explosives to dislodge rock from the rock face at the Quarry.

And Centaurus Rd, formerly a part of Port Hills Rd, was named to commemorate the visit of the Imperial Airways flying-boat Centaurus to the South Island in January 1938.