Early Days Of Riccarton Make Interesting Study

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28801, 23 January 1959, Page 15

Early Days Of Riccarton Make Interesting Study

Tales of the days when Rlccarton road was only a roughly metalled track and when most of the borough was still swamp or paddock, are recalled by Mr J. J. Staples who is working on a history of Ricearton for the Ricearton Borough Council. Mr Staples* ■ already extensive knowledge of early Ricearton is being increased as he burrows deeper into history and interviews old residents and descendants of original residents. During the two months he has been doing his research he has interviewed 40 persons and gained much valuable knowledge and with another three months to go he still has another 20 persons to call on as well as having to work through local. bodies’ files. South Side ■•‘l already have a great deal of information on early Riccarton, especially the south side.” he said yesterday “The north side was built on much later because the Deans family fanned all that area. “I can remember 1894, with stock grazing on the north side of Ricearton road from near the railway line up to Clyde road. There was a hawthorn hedge right down that side of Ricearton road then.” Mr Staples said that Ricearton road was formed and metalled only in a narrow strip down the centre and the thick choking dust that was such a nuisance in summer changed to heavy, cloying mud in winter, forcing the Christchurch-Riccarton passenger coach to move right into the footpath when discharging and picking up passengers.

Ricearton streets had different names 50 years ago said Mr Staples. Clarence road was then Pigeon lane and Mandeville street, now a thickly populated area, was Chinaman’s lane after the Chinese community and with its market gardens. The Plough Inn was the name of the first licensed house in Riccarton and the first shop was a small sweet shop kept by a Mrs Ostler, somewhere near the railway line. One woman Mr Staples interviewed told how Ricearton children attending the Fendalton school would run all the way from the school at lunch times across fields, fences and waterraces to the shop in Ricearton road to buy sweets with their Id pocket money. He had had an extremely enjoyable time in building up notes for the history but there was a difficulty in checking dates, said Mr Staples. Early photographs were also still needed to build up a more complete description of early Riccarton, he said.