Dallington Places

Arawa (aka Bridge House)

Text by Annette Wilkes

This property was one of the earliest houses built in Dallington. 

It was purchased by Edward Speechly in March 1891 from architect / builder J. J. Collins and leased to solicitor Henry Cotterill, a well-known cricketer. Speechly, with his brother Robert who was brought out by Sir Gilbert Scott to draw the original plans of Christchurch Anglican Cathedral, had arrived in Christchurch in 1864. 

In 1892 Edward advertised in the Lyttelton Times for Lombardy poplar “poles” which became the Dallington riverside trees. After farming in South Canterbury, he had returned to Christchurch and bought Bridge House, “a lovely place… brick and stone house of seven rooms and 4.25 acres on the river Avon cornering on Dallington bridge,” where he farmed for 14 years before selling in 1905 to Edward Tarleton Horne. 

Within two years Bridge House was re-sold to John Washington Walker and by the 1940’s was a dairy farm and orchard where Rupert Thorpe sold milk, elderberry wine, and ran some cows and horses. Until the early1950’s there was no riverside road between the bridge and Glenarm (formerly Landsdown) Terrace, but a tree-shaded walking track with buttercups & wildflowers.  Boating was a popular feature of recreation and sport on the river, and since pre-colonial times this loop of the Otākaro-Avon river has been a traditional whitebaiting spot.

From 1914 at least, the address was 10 Gayhurst Road, Dallingon.

Courtesy of the Speechly family archive 2019.

Broome Farm / Grovely

Text by Annette Wilkes

 The first house in Dallington was here. I was built by English colonist, John Dudley, on a 100acre section he purchased from the Canterbury Association in the first year of their settlement, in 1851. He called it Broome Farm and farmed there for 29 years. 

 H.K. Jekyll then purchased the property, naming it Dallington. Jekyll sold the homestead and some land to H.P. Hill in 1883. Both men remained in the district and provided the first Dallington Bridge. 

 By 1896 William Andrews owned the property and re-named it Groveley. Both names originate from the colonial past of these owners. Andrews built an implement shed, tested farm equipment for his company Andrews & Beaven, and planted potatoes and fruit trees. The old homestead was replaced about 1913 when they still owned it – set back from the road, with a paved tennis court in front.

From the 1950’s onwards it had a row of walnut trees along the driveway. Immediately adjacent on the western side, another two-storied house was built for William’s son, Syd. It had a magnificent garden and orchard with box hedging and a huge cherry tree. It was recently demolished after the government ‘red-zoning’ of the land in 2018. 

 In 1950, Merry’s dairy farm in Landsdowne Terrace was taken to construct a Centennial Games rowing course which was excavated by cutting off a loop of river right adjacent to the Andrews property on this site. The canal or ‘cut’ isolated the farm from Dallington by cutting off that loop of the river. It was called Kerr’s Reach, and Porritt Park became the name of the former dairy farm. During the competitions, rowing boats for the Centennial games were stored in the Andrews driveway.

 From 1950 onwards with population growth, state & private residences, churches, schools, a Residential care facility and a few commercial premises were built. Old Dallington had grown from a centre based on its transport connections. In pre-colonial times, these were the river and food-gathering trails. Now they include the Dallington Bridge and roads, and the developing Otākaro- Avon walking and cycling trails. 

 References:Papers Past, The Press, Vol. XLIX, Issue 14555, 4thJanuary 1913: 5; Early Dallington 1991 by G. Caldwell; Peter Nankivell pers. comm. 2017.

Burwood Park

A popular weekend venue for sport and recreation, this large green space includes a playground, basketball hoop, is bordered by the Burwood Park Tennis Club and Shirley Rugby Club.

Dallington Footbridge

Gayhurst Roundabout

It may not seem very exciting but it was sure missed when it wasn't there!

Here are a few images from Google Earth showing how our round friend has changed in recent years.

St Paul’s Church and School

This church was established in 1926, and the school in 1935. The Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions were the first teachers at the school until 1955 and used to travel there daily by tram from their convent beside the Cathedral in Barbadoes Street. Later on, the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart who lived closer to the school were the teachers.

Many of the children who attended church and school on this site came from families after whom local Dallington, Avonside and North Linwood streets including Woodham Road and Fleete Street are named.

The golden Jubilee of the First Mass and the Silver Jubilee of the establishment of the Parish were celebrated on Waitangi Day weekend 1976.

There have been two churches on this site and the one depicted here is the more recent church that was still standing after the earthquakes. Local builders, Kennedy Brothers were the building contractors.

 The Cedar tree now remaining after the earthquake demolitions was an important assembly place for students and staff and was known as the Bell tree. It was planted by the first parish priest, Father O’Regan. The last priest was Father O’Malley. In the 1980’s St Paul’s children were amongst those who celebrated Arbor day with tree plantings. Many trees surviving on this site were planted and tended by young children who are still watching them grow.   

St Paul’s Tree

A place to stop, sit and contemplate.  

This iconic tree is important to the St Paul's community and to Dallington as a whole.  

To me it represents a tangible link to our past, to the many thousands of people in our community who spent parts of their lives on this site, learning, celebrating and spending time together.  

It remains to anchor our memories when the bricks and mortar of buildings cannot.