First Road To The Plains Surveyed – 30th December 1850

On the 30th December 1850, surveyor Charles O. Torlesse chained and pegged the first road to the Canterbury Plains – from this point at Church Corner, Upper Riccarton – opposite Countdown.

Named Harewood Road, it was from this road that sections began to be sold to the settlers. The term Yaldhurst began to be used around 1867 after Fredrick William Delmain’s racing stables that were situated just across the road from St Peter’s Anglican Church – west by roughly 20 or so metres from this marker.

Our current Harewood Road, I believe was once a part of the same road – as the suburb Harewood was once considered a part of Riccarton. The history of these two roads are the same – crossing the Waimakairi River and ending at Oxford.

Jane Deans writes about traveling down Harewood Road in the late 1850′s – stating that the road ended at the (Riccarton) Racecourse. From there, the journey to Homebush was across the tussock. They would use the Malvern Hills for direction – especially Flagpole Hill that now overlooks Whitecliffs.

*photo taken by Annette Bulovic*

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