We all know Cave Rock (was once known as Cass Rock, named after Thomas Cass, a surveyor)very well; is there a Cantab out there who hasn’t climbed up its south side to look down over Sumner Beach? BUT who really noticed the smaller rock formation to its right? I know of it, I can picture …
It doesn’t take much imagination to picture the first meeting of The Canterbury Association on the 27th March 1848. The chosen room at 41 Charing Cross, London began to fill with some of the well known names and faces of the British upper class; gentlemen of the church, noble families, rank and money, some of …
Where Clifton Terrace meets Main Road, sits one of the loveliest reserves in Sumner. Clifton Bay/Hill was once viewed by the Canterbury Association as a possible landing port for goods being transported from Lyttelton to Christchurch by boats. In view of this and as the surveyors and road making gangs – made up of both …
The wind whipped waving tussock of the Canterbury Plains can’t have made the surveyor’s job very easy. I can’t say whether the surveyors pushed their pegs into the ground by the use of tools or whether they just crouched down amongst the flaxy marsh and pushed them in by hand.Whatever happened, Edward Jollie and his …
Sir Arthur Dudley Dobson was truly a man-child amongst men! Arthur first entered into history as a nine year old, aboard the ‘Cressy’ with his father Edward Senior and his older brother George. His mother and younger siblings would arrive the following year aboard the Fatima – the Canterbury Association’s 19th ship. Edward Senior struggled …
Addington in South London was an 18th century mansion that housed 7 Archbishops including Dr. John Bird Sumner.Born in Henilworth, he was educated at Eton College and King’s College. Ordained in 1802, he was consecrated as Bishop of Chester in 1828. In 1848, Sumner became the president of the Canterbury Association and the Archbishop of …
JOHN JENKINS PEACOCK – 1798 – 1868 From Sumner to Shag Pile (Shag’s Rock) is known as Peacock’s Gallop. Imagine it’s the 1850’s in Sumner. It’s still early morning, you may be still in bed when in the dimness comes the faint rumble of pounding horse hooves. It grows louder and louder, then you catch …
At the intersection of Judges Street and Vincent Place in Opawa once stood a small Pa – an outpost of the mighty Ngai Tahu’s northern Kaikai-a-waro (Kaiapoi) Pa. It was called Opawaho.The last chief of Opawaho was Turakipo, and he fell in love with Hineao whose father – Te Ake – was a chief over …
I can’t begin to fathom how surreal the afternoon/evening of the 16th December 1850 would have been for the Deans brothers. Especially as they may have stood in the doorway of the Deans Cottage while the shrieks and shouts of two stripped down male settlers splashed about in the Avon River – their echoes adding …
On 1 April 1945, Sumner joined the Greater Christchurch and came under the care of the C.C.C. Dr. John Bird Sumner was born in Henilworth, England. Ordained in 1802, he was consecrated as Bishop of Chester in 1828. In 1848, Sumner became the president of the Canterbury Association and was, at that time, the Archbishop …
