The Star: February 15, 2018

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150-year-old boots found in rubble
Church ruins
reveal lost
treasures
• By Bridget Rutherford
A PAIR of leather work boots
used to ward off evil spirits has
been discovered in the rubble at
the Sydenham Heritage Church
site.
The small boots, which are
more than 150-years-old, were
found by contractors as they
cleared the site.
A penny from 1868 with
Queen Victoria on it was inside
one of them to indicate the
year they were left under the
floor boards of the demolished
church’s vestry office.
Sydenham Heritage Trust
chairwoman Dorothy Haywood
said is was an exciting surprise.
“The shoes were in the church
because in Victorian times
when the workers built a building,
they left a pair of shoes inside
to scare away the evil spirits
because the shoes took on the
shape of your foot.”
She said it is interesting both
boots were left as it was normal
practice to leave one.
Other items salvaged included
part of the church’s first
reverend Leonard Isitt’s pulpit,
clay pipes, old coins, a Gould &
Co chemist bottle, Sydenham
School trophies, parts of the
communion rail and ink pots.
The category two heritage
church, built in 1864, was damaged
in the February 22, 2011,
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
HISTORY: Dorothy Haywood with the old boots found in the
rubble of the former Sydenham Heritage Church.
PHOTO: MARTIN HUNTER
earthquake, and controversially
demolished two days later.
Contractors finally started
clearing the pile of rubble early
last year, with the last of it to go
within the next week.
Trust member Joshua Moot
said the boots were well worn
and had been resoled three
times. He spent three days
softening the leather and
restoring them.
There was a splatter of red
paint on them, suggesting they
belonged to one of the workers
who painted the Gothic arch in
the church, he said.
The trust wants to construct a
new community building on the
site, which would display the
items found. lt was unknown
when that would happen.
Ms Haywood said in the
meantime, the site would be
landscaped with a temporary
car park to help raise funds for
the rebuild.
She said the church’s northern
wall was still standing, but
its future was still to be decided.
“It’s been a long, long time,
but now we can see our way to
the future.”
Thursday February 15 2018
• By Bridget Rutherford
Fire rages, homes at risk
Tram tracks
concern for
cyclists
AN INVESTIGATION is under
way to see whether the central
city’s tram tracks should be
improved to make it safer for
cyclists to ride on them.
It comes after the city council
received reports of incidents
caused by the tracks, and concerns
about cycling on them.
It is surveying cyclists on
whether they have encountered
problems since 2015, and what
they were.
City council transport planning
and delivery manager Lynette
Ellis said further information to
fully understand the problem was
needed before developing any
“potential solutions.”
“Council have received some
concerns from residents and there
have also been some reported accidents
around the tram tracks.”
The city council has contracted
traffic engineering and planning
company, ViaStrada, to help with
the work. Ms Ellis said the survey
results would be collated by the
end of April.
Any possible solutions would be
reported to the city council once
they had been assessed, she said.
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