Bay Harbour: April 17, 2019

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PAGE 8 BAY HARBOUR Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi Wednesday April 17 2019 Local News Now Archeology Week: Story of Lyttelton Fire rages, homes at risk Archaeology Week runs from April 27 to May 5. Over the next two weeks, the New Zealand Archaeological Association will highlight some of Lyttelton’s history. To find events go to www. eventfinda.co.nz/2019/ pechakucha-nightchristchurch-vol-39-hiddenstories/christchurch-district Behind Lyttelton’s red rock walls With the reopening of the Lyttelton-Sumner road, another link has been restored in the story of Lyttelton’s distinctive red scoria retaining walls. Extensive archaeological investigation of the walls after the earthquakes is filling in the picture further. “The walls tell a rich story of 19th and early 20th-century Lyttelton,” says Heritage New Zealand area manager Christine Whybrew. In the early days, Lyttelton was even more challenging to get around than it is today. The steep hillsides were cut by gullies which were thick with mud in wet weather. Early roads were made by slicing a section out of the upside of the hill. Landslides were a problem. One of the archaeology reports quotes a Press article from 1920, probably about a site on Brittan Tce: “A visit to the place yesterday showed the road to be in a very dangerous state. The outside footpath and several feet of the road have fallen down the cliff face, and the area has been roped off by the council staff … unless the council is immediately supplied with sufficient cement to carry out the work there is every prospect of a landslide on a large scale taking place.” Most of the early walls, from the 1860s to 1919, were built by hard labour prisoners from Lyttelton Gaol, who used rectangular or square blocks of stone and laid them in rows. “From post-quake archaeology we know that many rocks were cut to size on site, because a number of the walls were backfilled with scoria rubble off-cuts,” Dr Whybrew said. Later walls were constructed in a random ‘crazy paving’ style, some by Great Depression relief workers in the 1930s. Unusually, one such wall was back-filled with dozens of faulty bricks. Archaeologists found three different maker’s marks on the bricks: “PW” for Prisk and Williams, which operated a quarry and brickworks in Corsair Bay from at least 1874; “P” for Prisk, which continued to run the brickworks after his partnership with Williams ended; and a mysterious “JJ”. Did this “JJ” perhaps take over after Prisk stopped operating early in the 20th-century? Speculation suggests that the bricks came from a brickyard clearance. Post-quake, a massive effort has seen many of the significant walls within Lyttelton reclad with locally-sourced red scoria salvaged from walls which collapsed in the earthquake or were later deconstructed. These include walls in London St, Sumner Rd, Brittan Tce, Dublin St, Coleridge Tce, Oxford St and Voelas Rd. Canterbury St and Rippon St remain on the council’s priority list for red rock resurfacing. Heritage New Zealand said the city council’s decision to source the rock locally has ensured the colour and texture is historically accurate. “Part of the hillside on Sumner Rd was blasted to form a quarry for red stone in the 1860s, and we know there were at least four quarries along the route by 1864,” said Dr Whybrew. “In the 1890s, the Lyttelton Borough Council actually gave landowners free red scoria stone from the Sumner Rd so that they could build retaining walls on private land facing a road.” In the search for rock for recladding, the council once again turned to Sumner Rd: “Staff on the road project worked with stonemasons to identify red rock and basalt of the right quality, which had to be stored until the re-engineered retaining walls were ready,” said city council senior planner Heather Holder-Lunn. Meanwhile, Lyttelton residents themselves donated more than 400 sq m of red rock pieces in the 2017 Great Lyttelton Red Rock Hunt. Walls in more detail •Voelas Rd started as a private road from Godley Quay. The Lyttelton Borough Council took it over in 1897. The name “Voelas” is from the North Wales childhood home of Charlotte, wife of John Godley. The Press reported in 1863 that a proposal had been accepted to build a wall around a well in Voelas Rd using the hard labour gang. This is likely to be HISTORIC: These three ceramic jars were found behind a wall in St Davids St, Lyttelton, along with fragments of plates, bowls, tea cups and saucers. the wall near 19-27 Voelas Rd. It was an ashlar-style wall more than 70m long and up to 3m high. The repair work exposed a layer of brick at the top of the wall in a few places, which appears to be part of the original footpath. The archaeologists were able to identify the bricks from a backwards “P” marked on one of the bricks. They concluded that the bricks were probably made locally by Lyttelton manufacturer, James Prisk, in 1915 or later. •Webb Lane was originally a private road, and does not appear in street directories until 1973. The road is named after the prominent Lyttelton family. Three Webb brothers arrived in Lyttelton in 1859. They were fruit dealers and served on the Lyttelton council, two of them as mayor. One of the next generation, Eric Norman Webb, was the magnetician on the 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition (led by Mawson). The red scoria wall on the corner of Webb Lane and Voelas Rd has now been dated to the late 19thcentury. •Park Tce was originally part of the current Governor’s Bay Rd, and only named separately in 1921. Cressy Tce was part of the Old Governors Bay Rd that was formed in 1865. The red scoria wall on the corner of Park and Cressy Tce is in 20thcentury ‘crazy paving’ style. The quake repairs revealed unusual back-fill – dozens of old bricks that had warped, cracked and bloated during firing. •St Davids St. The deconstruction of the wall outside 59-61 St Davids St revealed 60 separate items that archaeologists catalogued. These were typical of 19th and 20th-century sites in Lyttelton and included broken ceramics, mostly from plates and bowls; pieces of glass, such as black beer bottles and pickle jars; rusty metal, including a 1910 English halfpenny, bones butchered from sheep and cattle; shellfish remains; and part of a smoking pipe. The archaeologist concluded that the items were not dumped by a single person at the same point in time. The report states “the assemblage appears to be an accumulation of material over time. Given the scatter of the artefacts within the natural clay, it is likely the artefacts were discarded as a result of opportunistic rubbish dumping activity by the occupants of 61 St David St in the garden and backfilling activity during the construction of the retaining wall.” •Brittan Tce is one of Lyttelton’s original streets, first mentioned in newspapers in 1852. It was named after William Guise Brittan, one of the founders of the Canterbury settlement and commissioner of Crown lands. The wall near the eastern end of Brittan Tce, holding up the beginning of Cressy Tce, was probably built by the hard labour gang, and had been extended at some stage. •Ripon St is one of Lyttelton’s original streets and appears on the 1849 plan of Lyttelton drawn by Edward Jollie. The wall towards the west end of the street was probably built in, or after, 1919. The scoria blocks vary in size from 50-500mm in width and height. These blocks were concreted to the stone rubble backfill behind the wall. The fill is red scoria and basalt, probably off-cuts from shaping the blocks on site. Unlocking every boy’s potential You are invited to attend the Medbury School Open Day to discover what makes a Medbury education unique. The Open Day is on Tuesday 7 May 2019 from 9.00am to 10.45am. The Headmaster will speak at 10.15am. Scholarships are available for 2020. To register online visit Enrolment at medbury.school.nz OPEN DAY
Wednesday April 17 2019 Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi BAY HARBOUR PAGE 9 Noises that you may not know damage your hearing advERToRial Hearing is an important part of everyday life, yet most people don’t realise when they are damaging their ears. our new Ferrymead Clinic Causes of hearing loss include infections, ageing, and brain injury, but one of the most common is noise exposure. Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) can develop after one occurrence of extreme noise exposure or after listening to very loud sounds over time. Everyone has tiny hair cells in their inner ear (cochlea) that vibrate and send an electric signal to the auditory nerve, allowing you to hear. Different groups of hair cells interpret different sound frequencies. Over time, if enough of these hair cells are damaged or broken, hearing loss results. Here are ranges of sounds you probably didn’t know could affect your hearing: 85 – 100 dB (It takes 6 to 8 hours before causing damage) • Heavy traffic • Window air conditioner (close to you) • Noisy bar • Hair dryer • Motorcycle • Squeeze toy (close to ear) • Subway car (passing) • Music player at max volume 110 – 180 dB (It takes one to 30 minutes before causing damage depending on level) • Music concert (located near speakers) • Thunder • Emergency vehicle siren • Balloon popping (close to ear) • Rowdy stadium crowd • Firecracker • Safety airbag • Jet plane take off How to prevent hearing damage The simplest way to avoid developing noiseinduced hearing loss is to pay attention to sound volume wherever you go. Listening to levels below 85 dB can help you preserve your hearing. If a sound is too loud, don’t stay around long enough for it to cause damage. When in doubt, you can always use hearing protection. If you’re worried that you may have a hearing loss caused by noise exposure, you can call House of Hearing, located on 987 Ferry Road in Ferrymead. We provide a wide range of hearing including; • Hearing tests • Hearing loss consultations • a range of hearing aids • Ear wax removal • Hearing aid batteries • Hearing aid servicing • Tinnitus treatment • occupational hearing screening; and • Hearing protection We have two experienced NZaS qualified audiologists that work at the clinic. Clare Stacey, an audiologist with 12 years’ experience and Clara Kwaramba, an audiologist with 16 years’ experience. Our Ferrymead clinic can also process claims for ACC, Veterans Affairs, Insurance replacements and Ministry of Health funding. For any enquiries or to book an appointment please call 03 376 4483. Worried about wearing hearing aids? Come in for your free hearing check and to talk to us about the latest hearing technology Can you spot the difference? ✓ Sound ✓ Style ✓ Connectivity ✓ Discretion Call us to find out more Fendalton 03 351 3535 | Ferrymead 03 376 4483 | Halswell 03 322 4326 Special Offer! Buy one hearing aid and get the second aid half price! Offer on the purchase of selected hearing aids, valid to 31 May 2019. Terms and conditions apply.
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