Christchurch Drainage Board Bingsland Map, 1882

Our thanks to thanks to Jo Churcher who recently donated two historical Christchurch Drainage Board maps of Richmond. Jo says the maps were unearthed during the SCIRT work to rebuild Christchurch’s infrastructure and they were very helpful within the older sections of the city. One of the maps is shown above and dates from 1882 when the board began work on draining the well-populated area of Bingsland(1). 

The drainage scheme had been presented to the board two years earlier by the board’s engineer, Charles Napier Bell(2) (1835–1906). A report of the plan was published in Christchurch newspapers in June 1880 — see below. The original plan dealt only with storm water and was doubtless very welcome to local residents because Bingsland had long been regarded as a very damp part of town and prone to flooding.

The plan above was originally for stormwater drains only but shows the work of several hands at different times. The original annotations include the street names and layout, most of which are the same as today. The handwritten text on the plan reads:

"This is one of the drawings mentioned and referred to in the annexed agreement dated the nineteenth day of April 1882."
signed by John Brightling(3); [witness signature illegible.]

Later handwriting includes much pipe-related detail and also updates the naming of some streets — these include:

    Pavitt (for the southern portion of Cumberland)
    Alexandra St (for Victoria St)
    Avalon St & McLeod St (for parts of the old N Avon Rd)
    Stanmore Rd (unmentioned on original)
    Warwick St (unnamed on original)
    Cumberland St (north end only).

The original scheme was clearly designed to provide for storm water only. Later the title has been roughly altered to ‘Duplex Sewers’, presumably handling both storm and wastewater (i.e., sewage).
The newspaper article below refers several times to Bingsland Creek, which is shown clearly on the map. This waterway used to flow through the area and was responsible for the bends in London Street — a small part of the creek is still visible above ground in Gowerton Place. Jo says when the creek was filled in, it was encased in a brick barrel sewer. If anyone would like to see what a brick barrel looks like, the Council opened one up several years ago in the small park at the eastern end of Salisbury Street. They are wonderful examples of the mason’s art and most of them survived the earthquakes.

Notes
1    The name Bingsland would soon fall out of use, as the name of the recently inaugurated Richmond school district would soon come to be applied to the suburb.

2    Charles Napier Bell (1835–1906), whose signature can be seen in the bottom right corner, dated 29 March, 1882, was the board’s engineer who devised the scheme. He resigned from the Drainage Board later that year and was replaced by the board’s deputy engineer, Edwin Cuthbert (1845–1924). Mr Cuthbert, who was a long-time resident of Bingsland/Richmond (he lived on River Road), had a long and distinguished career with the Drainage Board; Cuthberts Green & Road are named after him.

3    John Brightling (1843–1928) who wrote the note was a well-known Christchurch contractor who presumably had won the contract to install the drains  for this plan. Later in the 1880s & 90s he was involved in constructing several of the tramlines that would change the face of the city. One of these tramway routes, for the City and Suburban Tramway Company, ran from the city to Burwood and passed through Richmond.

Newspaper Reports
From the Christchurch Star, 29 June 1880, Page 4 (excerpt from the engineer's report):
“I submit a plan for a main sewer through Bingsland, to take in the Bingsland Creek and the water in the eastern end of the North belt drain, with several lines of pipes to drain the surrounding streets. This system of storm-water sewers would cost about £2600, and even with this system the township will not be conveniently and efficiently drained until the streets be lowered, and proper side channels constructed to lead the water into the sewers.

In some places the roads are 2ft 6in to 3ft above the sections, and they should be formed to the proper height before the sewers are laid. In recommending the expense of a main sewer, instead of using the Bingsland creek, I have in view that requests will before long be made to have the creek filled in, and that the sewer being at a much greater depth than it is possible to deepen the creek to, the drainage to the sewer will always be more capable of extension to greater distances than any system of drains leading into the present creek. At the same time the water in the large drain in the East belt will be turned into the new sewer to keep it clean, and will always be useful for fire engines, as there is a large quantity of spring water discharging down the East belt drain. It will be seen from the plan that the sewer will pass through a short distance in private land, but it will be so deep as not to affect the properties, and a few man-holes only will be necessary for inspection. This sewer will no doubt tap numbers of springs, which will have the effect of keeping the land dry. If the Board decide to lay down these sewers for storm-water I think it would be advisable not to lay sewage pipes for a few years, until the town be more built up and the roads properly formed.”
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And from the Christchurch Star 13 April 1882, Page 4:
“Tenders were opened for the following works :— The Bingsland storm-water sewer and flumes and drains. They were referred to the Works Committee and Engineer, with power to accept.”