Bishopdale, Christchurch

History

The suburb is named after the three Bishop brothers, James (1826–1910), Robert (1827–1909) and William (1829–1903), who bought land in the area in 1858 or 1859 and established pipfruit orchards. Initially, the area was called Bishopsdale, but the second 's' was dropped from the name. Part of Greers Road (the section between Harewood Road and Sawyers Arms Road) was formerly called Bishop's Road. It was renamed in 1948 to avoid confusion with Bishops Road in Papanui and Bishop Street in St Albans.

Location and services

Bishopdale lies close to Christchurch International Airport at Harewood and Christchurch's zoo, Orana Wildlife Park.

Bishopdale is overall a middleclass suburb, with a wide range of people living in the area. Most of the houses were built in the 1960s, and are either brick or wood, single storey designs. The area boasts a lot of parks and recreational areas, and a small shopping mall. The main schools in the area are Bishopdale Primary, Isleworth Primary, Harewood Primary, Cotswold Primary, and Breens Intermediate. All have generous areas of landscaped park ground.

Bishopdale has a library and many churches, including Presbyterian, Jehovah's Witnesses and Catholic.

In popular culture

Margaret Mahy has set her book The Changeover in Bishopdale; it is called Gardendale in that popular book, and production of a film of the same name is to begin later in 2016.