Population 4,554 (2006) South Marlborough, Auckland Northwest Bayview, New Zealand Northeast Forrest Hill, New Zealand | North Glenfield North East Wairau Valley, Auckland Southeast Hillcrest, Auckland | |
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Glenfield (called Mayfield until 1912) is a suburb on Auckland's North Shore.
Contents
Map of Glenfield, Auckland, New Zealand
The population of Central Glenfield was 4,554 in the 2006 Census, an increase of 240 from 2001. Glenfield North has an additional 4,050 people, and parts of the census area of Kaipatiki, with 4,128 people, might also be considered as part of Glenfield.
Geography
It is located to the north of the Waitemata Harbour, nine kilometres northwest of the Auckland city centre. The suburb is located in the northern inland part of the North Shore, and is surrounded by the suburbs of Marlborough, Sunnynook, Forrest Hill, Birkenhead, Northcote, Windy Ridge, and is situated close to Takapuna. The northern part of Glenfield is regarded as a separate suburb known as Glenfield North. This latter suburb is sited close to State Highway 1 as it stretches north towards Albany.
Glenfield has two main areas of commerce. One is the Glenfield Mall and the surrounding shops. The other is Wairau Valley, which is a former industrial area that is now a mixture of commercial and industrial properties.
History
The area was originally named Mayfield, but the existence of Mayfield in Canterbury meant that the name was never officially bestowed upon the area by the postal service. On 12 March 1912, the area was officially named by the postal service as Glenfield. The former name lives on in Mayfield Road, a quiet side road several hundred metres north of the Glenfield shops.
Prior to the opening of the Auckland Harbour Bridge in 1959, Glenfield primarily consisted of farmland. During the 1960s, as access to the area improved, many of the large farm properties were subdivided to provide space for residential development.
On 9 December 1971, in response to fears about commercial sprawl down the length of Glenfield Rd, Glenfield Mall opened. It was one of the first enclosed malls in the country. It featured a large aviary in the centre of the mall. In 2000, Glenfield Mall was completely redeveloped as Westfield Glenfield, but in 2015 reverted back to its original name.
From 1 November 2010, Glenfield became part of the Kaipatiki Local Board area in the new Auckland Council.
Sports teams
Glenfield is home to Glenfield RFC, who are a member of the North Harbour Rugby Union, and Glenfield Rovers, who compete in the Lotto Sport Italia NRFL Division 1B. The Glenfield Greyhounds rugby league club are based in nearby Sunnynook.
Education
Glenfield College is a secondary (years 9-13) school with a decile rating of 7 and a roll of 911.
Glenfield Intermediate, founded in 1972, is an intermediate (years 7-8) school with 531 students and a decile rating of 8.
Glenfield Primary School is a contributing primary (years 1-6) school with a decile rating of 6 and a roll of 368. All three schools are coeducational.
The South Seas Film, Television, and Animation school is in Glenfield.