Time: Should be about 90 minutes but we actually took 4 hours (this included dilly dallying, a lengthy morning tea and a lengthy lunch)
Distance: 7.5 km
Start: Liffey Cottage, 20 James Street, Lincoln
Finish: Same place - it's a higgeldy piggeldy, loopish/ there and back sort of walk
Date: Friday 19th May 2023
A cold and rainy, woollies and brollies end-of-autumn/beginning-of-winter day in Ōtautahi. Kind of annoying since it has been stunning all week, however, not a bad climate to embark upon the Lincoln Heritage Walk. If you are the sort of person who is happy to meander along busy streets in the pouring rain and don't mind that half the items on the list are no longer there, then this is definitely the walk for you. I had downloaded the "Township Trails Selwyn" app onto my phone (android) but there is also a brochure available from the Lincoln Library at 22 Gerald Street. The app has good descriptions of each site and is relatively easy to follow. There are obvious disadvantages to using it in the pouring rain but I was not able to find the brochure online.
First stop was Liffey Cottage (1875) at 20 James Street. In its lifetime, this cute cottage has been a butchers shop, an art and craft shop and even a student flat - but since 1975 has been maintained by the Lincoln and Districts Historical Society. It was locked so we peered through the curtains into the gloom and could make out some faintly discernible historic items (a bed, a table and a ceramic jug for either toothbrushes or perhaps peeing in).
Next up, we crossed the crossing to the Lincoln Primary School. The old historic building (1866) has long gone and these days is replaced by a cluster of decile 10 type buildings and classrooms. Not one Modern Learning Environment in sight. In fact, not much to see in general (except the bike racks) so we returned across the crossing to the Union Street Church (1881) (a.k.a Lincoln Chinese Church) (doors locked) and then the Old Manse (1889) on East Belt (also locked). We peered though the windows of the Old Manse at a tantalising second hand stall set-up. I reckon you could pick up an oddity or two there. Despite being an avid reader and a dedicated crossworder, I had never heard of the term "Manse" before, but Nicole could tell us that the "Manse" was where the church minister lived next door to the church.
At 116 East Belt we read about the quaint, still standing Tod Cottage (1875) where William and Mary Tod once lived and ran the first school in Lincoln. We turned northwest to 1 Edward Street and tried the doors of St. Stephens Church (1877) (locked).
Further along Leinster Terrace, we crossed the Liffey Creek at the Railway Bridge, pausing to observe the ducks who had been playing happily in the swollen creek. With a cacophony of quacking, they all simultaneously launched into panic flight mode at our arrival. Quite an unnecessary kerfuffle but it is what it is.
The next items on the list (Market Square at 3 Gerald street; the General Store (1879); the original Liffey Cottage Site and Harry Terry's Tobacconist) have all disappeared and are now a florist, medical center and Chinese takeaways respectively.
We crossed Gerald Street to 14 William Street where there was once a blacksmiths (also gone long ago) but by now we had rather lost sight of our historical purpose - mainly because we were chatting about all kinds of other pithy stuff. For example: apparently, an increasing number of teenagers identify as cats and call themselves "furries". They use the pronouns fur/furself (as opposed to he/she/they/ia/xe/zi and himself/herself/themself/ia anō/xemself/hirself). I was fascinated by this and so later raised the topic during an evening out with my whānau at an Italian restaurant in town. My daughter knew all about it because she had a bunch of feral "furries" in front of her at the Christopher Street Parade in Mannheim, Germany last summer. They were scantily clad and had furry ears and long tails. The latter were attached to their bodies via butt plugs. Its a "kink" she said. My eyes were sticking out like chapel hat pegs while she relayed her story and I whisked out a pen from my hand bag to jot down a few notes (for the blog) on a used napkin.
But I digress. Back on Gerald Street, we were thoroughly distracted from our historical sojourn and it was pissing down with rain. I was also having a lot of trouble managing my umbrella and so we decided to pop over the road in an off-piste fashion to the Cottage Cafe for consolidation and caffeine.
Refreshed and back on track, the app returned us in the direction from whence we had come to the site of the former Perthshire Arms (1868), now gone but replaced by the Famous Grouse Hotel (rebuilt after the earthquakes). Then to the Kildare Terrace corner and the cute Pioneer Hall. Locked now - but open on the first Sunday of every month by special request. Shortly around the corner were the Fire Station and the Coronation Library (1874) now called "Down by the Liffey Gallery". We popped into the gallery and "oo"ed and "aa"ed at the cool cards and pottery and prints.
We meandered again in a westerly direction in the pouring rain along Gerald Street to the Home of Bert Restall (the undertaker) a.k.a Cottage Cafe. Next up: J. Benny's Grocery Store (gone); Old Post Office (gone); and the 22 Gerald Street Old Community Center (gone - now the Library). We popped in to pick up a brochure.
The Police Station at 30 Gerald Street is still functioning although the original housing (1876) is gone.
From the police station, it was a free run of 1.2 km down Gerald Street to Lincoln University and the impressive Ivey Hall (1878). I assumed the gumboots at the entrance were part of the foyer display (a tractor and a Bill Sutton painting) but about 10 students arrived, all shedding gumboots which they lined up at the door. The standard fashion in this neck of the woods. I could somehow relate today to it because my shoes were sopping.
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| W.A. Sutton Plantation Series No. XV111 (1988) |
We were on the return heading east on Gerald street, and went past the Catholic Church (rebuilt) then down West Belt looking for Hewton's Cottage (gone); E. Birch and Sons (gone) and W.A. Habgood Ltd (on it's last legs). At this point we should have searched for the Baptist church; the Railway Station (gone); Long Cottage (gone); Vogan's Store (gone) and the Lincoln Flour Mill (gone) but instead we went to "The Laboratory" brewery for an early lunch.
