# The buried city

Christchurch tipped into its own ground for a century, 63 recorded dumps, pits and filled sections in the council’s own layer, about 432 hectares of made land. Most are parks and school yards now.

## The roll

- **Waltham Park**, 1880–1921 · 3.1 ha · Trade waste, domestic, commerial, industrial waste.
- **Bromley Cemetery**, 1891–1903 · 2.7 ha · Debatable if used as a dump. · Domestic rubbish.
- **Burwood Park**, 1899–1923 · 12.8 ha · Tins, boilers, pipes. · General rubbish, dead animals, destructor waste.
- **Sandhills Reserve**, 1903–1923 · 12.4 ha · Fish, nightsoil · Household, Commercial, clinker
- **Woolston Park**, 1909–1912 · 3.0 ha · Clinker & scrap metal.
- **Spreydon Domain**, 1909–1930 · 7.1 ha · Household, commercial, demo & industrial
- **Simeon Park**, 1915–1919 · 0.7 ha · Household rubbish, destructor residue, tins.
- **Centannial Park**, 1915–1947 · 13.1 ha · Household, commercial, iron, demo, tins, clinker · Still dumping informally 50's & 60's.
- **Plynlimon Park**, 1928–1954 · 1.1 ha · Domestic rubbish. · Council dump, war dump.
- **McCormacks Bay NW end**, 1936–1949 · 1.1 ha · Trade refuse tins metal dommestic rubbish
- **Hansen Park**, 1936–1955 · 12.0 ha · Domestic rubbish, leather, metal, rubber · compact silt and shingle fill average 1m thick, overlies landfill
- **rubbish dump, organic rubbish, glass, bricks**, ?–1939 · 5.5 ha · Owles Tce.
- **Estuary Road**, 1941–1943 · 0.7 ha · Refuse tipped behing seawall, 10m wide strip
- **Westminster & Mahars Rds**, 1942–1945 · 0.6 ha · War dump · Council tip and reserve
- **War dump**, ?–1943 · 0.4 ha · Avonside Dr.
- **Old Paparua dump, Kyle Park library and pool panned**, 1944–1981 · 7.1 ha · Kyle Park.
- **Centaurus Rd**, ?–1945 · 0.3 ha · Domestic rubbish and fill.
- **Redcliffs Park**, 1948–1953 · 0.5 ha · Domestic Rubbish · Now the new Redcliffs School.
- **Miners Road Pits**, ?–1950 · 20.9 ha · small amounts of domestic rubbish mostly hardfill
- **McCormacks Bay South end**, ?–1950 · 4.2 ha · Sumner waste dumped on quarry waste
- **Horseshoe Lake**, 1955–1959 · 3.4 ha · council tip and park · general rubbish dump, 9 acres
- **Sockburn Pool Park**, ?–1955 · 1.3 ha · Wood chip general & indiustrial waste. Tars Oils
- **Bexley Landfill**, 1956–1984 · 93.0 ha · MSW Landfill
- **Kirk Road**, 1960–1975 · 0.8 ha · domestic & roading rubbish · Paparua council dump
- **Allandale**, 1960–1993 · 1.5 ha · Being prepared by CWW (2007)
- **Carrs Road**, 1961–1978 · 9.6 ha · Offal carcasses · Industrial, domestic, pesticides, paint, sewerage
- **Sawyers Arms Rd**, 1962–1986 · 14.2 ha · Houseghold, garden & commercial
- **Sandy Point**, ?–1965 · 10.5 ha · Gelatine waste, bones, some sulphur dioxide waste
- **Colombo St**, ?–1965 · 0.7 ha · Old rubbish tip. · & Hunter Tce.
- **Shipleys Pit? Owned by Harewood piggeries & operation was ta**, 1968–1983 · 8.9 ha · Household rubbish, sawdust, uncontrolled tip
- **Halswell Junction Rd and Springs Rd**, 1970–1980 · 27.6 ha · Soil, trees & general refuse · Unknown rubbish, rubble, hardfill
- **Ferrymead**, ?–1975 · 0.8 ha · Hardfill & demolition material.
- **East Truscotts Rd**, ?–1979 · 3.0 ha · Domestic, commercial rubbish, hard fill · Mound not a pit.
- **West Truscotts Rd**, 1979–1988 · 4.4 ha · Commercial rubbish, fish refuse. · Household rubbish, garden refuse, hardfill.
- **Bridle Path Rd**, ?–1984 · 3.2 ha · The landfill was excavated and backfilled. · Small pit filled with vegetation and fill.
- **Barrys Bay**, ?–1995 · 1.0 ha · CRC001041
- **Birdlings Flat**, ?–1995 · 3.0 ha · CRC001044
- **Gollans Bay Landfill**, ?–1995 · 1.6 ha · CRC951237
- **Le Bons Bay**, ?–1995 · 0.4 ha
- **Okains Bay**, ?–1995 · 0.1 ha · Grassed and rock seawall built
- **Onuku Landfill**, ?–1995 · 0.8 ha · CRC951241
- **Wainui Landfill**, ?–1995 · 0.2 ha · BPDC.
- **organic rubbish, channel sludge**, undated · 2.7 ha · Englefield Road.
- **Council involvement - Waimairi rubbish dump general domestic**, undated · 0.7 ha · Kainga Road
- **Council involvement - Waimairi rubbish dump general domestic**, undated · 0.5 ha · Kianga Road.
- **Miners Road Pits**, undated · 5.3 ha · small amounts of domestic rubbish mostly hardfill
- **St Heliers St**, undated · 0.5 ha · Demolition waste
- **Main South Rd & Blenheim Rd**, undated · 1.3 ha · General rubbish. · Filled early 1960's
- **Lodestar Ave & Hayton Rd**, undated · 0.2 ha
- **Hayton Rd**, undated · 0.1 ha
- **Lodestar Ave**, undated · 1.5 ha
- **Vickerys Rd (MOW)**, undated · 0.6 ha · Wigram waste, domestic and industrial waste.
- **Mid Wigram Rd**, undated · 6.5 ha · Rubble and hardfill · Musgroves Pit.
- **Owaka Pit**, undated · 6.8 ha · Trees. Still operation 1993 · Hardfill, general rubbish, industrial waste
- **Owaka Pit**, undated · 5.2 ha · Trees. Still operation 1993 · Hardfill, general rubbish, industrial waste
- **Recorded dump 417**, undated · 1.1 ha
- **Pound Rd 2**, undated · 27.4 ha · Hardfill. · Fulton Hogan.
- **Pound Rd 2**, undated · 3.7 ha · Hardfill. · Westaway contractors (1993)
- **Pound Rd 3**, undated · 4.4 ha · Domestic roading and vegetation. · CCC.
- **Springs Rd**, undated · 3.1 ha · CCC roading rubbish. · Warren Park.
- **Burwood MSW Landfill**, undated · 60.6 ha · MSW 1984-2005.
- **Recorded dump 458**, undated · 0.3 ha
- **Recorded dump 483**, undated · 0.9 ha

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Christchurch City Council open data, the Landfill layer of OpenData/LandCharacteristic (T&T landfill report and the historic-landfill layer). A recorded dump is where the ground was filled, not a finding about what an address holds today. The ground answer for a point: https://www.chch.live/before. The files: https://www.chch.live/landfills.json · https://www.chch.live/landfills.geojson