Wilton Street

Wilton Street in Westown runs between Waimea Street and Wrantage Street. It was surveyed in 1951 on behalf of the landowner, Mr Francis William Reesby.

As with many other New Plymouth streets, its name was chosen from a list that referenced the city’s historical connection with southwest England. A letter from the town clerk to Mr Reesby states simply that “Wilton is the name of a street in Plymouth, England”.

Wilton Street is located in the Plymouth suburb of Millbridge and Wilton is also the name of a village in Wiltshire, known as the home of the English carpet industry. In 1721 the ninth Earl of Pembroke lured two French weavers to Wilton to teach locals to make ‘Brussels’ carpet. Twenty years later one of them patented a new technique to cut loops of Brussels weave and the Wilton brand was born.

Wilton Street in New Plymouth lies in the heart of what was a significant postwar Government housing development. Even before Wilton Street was surveyed, energetic Westown locals had established the Waimea Bowling Club.

The club, with entrances on Wilton and Waimea Streets, was formed in 1950. Steady growth saw the club replace its original pavilion with a much larger one in 1963. The new building included room for eight indoor mats and featured a ’smoke eliminator’, allegedly capable of clearing a smoky room in just five minutes. At the time, of course, smoking inside was not only permitted but common.

More progress for the club occurred in 1993 when new synthetic greens were laid. Installed at a cost of over $240,000 the greens were a first for New Zealand and only the second in Australasia. The project was completed with the help of a huge volunteer effort, estimated at over 5000 hours, which saved some $60,000.

The club celebrated its 50^th anniversary over Taranaki Anniversary weekend in the year 2000 and is still flourishing today, more than seventy years on.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.