Gapes Valley is a valley in the

Canterbury Region Canterbury ( mi, Waitaha) is a region of New Zealand, located in the central-eastern South Island. The region covers an area of , making it the largest region in the country by area. It is home to a population of The region in its current fo ...

in the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

of New Zealand. It is about west of Geraldine and located on the Geraldine Fairlie Highway. The valley is nestled between the Waitohi Hill and the Rocky Ridges and is described as being long with the flat land of exceptional quality. Today Gapes Valley consists of a sparse grouping of houses, the hall and a recently established brewery.

History

The valley was named after

William Gapes William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

(born in

Saffron Walden Saffron Walden is a market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and north of London. It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. The population was 15, ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, England; twin brother of

James Gapes James Gapes (1822 – 22 October 1899) was a local politician in Christchurch, New Zealand. He was Mayor of Christchurch on two occasions, and the father of a later mayor, Thomas Gapes. He was the first mayor who was elected by the voting publi ...

), who after working throughout the region settled on an farm in the valley. The valley was once home to a small

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

. The Gapes Valley School was opened in 1882 though would later close with students moving to the nearby Hilton School. Many roads in the area bear the names of pioneer families, some of whom have remained in the region, e.g. Halls, Loves, Patricks, Slacks and Wells.

References

Timaru District Populated places in Canterbury, New Zealand {{CanterburyNZ-geo-stub