Christchurch Heritage Festival: Spirited cemetery tours bring the dead to life with stories

Join historian Richard Greenaway on a tour of historic grave sites. Photo / Supplied

By RNZ

Christchurch historian Richard Greenaway knows a thing or two about the dead - and the corners of the city in which they now dwell.

As part of the Christchurch Heritage Festival, he has been showing curious people around various cemeteries across the city and telling them the stories of how they lived and died.

He spoke to RNZ to explain how he became a Christchurch cemetery expert and discussed his Barbadoes St cemetery tour over the weekend.

One of the highlights will be the grave of Captain Garrard who died in the SS Tarurua tragedy in 1881.

On Tuesday from 2pm to 5pm, you can discover the historic graves at Avonside Anglican Cemetery on Stanmore Rd as part of the Spirited Cemetery Tours.

The graves of interest include geologist and museum founder Julius von Haast, Canterbury Superintendent William Rolleston and his socialite wife Mary Brittan, and architects J. C. Maddison and B. W. Mountfort.

Entry to the tour is from Lychgate Close and you should meet at the Lychgate entrance.

Cemetery tour booklets will be available for $5.