Origins of Bell Common

by Guest Author, Margaret Mackersey (Bell)

Sarah Bell and children in front of homestead c 1900

In the late 1880s Sarah Little Bell with her husband Walter Common Bell moved onto 100 acres on Cambridge Road. There was not enough grassed area to graze her one cow. The land however was gradually turned into an attractive property and named Townhead Farm.

Walter and Sarah Bell

Walter died in 1926 and the property continued to be developed by Walter’s son William*, until his death in 1943. By then the farm had been extended to 150 acres. William’s widow, Kathrine, managed the property with share milkers until her death in 1970. Margaret returned home from Ruakura in 1955 and married Godfrey Mackersey and they took over the management of the family farm for the next 20 years.

Original Bell Homestead

Sometime following Kathrine’s passing the Education Department approached the Bell Estate during their planning for a fourth secondary school. They showed interest in the easy-contoured, elevated land which would have made the  reduced size of the Town Milk farm impractical and limited for alternative land use. The growing demand for housing sections was becoming a reality. We resisted subdividing but realised it would become inevitable. The Education Department was offered an alternative elsewhere but declined. Meanwhile we continued to farm and several years later did apply to subdivide some of the land fronting Cambridge Road.

William Pool Bell, wounded during WW1

A reserve contribution required when subdividing has to be met either in land or finance. In a later staged development the area including the old plantings surrounding the original cottage (and the then present homestead) was offered as the reserve contribution. The Estate requested that it be named “Bell Common”. This indeed created some debate at Council.

Homestead, Townhead Farm, 1960

Our reasoning:
 —William McKenzie Commons originally had possession of the land.
 —Sarah and Walter Common Bell helped develop it and later purchased it for themselves in 1902.
 —William Commons was noted as a generous person and in fact served a short time as Tauranga Mayor.

Bell Common, 2020

The City Council struggled to accept the name “Bell Common”. At the time they planned new streets in our area to be named after English cathedrals, certainly NOT the choice of a strong Scottish family!
 
*see also “Putting Matters Right” by Beth Bowden  27th Dec 2019

Images courtesy of Margaret Mackersey