The Waimataitai Lagoon, once situated seaside of Ashbury Park and fed by Waimataitai Creek, was a 50-acre lagoon crossed by a railway trestle and known as Woollcombe's Lagoon. The creation of the Port of Timaru altered sediment drift, causing the lagoon's enclosing barrier to erode in the 1930s, leading to the lagoon's loss by 1933. The Waimataitai Estate, covering areas including modern streets like Pringle St. and Belfield St., had boundaries marked by the sea, Evans Street, and Taitarakihi Creek. The estate included properties, gardens, and farmlets owned by Herbert Belfield and other historical figures like Thomas Pringle. The lagoon area and nearby properties were significantly impacted by floods and erosion, leading to changes in land use and ownership over time. Historical records detail the involvement of Belfield and Woollcombe in local development and community activities.

Waimātaitai "Waimataitai" was a hāpua (lagoon) situated near the Tīmaru foreshore, renowned as an important source of mahinga kai. In 1880 Hoani Kāhu from Arowhenua described Waimātaitai as “e rauiri” (an eel weir) where tuna (eel) and inaka (whitebait) were gathered. This saltwater lagoon was eventually lost in 1933 due to changes in sediment drift caused by the creation of the Port of Tīmaru. - https://kahurumanu.co.nz/atlas

Snippets of information The Waimataitai Estate (1856 -1883) and Mr Herbert BELFIELD(1834 -1917) 

Herbert Belfield lived in a brick house on what is now Waimataitai Street. Judge C. Dudley R. Ward was a neighbour of his and he lived in a stone house, over the bridge in the late 1870s. We have proved that the lovely bluestone cottage was Judge Ward's residence. The home of Judge Ward, named "Eversley", was on the seaward side of the railway. The street, named after his house, ran below his house. Eversley was named after Herbert Belfield's mother's maiden name. The street had a name change and is now Pacific St., the waves pound the rocks below. Map - opens up in another window, B is Belfield House and  is the bluestone cottage. The other side of the railway retained the name Eversley St.. Waimataitai Street is along a ridge, where you can see south over Ashbury Park and the harbour, and looking north you see the old A. & P. Showgrounds and the 90-mile beach. At the east end of Waimataitai street is a bridge that straddles the railway cutting. The railway was put through in the mid-1870s. In the 1882 List of Freeholders of N.Z., Herbert Belfield, journalist of Timaru, owned 88 acres in the Geraldine County valued at £7875, remember that Geraldine County came right into Wai-iti Road in those days.

The Waimataitai Lagoon was on the seaside of Ashbury Park and it stretched out to a sandbank running from the tip of Dashing Rocks back towards Benvenue Cliffs and it was fed by the Waimataitai Creek. When the railway was first built it crossed the Waimataitai Lagoon on a railway trestle. That part of the lagoon west of the railway line became Ashbury Park. It was also known as Woollcombe's Lagoon seeing it was on Belfield Woollcombe's land. That lagoon was roughly about 50 acres in size. The creation the Port of Timaru led to a significant change in the longshore drift along the coastline. Instead of longshore drift transporting sediment north up the coast towards the Waimataitai lagoon, the creation of the port blocked the drift of these coarse sediments and caused them to accumulate to the south of the port at South Beach which meant a lack of sediment being deposited on the coast near the Waimataitai lagoon which led to the loss of the barrier enclosing the lagoon in the 1930s and then shortly after, the loss of the lagoon itself in 1933. The Washdyke Lagoon is undergoing erosion and may eventually breach causing loss of another lagoon environment. 

The Waimataitai Estate ran from the Waimataitai Creek, which runs through the Highfield Golf Course, under a culvert in Selwyn Street, under the Pack & Save Supermarket, and crosses Evans St. where the Fish & Chip shop is on the corner of Ranui Ave and the main road but sixty years it ran right across the middle of Ashbury Park and entered the sea at the Waimataitai Beach. In recent years this creek has been contained in a huge concert culvert and is no longer visible from Selwyn Street to the sea. There used to be a line of trees across Ashbury Park, since removed and this marked where the creek was to the public. The eastern boundary was the sea. The western boundary was Evans Street. And the northern boundary was Taitarakihi Creek sometimes spelt Te Aitarakihi. This creek was located near the bottom of the southern side of the Showgrounds Hill. It had its beginnings up in the Elloughton Grange property and ran through Old North Road along the back of Grantlea School and down to Evans Street. It formed the southern boundary of the Showgrounds and went through the railway embankment and through the Council's Pound Paddocks and entered the sea at that little cove between Smithfield Freezing Works and the Abattoir. So the streets included in Belfield's estate included Pringle St., Belfield St., Waimataitai St, Eversley St., Norwood St., Richmond St., Pacific St., Westcott St., Climie Terrace and Moore St.. Creek Road was later renamed Norwood St. Eversley St. after Herbert Belfield's mother's maiden name.  Thomas Pringle lived in the Waimataitai Valley.

Captain Belfield Woollcombe was appointed the Timaru settlement’s first official in 1857.

The Southern provinces almanac, directory, diary and year-book. 1865 Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages Timaru - B Woollcombe, R.M., Deputy, Herbert Belfield Geraldine L.L. Browne.

In July 1866 Herbert Belfield joined A.G. Horton as proprietor of the Timaru Herald.

B. Woollcombe (Resident Magistrate Timaru) - H. Belfield elected for Timaru. 22/05/1867

Herbert Belfield represented Timaru on the Canterbury Provincial Council 1867-1874.

Belfield and others to Superintendent - appointment of acclimatisation societies rangers. 11/12/1868

Timaru Herald, 5 February 1868, Page 2
Woollcombe's Gully. The water here stood fully as high as the last flood in the spring, and of course where it has submerged crops, considerable damage and loss must result. The only damage that has come to our knowledge is the washing away of the culvert on the old line of road, near to Mr F. LeCren's house.

Timaru Herald, 17 June 1868, Page 2
The water at Woollcombe's Gully on Saturday and Sunday was higher than has been known for eleven years, being some feet higher than in the last heavy flood. The lagoon at the mouth of the Waimataitai creek was so surcharged with water running out from the creek that it extended its limits up beyond the main road north of the bridge. It was about two feet deep on the road at that point, and from the road to the debouchment of the creek into the lagoon, the water covered a large area of ground ; to the south inundating a very considerable portion of Mr Woollcombe's paddocks, and to the north, covering the ground very nearly up to the cottages built along the main north road, thereby converting the whole of the low land into a large lake. Fortunately but little damage was done as the ground at this time of the year is lying fallow, otherwise if cropped very serious loss to property would have ensued. On Sunday, a gang of men set to work to dig a trench through the shingle bank to allow a passage for the water into the sea. About nine o'clock on Sunday night the lagoon made a way for itself through the opening, for by daylight the valley was entirely clear of water and the lagoon itself nearly dry.

Timaru Herald, 13 April 1870, Page 2
The last rainfall, which commenced on Friday morning at 3 a.m., wind S.E., and continued until Sunday morning 4 a.m. — 49 hours —has been the heaviest down-pour we have witnessed in Timaru, being much more than at the great flood, as far as Timaru is concerned. The pace of rain was not heavy at any one time, but a continual steady downpour. The quantity which fell during the 40 hours was 2¼ inches and a trifle over, being equal to 277 tons 15 cwt. to the acre. The sea was not running heavy during the time. Woollcombe Gully - here the Waimataitai Creek supplied a large body of water to the small lagoon at its mouth. About midday on Sunday the flow in the creek becoming sluggish showed that the lagoon was filled to the level of the creek. The water then backed up from the lagoon and overflowed the adjacent low lands, but no damage was done.

Timaru Herald, 23 September 1876, Page 6 Timaru Agricultural and Pastoral Association.
A Committee meeting of the above association was held at the Criterion Hotel at noon on Saturday, 16th September. Present: — Messrs Luxmoore (chairman), Acton, Barker, Belfield, Ensor, Ford, Hall, Macintosh, McLean, McKerrow, Lindsborough, Russell, A. Turnbull, and Woollcombe.

Poverty Bay Herald, 8 March 1882, Page 2
On dit that Mr. Herbert Belfield has disposed of his interest in the Timaru Herald to a company, but still retains a large share in the venture. Mr. Wakefield, who will also be a large shareholder in the company, is to occupy the editorial chair, and Mr. J. Hardcastle, late editor of the South Canterbury Times, goes back to his old love, the Herald vice Mr. George Collins, who has left the latter journal. — Ashburton Guardian

Timaru Herald, 8 June 1895, Page 2
Mr and Mrs Thomas Pringle, of Waimataitai, celebrated their silver wedding day, and the birthday of their eldest daughter, on Thursday. A goodly number of relations and personal friends were present, and a most homely evening was passed by all. Mr Emil Hall made a very happy speech in proposing the health of Mr and Mrs Pringle and family, referring to their kindness and generosity on that and many other occasions, and of the pleasant evenings spent at their home. He hoped that they would live to see their golden and diamond wedding days, and that the next 25 years would be as prosperous and happy as the last. The toast having been very cordially honoured the evening was spent in music, singing and card-playing, a most enjoyable few hours being brought to a close by the singing of " Auld Lang Syne."  [Mr Pringle was a Timaru Builder and Contractor] 

Timaru Herald, 2 July 1895, Page 2
The late storm threw back the Waimataitai beach a good way, the surf ran up to the railway embankment with force enough to scour the grass off some square yards of it. A few hundred pieces of heavy rubble were earned from the mound protecting the cliff and spread upon the beach. It is about time the authorities were setting about throwing down more rubble at the corner. The beach was pushed back more at the south than at the north end. At the latter there is a curious nest of round pebbles and boulders, the last sweep up of the old beach line perhaps, as round stones seem to find their way to the bottom. The waves do not appear to have power to shift the heavy blocks of rock that have fallen from the reef on that side. What is to be seen on the north side shows that a smaller quantity of stone in larger pieces would protect the south bank.

H. Belfield owned rural section 888, near Timaru in 1865. He had a farmlet. In October 1864 he sold some dairy cows, yearling steers and heifers, a yearling bull, a two year old bull, a stock horse, a grey mare and dairy utensils. Sounds like he was going out of the farming business.

Timaru Herald, April 9 1873
With the exception of the removal of a few hundred yards of earth the section of railway line lying between the town and Whale's creek may be said (formation only) to be completed, and also, the second section between that creek and the Waimataitai Lagoon. The cutting on Mr Belfield's property — the heaviest in the line — is being taken down as rapidly as possible.

Timaru Herald, 11 January 1893, Page 3 Levels Road Board
The overseer reported that the contracts for forming footpath at Waimataitai and shingling part of Adair and Otipua road were now finished. In the latter 50 cubic yards extra were being taken out to do necessary repairs. Among works necessary he proposed to repair the Main North Road to Belfield's hill with screened shingle, and as the necessity arose.

Evening Post, 12 September 1917, Page 8
Mr. Herbert. Belfield, at one time proprietor and editor of the Timaru Herald, died recently at Dawlish, Devon, at the age of 83. 

We do not have any idea why Herbert Belfield went back to England in 1883 but during the 1880s the Timaru Herald ran into financial difficulties. The Timaru Herald Company was formed to take over ownership with Herbert Belfield retained as the manager of the newspaper. In 1886 the paper was leased by its mortgagees to Joseph Ivess, an indefatigable founder and owner of newspapers in New Zealand in the 19th century. Mr Belfield went Home to England in 1883 and did not return again to New Zealand. His Waimataitai Estate was still being advertised for sale for the next decade. Maybe the asking price was too high. In the 1891 census he was living in Dorking, Devon, the life of landed gentry as a Retired Army Officer living on own means. He died in 1917 at the age of 83. Also this was about the time that the Smithfield Freezing Works was being built. Maybe that had something to do with going back to Devon.  He probably stayed in touch with his cousin Belfield Woollcombe as he ended up marrying his daughter in 1904.

Timaru Herald, 13 October 1881, Page 3
The WAIMATAITAI ESTATE - Magnificent building sites - 75 freehold allotments
 Moss Jonas has been favoured with instructions from Herbert Belfield, Esq., to sell by Public Auction on October 31st 1881 75 freehold building allotments about 1.5 miles north of Timaru on the Main North Road. ~ The property now offered consists of about 65 acres, having a long frontage to the Main North road, which forms the western boundary. The Taitarakihi Creek forms the northern and the Waimataitai Creek and lagoon the southern boundaries respectively. The terrace that forms part of the boundary of the sections sloping to the south is covered with a luxuriant growth of native plants, and is partly planted with forest trees. The sections, having an easterly aspect, border on that rooky cliff known as The Dashing Rocks. The northern sections have a frontage to the main road, and run back to the creek, and contain from half to three-quarters of an acre each. The section fronting on Eversley road and Eversley terrace, which run from the north side of Mr Belfield's garden across the railway at the level crossing in an easterly direction to the cliff contain from one and three-quarters to nearly four acres. each, and the sections run right back, to the creek. The section on which the farmhouse, dairy and orchard stand contains, a littlie over, three acres, and the section that has a frontage to The Dashing Rocks contains nearly four acres. The sections at the rear of his Honor Judge Ward's residence, and which front on Eversley terrace and run down to the lagoon, contain on an average about two and a-half acres each, and three of the sections are planted with forest trees. The southern sections, which lie to the west of the railway line contain on an average rather of one-quarter of an acre each, and, besides having frontages to the main road, they are traveled by Belfield road and Creek road. Belfield road runs- from the angle of the Main road, across the railway line at the level crossing, along the southern, and eastern boundaries of Judge Ward's shrubbery and plantation to Eversley road. Creek road runs from the private road which crosses the railway at the high level crossing to the the Waimataitai Creek.

Amongst the sections, offered will be the one on which stands the brick house, &c., lately occupied by Mr Belfield. This property comprises about six acres of land, and is tastefully laid out in garden and shrub berries. The house is of two stories, and thoroughly well fitted in every respect. There is also good stabling, hay loft, groom's room, rat-proof granary, gardener's room, &c. Plans to be seen at Ross, Sims and Co., Woolloombe and Clulee, J.T. Ford and Co., Timaru Herald office and at my office. Sale at 2 o'clock. Moss Jonas, Auctioneer. 

Timaru Herald, 20 February 1886, Page 1 SUBURBAN LAND FOR SALE.
The Whole of the WATMATATTAI ESTATE (the property of Herbert Belfield, Esq.) is offered for SALE Privately, in Lots varying from 1 Quarter-acre to 4 Acres. PRICES VERY LOW, AND TEEMS EXCEPTIONALLY EASY. Apply to MILES J. KNUBLEY, Solicitor, Timaru.

Timaru Herald, 16 August 1880, Page 2

• https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nzlscant/belfield.htm (use wayback to see old website: https://web.archive.org/)

Waimātaitai "Waimataitai" 
Waimātaitai was a hāpua (lagoon) situated near the Tīmaru foreshore, renowned as an important source of mahinga kai. In 1880 Hoani Kāhu from Arowhenua described Waimātaitai as “e rauiri” (an eel weir) where tuna (eel) and inaka (whitebait) were gathered. This saltwater lagoon was eventually lost in 1933 due to changes in sediment drift caused by the creation of the Port of Tīmaru. - https://kahurumanu.co.nz/atlas

References:

• Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori (1989) Ngai Tahu 1880. H.K. Taiaroa. (Unpublished typescript) [English translation of two original notebooks in Te Reo Maori of place names related to mahinga kai compiled by H.K. Taiaroa in 1880 from information provided by Ngai Tahu informants]. Ngai Tahu Archive. Collection 140. Item D301, Box 102, D. Wai-27. Wai-27 Doc – R30 – Book “Ngai Tahu 1880.” Macmillan Brown Library Archives Collection. P203:175.
• Kāhu, Hoani cited in Beattie, J.H. (1945) Maori place names of Canterbury: including one thousand hitherto unpublished names collected from Maori sources. Dunedin, N.Z. : Printed by the Otago Daily Times and Witness Newspapers. P68 & 82.
• Beattie, J.H. (1945) Maori place names of Canterbury: including one thousand hitherto unpublished names collected from Maori sources. Dunedin, N.Z. : Printed by the Otago Daily Times and Witness Newspapers. P84 & 113.
• Taylor, W.A. (1952) Lore and history of the South Island Māori. Christchurch, N.Z.: Bascands. P94.
• Kāhu, Hoani cited in Beattie, J.H. (date unknown). Kahu, John. Maori Notebook, 1880. Unpublished. MS-582/F/11 in, in Beattie, James Herries: Papers (1848-1970) ARC-0162, Hocken Collections, Uare Taoka o Hakena, University of Otago. P16 & 21.