View of Bottom Field at Poole Crescent Reserve. The appellation ‘Bottom Field’ originates from its use by Wainuiomata Primary School, where it served as a sports and recreation field and is located below the main grass field where the classrooms are located.
Near present-day 10 Poole Crescent stood Coachibondu Cottage, a building used to store sulkies, horse-training equipment and farm supplies. Dating from around the 1890s, it survived until housing development reached the area in the early 1950s.
In that time, Bottom Field was a private track used for training trotting horses. The Twomey family had a house back somewhat from Poole Crescent today. They had strong links with the sport, and Timothy Twomey was recorded as owning and racing trotters in 1925.
The field was later used for football and school activities. Today it forms part of Poole Crescent Reserve, with little remaining to show that horses and sulkies once trained there.
