PHOTO: PALMERSTON NORTH LIBRARIES AND COMMUNITY SERVICES – The almost-completed Fitz Herbert family house, 1926.

The name of Pastoral Lane, off Ihaka St, conjures up visions of a peaceful place in the country. Its enclave of large, lagoon-facing houses has been called, in real-estate terms, “one of Palmerston North’s ritziest streets”.

However, once upon a time, this name meant something quite different, and many stories were played out on its leafy acres.

The story begins with a man named Anthony Francis Fitz Herbert, descendant of an aristocratic English family with Derbyshire roots and a pedigree dating back to the 15th century.

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