Church Lane in the suburb of Merivale, Christchurch

Church Lane – Named because it is a short road leading from Papanui Road past St Mary’s Anglican Church “Church Lane, St Albans” first appears in the Star in 1887 in a death notice. First appears in street directories in 1924.A small amount of information from the library website and the name is very obvious and nothing that I can add about the name of the street. In Papers Past the earliest entry I found was dated 1879 and about drainage pipes to be installed from Church Lane to Office Road. I also found a brief note from 1866 about the consecration of St Mary’s Church. Church Lane was mentioned several times in 1890 after Mr Matson had an accident on Papanui Rd opposite Church Lane. He took action against the council claiming that it was well known that the crossing was dangerous. Several witnesses also said that the crossing was dangerous as it was 6 inches above the road. The horse leading his carriage tripped and passengers were flung from the carriage and one young lady was seriously hurt.In Feb 1893 the church wardens requested that the council take over the street. In 1901 there were several sections for sale from the estate of the late F J Garrick and a Mr Graham purchased the sections fronting Church Lane.Note there were several Church Lanes in the Christchurch area and it seemed like every suburb had a Church Lane.There is obviously a church on this street and it is a very modern looking church. I couldn’t make up my mind if I liked it or not. I was also confused as the church is now called All Souls so I went googling and it is now the combined parishes of St Mary’s of Merivale and St Matthew’s of St Albans. Both churches were badly damaged in the earthquakes. There is an interesting wee garden area next to the church. I couldn’t find any evidence of a graveyard here but there were many tiny plaques with names on them in the garden area. The QV website has 43 houses here which surprised me as I didn’t think that there were that many but I think that there have been many built on back sections. The original sections would have been fairly large. Only one from 1920s and a couple from 1930s. Several from 1960s and 1990s. A few more modern houses which probably would have replaced earthquake damaged houses. Some really ugly modern houses here. I chatted briefly with a local who said it was a lovely street to live on.