Papanui Road in the suburbs of Papanui, Strowen, Merivale and St AlbansChristchurch

Papanui Road – Originally an accommodation road ie. a route for stock. Papanui Road is first mentioned in The Lyttelton Times in 1851 when tenders were called for its construction. First appears in street directories in 1878. At first it went to the junction of Sawyers Arms Road and then became Main North Road. It now stops at the junction of Harewood Road and Main North Road. Another early informal name was Boot Jack’s Road. According to local legend, Mary Blackmore (1818- 1878), wife of Henry James Blackmore (1812?-1875), was travelling along Papanui Road, got stuck in the mud, and had to be pulled out leaving her boots behind.A reasonable about of information from the library website. Couldn’t find Mary or Henry Blackmore in Papers Past, ancestry website or cemetery websites. Found the same information from 1851 and in April 1852 there was mention of the new road. Many sections for sale in 1860 and 1880 and previous to those dates it was mostly farmland. In 1858 there was discussion about building a church yet I found a marriage that took place in Papanui in 1856. There were a huge number of entries for this road in Papers Past. In 1918 a woman went missing from the Salvation Army Rescue Home. A hotel called Papanui Hotel was mentioned as early as 1850s. Papanui Woods or Bush was frequently mentioned and I found information that there was at least 200 acres of native bush still standing in Papanui. I found two meanings for Papanui. One was platform in a tree from which birds are snared. Second meaning that I found was big or large flat land.This is a long street that covers four suburbs. It starts near Northlands Mall where Papanui Road, Harewood Road and Main North Road meet. Mostly shops at this end plus a wee reserve with a war memorial. This is where a RSA Memorial Hall used to stand. Then there is mostly houses but there also St Andrews College. As you get closer to town there is St Georges Hospital plus many of the older houses has businesses in them mostly health related. Then more shops plus Merivale Mall. Many of the motels and hotels are this end. The road ends at Bealey Ave and it has covered the suburbs of Papanui, Strowen, Merivale and St Albans. Papers Past mentioned a house called Strowen in a death notice. The houses here cover most decades with several in 1960s and 2020.There is a fake tudor house and I was surprised to find that it was only built in the 1960s. There is also a plaque to Louise Henderson outside what used to be her house. I saw a display of her paintings this year at the Art Gallery. A building whose name many of my friends will recognise is Acland House. Technically St Margarets School is on Winchester St but there is also an entrance on Papanui Road. There is a gorgeous house dating from 1880s but really hard to get a decent view of it thanks to a high fence plus modern garage blocks it. Probably sick of nosy people like me. I have probably missed many interesting features but not possible to remember them all. Just one photo and it is of the house from 1880.