Barbadoes Street in the Central City, Christchurch

Barbadoes Street – Named after an Anglican colonial bishopric, Barbados, in the West Indies. One of the original streets of Christchurch named in 1850 by surveyors Captain Joseph Thomas (b. 1803?) and Edward Jollie (1825-1894). The names were taken from bishoprics listed in Burke’s Peerage.[Spelling is as on the original plan of Christchurch drawn up by Edward Jollie.] First mentioned in The Lyttelton Times in 1853 when the electoral roll lists William Wilson, a nursery and seedsman, living on Barbadoes Street. A small amount of information from the library website and there is nothing that I can add about the naming of the street. Papers Past had a huge number of entries about this street and the main reason was the Catholic Cathedral and the cemetery. William Wilson was mentioned as living on the street in 1853. In 1858 the unsold portion of the Town Reserve were put up for auction. In 1860 there were houses and sections for sale. There were sections for sale in 1870 and 1920. There were new tram lines laid in 1927 and slot telephones were installed in 1912 and 1915. There were many car accidents in the 1920s and 1930s and many seemed to involve the tram lines. Newspapers haven’t changed much when it comes to headlines and in 1909 there was a headlines saying Desperadoes in the City. A woman was mugged on Barbadoes St.This is a long street with houses at the St Albans / Edgeware end. There is the cemetery and this covers both sides of the street. The Catholics graves are on one side of the street and the Anglicans are on the other side. Many varied businesses on this street and some look more prosperous than others. There are empty sections from where buildings have been demolished. The houses range from older ones to brand new. Some of the older houses are looking very rundown. There were 2 or 3 older houses done up as boarding houses and they looked really nice. At the Moorhouse Ave end is Ara Institute formerly CPIT and on the opposite side is the Catholic Cathedral. The Catholic Cathedral was badly damaged and they have decided that it won’t be rebuilt the same as the original. This is a one way street.