Medway St in Richmond – Formerly Minchin’s Road. Named after Edward Corker Minchin (1821- 1899). Re-named Medway Street. Probably named after Medway in Kent, England. Minchins Road is first mentioned in the Star in 1879. First appears in street directories in 1914. Minchin was one of the first owners of property at what later became Caledonian Road. Re-named Medway Street in 1916.
A reasonable amount of information from the library website and I actually walked this street a month ago. I also did the research at least three weeks ago and I really should write it up when it is fresh in my head. Papers Pas had many birth and death notices. This street also seemed to have a lot accidents especially at the corner of North Parade. In 1921 there were drainage issues and this was a common problem in certain areas of Christchurch. In 1956 a couple celebrated their Golden Wedding and it was mentioned that they built their house 48 years ago at 52 Medway St. They said that it was built in the middle of dairy farming land. This house is still standing but has been altered in such a way that you can’t tell that it would have been a lovely wooden villa once.
The triangle shaped piece of land at the corner of Medway St and North Parade seems to have been a reserve since the beginning of the street. Council notices for both 1916 and 1924 say that the street name is to be changed from Minchin Rd to Medway St and both names were used for many years.
Edward Corker Minchin sounds like a very restless man and he was born in Ireland and died in Wales but in the meantime he lived in New Zealand and England. He owned several properties in New Zealand. He would settle for a while and then sell up and return to the UK. After a while he would come back to New Zealand and then sell up yet again to return to the UK. He did this in 1863, 1871, 1875 and finally in 1889. In 1889 he sold his newly erected house known as Woodchester to return to England. I checked ancestry websites but couldn’t find him ever living at Woodchester but I then realised that Woodchester is very close to Minchinhampton. No wonder the name of Woodchester was familiar as I know Minchinhampton really well. I have also stayed in the Medway YHA.
Still many older houses on this street and the oldest dates from 1905 and is the one mentioned in Papers Past. Many houses were built in 1970s and 1990s plus 2017. This street runs from North Parade to River Rd and at least half of the street is now in the red zone. Obviously it is the half nearest the river. They are in the middle of building the new Medway Bridge across the river and there is an information board about the old bridge.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 