Abberley Crescent in St Albans – formerly Abberley Road. Named after Abberley in Worcestershire, England.Thomas James Maling (1836-1922), an importer and merchant, built his home on this land in 1863, naming it Abberley. He was the only son of Admiral Maling of Abberley, Worcestershire. Abberley Road is referred to as the “new Abberley Road” in an article in the Star in 1876, appears on an 1879 map and first appears in street directories in 1887. Becomes Abberley Crescent in 1941.
A small amount of information from the library website. Papers Past had lots of entries for this street. In 1876 and 1877 the entries were about letters from T J Maling asking about the forming of the street and the shingling of the street. There was land for sale in 1880 and 1881. The 1880s saw many entries about flooding and draining issues. The flood of 1886 affected the entire city and was really bad. A few birth notices but a lot more death notices. In 1938 the residents of the road requested that the street name be changed from Abberley Road to Abberley Crescent because of the shape of the street. A business that was mentioned was the bakehouse belonging to a company called G Money and Sons. They had a fire in the bakehouse in 1942. In 1960 the owner Frank Hawker complained about the land his bakery was on being rezoned as residential. There was a house in front of the bakery so it couldn’t be seen from the road plus any work vehicles entered the premises from a lane behind the business. In 1969 the property was for sale and described as a two story bungalow and bakehouse that used to belong to Money and Son.
The story that amused me the most was from 1957 and about a goat that got stuck in a telephone box. When the police received a phone about the goat they didn’t believe it at first and no the goat didn’t make the phone call. The goat was eventually captured and it had escaped from a property on a nearby street and the owner used the goat as a lawn mower. In 1941 the Women’s Land Army had a large vegetable garden on this street.
In 1939 the council purchased the Abberley old homestead and land that belonged to the late J H Kirk. I actually thought that this property belonged to T J Maling who died in 1922. There was at least one letter to the editor complaining about the council wasting money by buying this property as Christchurch had enough parks. In February 1940 the park was opened and there is a plaque in the park about this event. The original homestead was mostly demolished only leaving the large drawing room standing.
Most of the houses here are from 1970s including pensioner cottages built for Glenora Foundation. Many older houses are still standing dating between 1880 to 1925. Some weren’t obvious as they had been altered and others were behind big fences. For some reason near a group of the older houses there wasn’t a footpath but looked like there should have been a footpath. Abberley Park is still there and I was geocaching in the area today. It is a lovely wee park and so many people walking their dogs here. There is a stream that runs through the park which is likely to have been the source of the flooding and drainage issues in 1880s. I quite liked this street.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 