Nash Rd – Formerly Magdala Road. Named after the Mount Magdala Convent. Re-named Nash Street. Named after Walter Nash (1882- 1968). Magdala Road first appears in street directories in 1964. Mount Magdala Convent and St. Joseph’s Boys’ Home are listed there. Re-named Nash Road in 1972. Re-named because the boys at the school found difficulty with the word Magdala, plus Nash is an easy name both to spell and pronounce and fits easily on street maps. Nash was a clerk, commercial traveller, shopkeeper, politician and prime minister. Information supplied in 2008 by Bede Cosgriff (d. 2011) in an interview with Margaret Harper.
A reasonable amount of information from the library website but a couple of mistakes. Papers Past has information from the council renaming it Nash Rd in 1969 which was a year after Walter Nash died. The street was also known as Mt Magdala Rd and this name was on early maps. The earliest mention in Papers Past was in 1907 where clippings were donated for the road. I am assuming that clippings is another word for shingle.
Before 1970 most entries are about Magdala home and St Joseph’s Orphanage for Girls. After 1970 the entries mention St John of John Hospital, Marylands Special School and St John of God Chapel.
What the library website doesn’t mention is that Nash Rd used to go all the way to Halswell Rd and on earlier maps what is now is Halswell Rd was known as Lincoln Rd. I am not sure when the portion of Nash Rd that is now part Aidanfield Drive changed to Aidanfield Drive but have 1990s in my head. I should know as I lived not far from here until 2000. We used to get the boys from Marylands School doing their banking in a bank in Addington when I worked in that bank.
I could only walk part of this road as these days there are big signs saying private property and gates blocking it. It meant that I couldn’t get a good photo of St John of God but remember several years ago driving here to get a photo of the building for the website Markeroni. Sadly that website no longer exists. As well as St John of God Hospital there is the Granada Centre, Menz Shed and Halswell Residential College. At the beginning of the street there is Aidanfield Christian School and I recommend that you take extra care if you are a pedestrian here when parents are dropping off or picking up children. Still not impressed with the man who drove across the footpath in front of me so that he could park on the grassy area. Note it wasn’t a driveway and he drove up and over the kerbing.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 