Kennaway Road in the suburb of Woolston, Christchurch

Kennaway Road in Woolston – Named after the Kennaway family. William Kennaway (1796-1868) bought Rural Section 122, 100 acres on the “South bank Heathcote River near Steam-wharf”. His sons,

William Kennaway (1832-1918) and Laurence James Kennaway (1834-1904) emigrated on the Canterbury, arriving on 31 October 1851. Their younger brother, Walter Kennaway (1835-1920),

arrived in 1853. The road was named by the developer, Warner Mauger. The Tunnel Road now bisects what was their property. Formed post-1997. Naming information supplied in 2006 by

Bob Pritchard, subdivisions officer, Christchurch City Council.Star, 26 June 1909, p 4 [This article says Walter Kennaway was the son of J. H. Kennaway which a descendant, Di Pritchard, said in 2016, is incorrect.]

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. There was also a reasonable amount of information on Papers Past including an article written by Gordon Ogilvie in 1977. As well as the property in Heathcote the brothers had property in South Canterbury. William Kennaway senior of The Shrubbery in Exeter who had been mayor of Exeter three times purchased the Heathcote property for his sons. William junior and his brother Laurence Kennaway arrived in 1851 on board the Canterbury. They were aged 18 and 17. Walter arrived in 1853 on the Tasmania. Charles with his sisters Sarah and Kathrine arrived in 1964. They called their property The Barton. The brothers eventually returned to England and Walter was knighted in 1909. Charles Kennaway in 1872 was washed overboard from the Zealandia on his way to England. The sisters Sarah and Kathrine were on the ship Matoaka in 1869 to return to England but this ship was lost at sea. There were so many conflicting reports about this ship that it took over 6 months before it was confirmed as a missing ship and all lives lost. Laurence Kennaway wrote a book Crusts which was reprinted and there is a copy at the library.

At the Chapmans Rd end of the street there is a small reserve and when I looked at google maps Street view showed empty sections. When I walked the street today there are now buildings on these empty sections. There is also a new cycleway being developed in the area. There were diggers in the reserve and part of the reserve seems to be getting dug up.