Ferry Road – formerly Sumner Road, Ashbourne Road and Regent Street. Formerly Sumner Road. Named after John Bird Sumner (1780-1862). Re-named Ferry Road. Named because it was the road leading to the ferry at the Heathcote River. From St Asaph Street to the East Belt (later Fitzgerald Avenue) was formerly Sumner Road. Sumner was an Archbishop of Canterbury and a President of the Canterbury Association. Formation of the road began in 1850 and was improved at time of establishment of Provincial Government. A ferry service was established connecting the Ferry Road with the Heathcote Valley Road leading to the foot of the Bridle Path.”Heathcote Ferry Road” is first mentioned in the Lyttelton Times in 1851. In 1884 “the Ferry Road, from Hargood’s Road to the swing bridge” was re-named Regent Street. From Ensors Road-Aldwins Road to Radley Street was re-named Ashbourne Street in 1893 and became part of Ferry Road in 1922. From Radley Street to the Heathcote bridge remained as Regent Street until 1922 when it was re-named Ferry Road. [The ferry went out of business when the bridge was built over the Heathcote River.]
A reasonable of information from the library website. There was a huge amount of information on Papers Past and trying to get information from when it was called Sumner Rd was almost impossible. There was a Sumner Rd in Lyttelton and a Sumner Rd in Sumner. So many articles and letters to the editor were about the Sumner Rd in Sumner and some people wanting a tunnel through Evans Pass. The best information about the Sumner Rd that became Ferry Rd was from ads in the 1850s. J F Smart had a private boarding house called Caversham House and this was on the corner of Sumner RD and Madras St at the entrance of Christchurch. He also had stables on the premises. He was a busy man as he also carted goods from the Quay for people plus did firewood. The White Hart Inn owned by M B Hart was opened in 1852. The same year Robert Watson moved his business from Cashel St to Sumner Rd next to the White Hart Inn. In 1953 the site for the proposed Town Hall had three frontages of Hereford St, Cathedral Square and facing down Sumner Rd. In 1854 W Wilson had two sections available on Sumner Rd and these were opposite the Wesleyan Chapel with frontages on Sumner Rd, Cashel St, Hereford St and Colombo St. W Wilson had a lot of land in this area and he was a nasty man.
Ashbourne St seemed to be a couple of dairy farms plus lots of ads for people selling potatoes, tomatoes, chickens and apples. W A Rainsford had a grocery shop. The Woolston Methodist Church was mentioned and this was on Aldwins Rd corner.
Regent St and this street had lots of death notices. A few places and people mentioned were the Woolston and Opawa Money Club, Loyal Perseverance Lodge Rooms, Wharf Hotel, Mr Hopkins shop, R Coupland a grocer and Soloman Richard Charlesworth. There was a fire in a block of shops in 1919. There was a big problem with cyclists on the footpath including Samuel Hurst Seagar. Cyclists were fined for this and yes I would love for cyclists these days to be fined for being on the footpath. This road also saw a motorbike plus a horse and cart on the footpath. There was an article in 1919 where the residents didn’t want the street name to go back to Ferry Rd and would prefer to keep the aristocratic name of Regent St. There was an article in July 1919 that said the streets known as Lower High St, Ferry Rd, Ashbourne St and Regent St will be renamed Ferry Rd.
Huge number of entries as Ferry Rd including lots of death notices. There was an article in 1910 about trotting in Canterbury and the first trotting race on a racecourse in Canterbury was held on a location called Brown’s Paddock on Ferry Rd about 1875/1876. In 1880s a club was formed called Lower Heathcote Racing Club and these races were held opposite to Brown’s Paddock.
In 1916 there was a collision between a night soil cart and a tram. The horses had been left unattended and had crossed the road. The horses had to be destroyed. No mention of the mess that a night soil cart would have made. In 1920 it was decided that Ferry Rd from High St to Aldwins Rd was to be known as Ferry Rd City and Ferry Rd from Aldwins Rd to Heathcote Bridge to be known as Ferry Rd Woolston. This was because of the confusion caused by the duplication of street numbers.
In 1925 Monica Park was officially opened and the stands could hold 1000 people and it had two playing fields. This was for rugby league games. Residents in 1924 wanted Ferry Rd in Woolston to be brought up to the same standard as Ferry Rd in the city. St Peter’s Church that was on the corner of Aldwins Rd and Ferry Rd was mentioned a few times. In 1931 there was a meeting of ex-pupils as Woolston School had ben in existence for 66 years. I shouldn’t been amused by a shop that had been burgled a few times plus held up once in the 1930s but the shop’s name was Self Help Store.
In 1944 you could get your meat ration coupons from the Post Office here. In 1947 the council approved the sale of a block of land for the erection of a picture theatre. A couple of fires in the 1940s and one was at the Oddfellows Hall and the other was at the factory of Provita Mills Ltd. In an obituary in 1941 it was mentioned that sod huts were very common on Ferry Rd for the early settlers to live in.
In 1950 they hadn’t yet acquired the land for the Tunnel Rd that will be going from Ferry Rd to Lyttelton. In 1957 Ballin Brothers Ltd wanted to transfer the license for the Saxon Hotel in Lyttelton to a site at 408 Ferry Rd where they planned to build a new hotel. Their reason was that the Saxon Hotel had been condemned. In 1958 the licensing board refused this application. I am sure that I remember the Saxon Hotel in Lyttelton and I was born in the 1950s.
In 1960 Dr Newman a widow had a medical practice on Ferry Rd and she was found murdered. In 1962 it was the 50 year jubilee for G L Bowron and this company started out in St Johns St. They then built a factory on Ferry Rd but when this building burnt down they moved to the site near Woolston Station. In 1969 the new Roman Catholic Church of St Anne’s was opened. In the 1970s and 1980s some of the places mentioned were the Early Settlers Hall, Koinonia Christian School, Woolston Park Pool, Vistalite Aluminium and Portstone Restaurant. A big fuss made when A and T Burt Mechanical Ltd decided to close it’s factory.
Te Waipounamu Maori Girls College was mentioned a few times and I remember this school as I had a friend who lived next door to it.
I walked this street a couple of weeks ago and I had taken a bus to Sumner and walked home to Addington. From Ferrymead Bridge to the Tunnel Rd roundabout it is mostly businesses with a few houses near the Tunnel Rd roundabout. I did pop into the ANZ to say hello but it getting to the stage where I hardly know anyone in the bank now. After the Tunnel Rd roundabout it is mostly houses plus St Anne’s Church. Then you come to the Woolston Shopping centre but I didn’t stop to shop. Several secondhand shops and I think that there was a supermarket here. More houses and near the river there are motels. A mixture of houses and businesses on one side and Woolston Park and Woolston School on the other side. The War Memorial is fenced in because of it being vandalised numerous times. There is a new lodge here which would be a rebuild and I am not sure if they are still Oddfellows Lodge. The school has been totally rebuilt from when I attended the school. Then it is more businesses with the occasional house in between. The petrol station is now a self serve one and I remember that there was a big block of shops here. There is an Animal and Bird Hospital and before long you are at Aldwins Rd corner where I closed my eyes when walking. Just joking but I did manage to restrain myself and not visit the bookshops here. Cross the road and there is the Edmonds Factory Garden. Does anyone remember the impressive building that was the Edmonds Factory. On the opposite side of the road is the motels which recently had an arson attack. Then there is Te Wai Pounamu Maori Cultural Centre and this is where there was a Maori Girls College. I had a school friend who lived next door and the college which was a boarding school was a big two story building. I continued walking and it was mostly businesses with the occasional house. At this point you reach Moorhouse Ave and you go to the right to continue down Ferry Rd and it is businesses here but near the end of the street there is the Catholic Cathedral College and Ara Institute. These two educational places occupy at least two blocks. I have probably missed a few places but it is a very long street to walk with a huge variety of buildings. The houses here date from every decade starting at 1880 until 2021. A surprising number of houses date from 1915 and then a big lot from the 1930s and 1970s.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 