Connal Street in the suburb of Woolston, Christchurch

Connal Street in Woolston – Formerly Victoria Terrace. Named after HM Queen Victoria (1819-1901). Re-named Connal Street. Victoria Terrace was named in 1884 when the Woolston Town Board decided that “the Cemetery Road, Princess Street and the terrace, from Mardon’s Road (Maronan Street) to Barton Street, (would be re-named) Victoria Terrace”. Re-named Connal Street on 1 September 1948 when 120 streets were re-named

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. I couldn’t found out why the name Connal but suspect that it is named after a person. There were two men with the name Robert Connal and they were father and son and both worked for the railways.

There were so many Cemetery Roads that it was almost impossible to find out information under that name. Most articles were about building bridges to replace the old swing bridge. Several mentions of the nauseous stench in the area. Under the name Victoria Terrace it was mostly ads and death notices. In 1917 there was mysterious outbreaks of fire at the Lane’s Crown Tannery. In the 1920s there was discussion around erosion of the riverbank. The name change in 1948 was because of several streets with the same name. Still several death notices and lots of ads because of all the businesses on the street. The main businesses mentioned were Dunlop Rubber Company and Davis Gelatine Company. In the 1950s and 1960s there were several complaints about smells and pollution. There were several very sad entries in 1981 when a missing child was found drowned in the river. In 1980 a house that was built in 1866 was moved from Connal St to the top of Moncks Spur. It used to house the people who serviced the wharves that used to be here. In 1984 there was a petition from local residents objecting to the closure of the street because of the Woolston Cut. In 1986 a footbridge was built.

I actually walked this street in October last year and thought that I had already written it up. Today while I was having a tidy up I found my research notes. My excuses for not writing it up last year is that I was still recovering from the weird illness plus I went to Dunedin for geocaching in the long weekend and then disappeared to Adelaide in November. This street is still mostly industrial and buildings are on only one side of the street as the street follows the Heathcote River. Starting at Rutherford St there is the cemetery and you then follow a very narrow road with no footpath. I am not sure if cars are allowed on this part of the road. Some of the businesses look rather rundown here. The road then comes to an end and there is a green space. It looks like a reserve but doesn’t seem to have a name. There are more businesses which have a bit of street art on their walls. Then near the end of the street there are a few houses mostly dating from 1990s and 2000s. I did take 2 or 3 photos of the house that was built in 1880. There is then a footpath that takes to Rutherford St. I crossed the footbridge to walk in the green space on the opposite side of the river. I forgot to look at old maps for this street.