Bryndwr

Story

Bryndwr is a suburb in the north-west of Christchurch, New Zealand.DevelopmentBryndwr, meaning 'hillside by water', and probably named for the slopes beside the Wairarapa and Wai iti streams which run through the suburb, is one of the few places in New Zealand with a name of Welsh origin. It was given this name by Charles Alured Jeffreys, of Glandyfi, Machynlleth, Wales. He farmed this area after being given 100acre freehold by his father-in-law Thomas Parr in 1851, who was granted Rural Section 188 from the Canterbury Association. Jeffreys also took a further 100acre leasehold. He and his wife Clara Ellen emigrated on the Tasmania arriving in Lyttelton in 1853.His land, sections 503 and 504, was known as Bryndwr Farm, Fendall Town. Jeffreys subdivided the land, selling 180 lots at auction as the "valuable suburb of Bryndwr", in 1880. Many streets he named in the area have Welsh associations including Jeffreys, Plynlimon, Penhelig, Glandovey, Idris,, Snowdon, Garreg, and Bryndwr Road. Jeffreys, his wife and daughter returned to Glandyfi castle after his elder brother, Edward, died in 1888.A 1922 map of Christchurch shows "Bryndwr Station" railway station north of the intersection of Normans Road and Wairakei Road . The farm owned by William Warner of Warner's Hotel in the Norman's Road area of Bryndwr was subdivided, and the Normans Road shops included the Warner farmhouse. In about 1957, the Roper's Foodmarket in this group of shops was designed by local architect Paul Pascoe.