Selwyn is a village in the

Selwyn District Selwyn District is a predominantly rural district in central Canterbury, on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is named after the Selwyn River / Waikirikiri, which is in turn named after Bishop George Selwyn, the first Anglican bi ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

, New Zealand. It was laid out in the 1860s for a population of 2,000 people, but it currently has very few houses.

Naming

Captain Joseph Thomas, the chief surveyor of the

Canterbury Association The Canterbury Association was formed in 1848 in England by members of parliament, peers, and Anglican church leaders, to establish a colony in New Zealand. The settlement was to be called Canterbury, with its capital to be known as Christchur ...

, named the

Selwyn River The Selwyn River (, officially gazetted as Selwyn River / Waikirikiri) flows through the Selwyn District of Canterbury in the South Island of New Zealand. Description The river has its source in the Southern Alps and flows east for before em ...

after Bishop Selwyn, New Zealand's first Anglican

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

. This township, the

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

and an electorate later used the same name.

Geography and transport

Selwyn is located just south of the Selwyn River / Waikirikiri and is prone to occasional flooding. It was established around the rail corridor of the

Main South Line The Main South Line, sometimes referred to as part of the South Island Main Trunk Railway, is a railway line that runs north and south from Lyttelton in New Zealand through Christchurch and along the east coast of the South Island to Inv ...

that was planned in the 1860s. The railway first reached the township in 1867. Most of the time, the river can be forded, and the road bridge was not built until 1927. Its successor bridge now carries State Highway 1 traffic, which crosses the railway line in Selwyn; initially, two right angle bends were provided, later to be replaced by a sweeping S-bend. Selwyn is south-west of

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

, and north-east of Dunsandel.

History

Old house, Selwyn, Canterbury, New Zealand

Albert Beetham was an engineer and surveyor from Christchurch. Aware of the plans for the Main South railway, Beetham bought a piece of land on either side of the gazetted corridor approximately in size. He subdivided it into 470

section Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sign ...

s for a target population of 2,000 and provided two town squares, Victoria Square and Market Square. The railway reached Rolleston in October 1866, the north bank of the Selwyn River on 7 October 1867, and Selwyn Station via a bridge over the Selwyn River on 16 December 1867. This original bridge, though, was destroyed in a flood on 4 February 1868. Brickwork piers used for the original bridge were replaced by piles in the reconstruction. Due to financial problems of the Canterbury Provincial Council, Selwyn remained the terminus of the line for some years. For a time, the demand for sections in Selwyn was brisk, and even speculators started buying some of them. At one point, Selwyn had a blacksmith, bootmaker, butcher, saddler, and a wheelwright, and amenities included a boarding house, billiard saloon, a hotel with stables, and some shops. The railway yards were a depot for construction works undertaken by the Provincial Council. Selwyn's importance waned when the railway reached the south bank of the Rakaia River, where the township of Rakaia formed. The Rakaia River Bridge was formally opened by the provincial Superintendent, William Rolleston, on 29 May 1873. A far greater problem was ongoing flooding, though. Many residents left Selwyn for the neighbouring township of Dunsandel. Even the hotel itself was, in about 1900, shifted to Dunsandel. Today, Selwyn has fewer than ten houses, with many derelict cottages still visible. Selwyn celebrated its 150th birthday in September 2012.

References

{{Selwyn Selwyn District Populated places in Canterbury, New Zealand