History of the land
The early history of this land echoes that of 44 Cornwall Road, as this was originally the same parcel of land.
Conveyed rural section 193 to Augustus Alport, being highest bidder for £150. The size of Rural Section 193 (RS 193) was 50 acres. Alport subdivided his section and in 1859 he sold part of RS 193 to William Oldfield a farmer for the sum of £100.
Occupiers and owners
Augustus James Alport was born and married in England. He came to Lyttelton when Captain Thomas was preparing the port for the arrival of the Canterbury Association's official settlers and his name appears in the Canterbury Association's books. He married Susannah a sister of the Bishop brothers at St Mary’s, Islington. She was born in Maidstone in September 1812.
The first job the Lyttelton Times press did in Lyttelton was to print an import form for him. J.L Compton advertised in the first issue of the Lyttelton Times that he had made arrangements for the carriage of luggage from Lyttelton to Heathcote and that Alport was his agent. Alport was also the auctioneer who sold the first town sections in Lyttelton and Christchurch.
In 1858 Alport was elected president of the Lyttelton Colonists society, which had lately received a grant from the provincial government, and had extended its library. It was for them that the former Colonists Hall on Oxford Street was built. When the Chamber of Commerce started in 1859, he was elected deputy chairman and the following year was chairman.
In September 1859 Alport leased to R.B. Dalgety and George Buckley part of town section 2 fronting Norwich Quay and this had a building and store on it for many years. This was the beginning of Dalgety and Co. in Canterbury.
Sewell in his journal says he was a bustling active man, well to do in the world.
He was a land man, a follower of Sir George Grey. His fees for selling Church land were £135; Godley thought this was exorbitant and declined to pay them.
Alport ran into trouble of some sort and disappeared from Lyttelton – the only reference was from Torlesse’s diary – ‘the Lyttelton Alport has disgraced himself and bolted’.
Alport subdivided his section and in 1859 sold part of RS 193 to William Oldfield a farmer for the sum of £100. Soon after this his brother sold his property Brenchley farm. Alport’s wife Susannah died in Lyttelton in 1863. He had two sons, Augustus Frederick Clark and Edward Bishop. There were three daughters.
William Oldfield – Came out to Lyttelton on the Cressy in 1850 with his wife Harriet and family – Charles (4), William (2), and Charlotte. He settled in Lyttelton and worked as a day labourer, he was an industrious worker and he saved for and bought land on Mt. Pleasant with a few cows. In Lyttelton he worked up a very successful milk round, he lived at Brenchley Farm (His sons Charles and William Oldfield had a sawmill at Oxford forest.) Daughter, Charlotte married Robert Crosbie in 1867 at Little Brenchley, Lyttelton.
The 1878-1880 Burgess lists record that in the years 1878 – 1879 William Oldfield was a farmer, with house and land RS 478 and 193.
William Oldfield died in 1884 at Brenchley farm, Lyttelton, aged 71. His widow Harriet died in 1893 aged 76.
Brenchley Farm
In 1879 Brenchley farm was an extensive farm (see the huge acreage shown on the map in Lyttelton Museum); there were three separate properties on the farmland:
- The dairy farm at the top of Cornwall Rd. (now 44 Cornwall Rd, refer separate history).
- Captain Adam’s farmhouse (now seen as 27 Brenchley Rd) [Captain Adams built this farm house in the 1870's when he leased part of the farm from Oldfield. This 1870's farm which also including orchards of apples, damsons and plums and pasture land for dairy herd.]
- The old homestead on Brenchley farm (higher up and on the other side of the road from Brenchley House). This was demolished some years ago when a modern farmhouse was built in its place; the foundations are said to be surviving .There were also farm labourers’ cottages. Mr Webb snr. and his three sons, the Webb brothers, leased land and cottages up here on Brenchley farm where they started off their market gardening business.
The Meyricks
Richard Meyrick (1858 – 1935) and Frances Meyrick (1860 – 1948) who brought up 9 children here (at what is now 27 Brenchley Rd, but was then called Brenchley Farm) William, Thomas, Caroline, Elizabeth, Joy, Florence, Alice, Gladys and Iris all took turns milking and hay making. Here was Creighton Dale Dairy, this supplied the Lyttelton population with milk for many generations, it was managed by Adam and Nellie Chalmers and then their daughter and son-in-law Hazel and Campbell Gilmore.
The Meyricks were grandparents of Mrs K. Duff, who grew up at 44 Cornwall Rd, she remembers the extensive orchards and old fashioned varieties of plum and apple grown here by her grandparents. The Meyricks sold Brenchley Farm to the Woods.
Mr. Tommy Norris, senior, owned it next and then the Dungee family before being sold again.
Architecture
Brenchley House is now a private house, no longer a part of the farm.
This elegant two storey Canterbury Farmhouse is typical of the 1870s era. It is constructed of timber weatherboards and has had some sympathetic, attractive additions to extend the house.
