page_title: Ferrymead
section_title: Early European settlement
hierarchical_section_title: Ferrymead / History / Early European settlement
caption_attribution_description: D Class No 140 on the Ferrymead Railway
context_page_description: Ferrymead is a suburb south-east of Christchurch, New Zealand. It is the main thoroughfare for reaching the eastern sea suburbs such as Sumner, as well as home to a number of cliff-top residences and businesses along the estuary front. After the 2011 Canterbury earthquake, a number of prominent Christchurch businesses relocated to the Ferrymead area, making it into a secondary business hub.
context_section_description: European settlement of the area dates from the arrival of the early colonists in 1850. Farming was the major industry of the area from its early years and parts of the Heathcote Valley are still in agricultural production. Ferry services began about 1851 firstly as a cattle punt. James Townsend (1788–1866) operated the punt service from 1852. When he sold up, the new owners called his house Ferry Mead Hotel (the meadow of the ferry) and this gave the name to the suburb. These ferry services continued until the completion of the Heathcote Bridge in 1864. Shipping at this time was also able to travel up the Heathcote River as far as the Christchurch Quay adjacent to the present Radley Street Bridge. Later the Steam Wharf was opened by the present Tunnel Road intersection with Ferry Road. The Railway Wharf was opened in December 1863 along with the Ferrymead Railway.
  Shipping on the river was very costly, around 2 pounds per tonne, more than it cost to bring cargo from the UK, and the ships were very small. Later on, steamships brought the cost down, but the difficulties of bringing ships over the bar of the Estuary and up the river itself were a considerable inconvenience. River shipping only outlasted the advent of the railway by a few years, although both the 1864 and 1907 bridges were designed to allow shipping to pass.
caption: D Class No 140 at the restored Ferrymead railway
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