Dr. Charles Dudley and his brother, a farmer, John arrived in Lyttelton in 1851. With them were their wives and children, aged between 2 to 5 years old.
Charles went on to practice medicine in Lyttelton for the next 5 years while John settled in Christchurch, buying 99 acres in a area known as Richmond. He named his farm ‘Broome Park’ and his family took an active interest in what would become the church named the Holy Trinity of Avonside. Before the church was built, services were held in the home of the Rev. Charles Mackie. John offered ‘Broome Park’ also as a place to hold services and this continued on a fortnightly basis until the Holy Trinity of Avonside was built in 1855.
In 1879, Broome Park was sold to Henry Phillip Hill and Henry Joseph Campbell Jekyll. Members of the Christchurch Beautifying Association, the pair had plans to bring a tram track out from the city to New Brighton. They built the Dallington Bridge (pictured) for this purpose. Named after a district in the town of Northampton, England, soon the surrounding area became known as Dallington. The project never came to pass.
Dallington Bridge can be found at the top end of Delamain Street, now a part of Gloucester Street. It took quite a hammering in the 2011 earthquakes and its fate is not known.
The Dudley brothers are also remembered in the naming of Dudley Creek that begins in Bishopdale and ends at River Road where it flows into the Avon. Flowing under Greers Road, it heads towards Papanui and then Shirley, crossing under Aylesford Street. It’s there that the St Albans Creek joins Dudley Creek and it flows on to Staplestons Road. It then heads to North Parade and Banks Ave. It ends at River Road, in Dallington.
*image courtesy of http://canterburyheritage.blogspot.co.nz/*
