Selwyn is a village in the Selwyn District of Canterbury, 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, named the Selwyn River after Bishop Selwyn, New Zealand's first Anglican Bishop. This township, the district 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 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,
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.
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.