Place Name
With a church at either end the name is self-evident. It was marked out through fields, owned by Sir Charles Selwyn, by the devout heading to worship at the new church of St John the Divine which was consecrated in 1836. For a time it was known as St John’s Road but in 1852 the Vestry, the prototype parish council that managed the town, decided that it should be Church Road, no doubt in consideration of the fact that a new church was going to be built at the other end. In 1858 St Matthias Church was completed at the Kings Road end and within a few years housing was running the full length from Kew Road to Friars Stile Road. Sir Charles handed the road to the Vestry, and by 1870 the name Church Road was confirmed in the rate books.
