In the early 1900s the suburb of Lynmouth was known as Veale’s Estate by many people in New Plymouth. That name stuck and, even in the 1940s, the destination signs on buses were still reading “Veale’s Estate”. The “Estate” belonged to Thomas Veale and it was later subdivided for housing.
Eventually the name fell out of use and Lynmouth is how we refer to the area today. It is named after a small town in southern England and Lyn Street is merely a truncation of the name.
Although the name is simple, its development was not so straightforward. Lyn Street started out as a short street connecting Doone Street with what was then known as Upper Calvert Road. As this latter name implies the intention was to join the original Calvert Road with this new road.
As sometimes happens, progress stalled and the plan changed. The land between the two stretches of road became a dumping ground for rubbish and it was finally decided to cover the area with soil to provide a much-needed sports facility. This is now Lynmouth Park, although it took many years before it could be safely used for sporting events.
It also meant the two Calvert Roads would never be joined. So the council decided to merge the names Upper Calvert Road and Lyn Street, calling it all the latter.
Apparently the name change came as a surprise to some. The Taranaki Herald reported that residents were “amazed to find their addresses suddenly altered”.
This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.
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