Christchurch
a city of South Island, New Zealand, the capital of the province of Canterbury. It is on the river Avon, and is connected with Lyttelton, its seaport, by railway. It is the center of an importan important agricultural and grazing district and has manufactures of boats, clothing, furniture, and agricultural implements. There is also a large export trade in mutton, wool, and timber. The city has many fine buildings, including churches, a museum, a theater, and an opera house. It is the seat of Christ College and of the bishopric of Canterbury. Pop. about 95,000. CHRIST CHURCH, COLLEGE OF, a notable institution in Oxford, England.
In 1526 Wolsey obtained from Clement VII. a bull for the suppression of 22 monasteries, the site of one of which he chose for a new college, to be called Cardinal College, and which he intended to endow beyond that of any other in Oxford. On the fall of Wolsey, in 1529, the establishment came into the hands of King Henry VIII. In 1532 that prince founded it under the name of King Henry VIII.'s College, and in 1546 he once more re-established the college under the name of "Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford, or the Foundation of King Henry VIII., with a dean and 8 canons, 60 students, 40 schoolboys, clerks, choristers," etc. This foundation is now subsisting. subsisting, though it has undergone considerable modifications. It is one of the most famous colleges of Oxford Univercity and counts among its former members many of the most illustrious names in English history.