Charnstaffe Lane

Charnstaffe Lane, the short way between Boston Road and Concord Road just south of the Common, is the surviving piece of one of the first named lines in Billerica. It marked the north-east side of Mr. Dudley's farm, the large grant that began at the Two Brothers on Concord River, and the south side of the four hundred acres granted "by the Church of Cambridge for a Towneship," on which the village was built. Henry A. Hazen described the farm as "bounded north-east by the line of Charnstaffe Lane, extended from the river to a point just east of Ash Swamp," and the Township as "bounded south by Charnstaffe Lane." The lane was in use when the house lots were laid out. In 1658 the proprietors reserved a way along the river and kept the same right "to pass from Charnstaffe Lane" to it, and they left the brook in the middle of the Township open "from long-street downward to ye line of Mr. Dudley's farme," which in Hazen's words "proves the identity of Charnstaffe Lane and the line of the Dudley Farm."

For a short distance the lane also carried the country road to Concord. The layout of the 19th day of the 12th month, 1660 (February 1660/61) took the road south from the meeting house "streight on forward to the pounds, through Mr. Whiting's lott," where "it turnes westward" down Charnstaffe Lane until it came to the corner stake between George Farley and John Stearns on the Dudley farm, where it turned south along their dividing line. The town pound stood south of the lane "at the place where Concord road, leading to the village, turns west upon it," and Hazen noted in 1883 that "the bend in the lane at Billerica village is conspicuous to this day." The westward part of the lane, beyond the point where the road to Bedford turned south, was by then "still a private lane." Rev. Samuel Whiting, the first minister, lived on the north side of the lane "just where Charnstaffe Lane descends from the west to the brook," and his house was the town's main garrison; John Stearns lived on the south side, on the place later known as the Deacon Whiting place.

The records do not explain the name, which is spelled "charnstaff," "Charnestaffe," "Charnstaffe" and "Churnstaff" at different times. When the town first named its streets, the committee chosen in 1896 called the lane "Winter street, running westerly from Main street to Bedford street," probably for the Winter family, who had lived on it since about 1849, when Paul Holt Jr. sold a lot to Stephen Winter and Samuel E. Winter. A meeting of citizens at the Historical Society's rooms in March 1898 asked that it be "Changed to Churnstaff Lane," and the Historical Society's list, accepted by the town on March 27, 1899, restored the old name as "Charnstaffe lane, from Boston road running westerly to Concord road." The street sign and most addresses now read Charnstaff Lane.

The lane was a dirt road until the 1920s. A drain was laid in 1915, 200 feet were graveled in 1925, and in 1927 it was treated with "Oil No. 45" from Boston Road to Concord Road. In 1931 the town spent $371.19 to tar it, and extended the drain 190 feet with a new catch basin. When Concord Road was rebuilt in 1936, "the curve at the junction of Charnstaff Lane and Concord Road was banked." Blanchard Brook, the brook that the first settlers left open through the middle of the Township, still passes under the lane in a "rock culvert" that the town voted to repair in 1957. A granite marker at the corner of Concord Road marks the site of the Whiting garrison house.

It was formally accepted as a public way at the Fall Town Meeting of October 2016, which voted, 124 to 19, under Chapter 82, sections 21 to 24, of the General Laws, to accept the 57 old roads "the layout of which is shown on the official Town of Billerica Map of 1831." The town manager explained that the state already treated these roads as public ways, but the town had no record of accepting them and so could not spend money to maintain them. The list gives it from Concord Road to Boston Road.

Historic Buildings

Name	Alternate	Address	Built	Moved	Demolished
Stephen Winter House		12 Charnstaffe Ln	1849		1979
T. B. Fellows House		10 Charnstaffe Ln	1874		1998

References

1. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 24: the Dudley farm bounded by the line of Charnstaffe Lane; the Township bounded south by it
2. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 26: Rev. Samuel Whiting's house where Charnstaffe Lane descends to the brook
3. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 89: the Concord road of 1660 turning west down Charnstaff lane on Mr. Dudley's farm
4. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 95: Charnstaffe Lane and the line of the Dudley farm; the brook highway of 1658
5. Billerica annual report 1897: street naming committee's list, "Winter street, running westerly from Main street to Bedford street"
6. Billerica annual report 1899: citizens' changes to the street list, No. 33 "Change to Churnstaff Lane" (March 1898)
7. Billerica annual report 1899: Historical Society list, "Charnstaffe lane, from Boston road running westerly to Concord road"
8. Billerica annual report 1900: Historical Society street list accepted at the town meeting of March 27, 1899
9. Billerica annual report 1927: Charnstaffe Lane treated with Oil No. 45 from Boston Road to Concord Road
10. Billerica annual report 1931: Charnstaffe Lane tarred
11. Annual Report 2017: Fall Town Meeting, October 2016, Article 36 accepts as public ways the roads shown on the official town map of 1831 (124 to 19)
12. Annual Report 2017: warrant for Article 36, the 1831 list of roads with their termini