Charing Cross is a farming district, about twenty-six miles west by road from Christchurch. Relies of Maori habitation have frequently been discovered in the neighbourhood, though no approximate date can be assigned to the arrival of the natives in the district or to their departure from it. The earliest European settlers were Messrs Riordan and Shipley, who arrived in the district about 1879, and were soon followed by others. Charing Cross was originally covered with wild tussocks, but is now dotted with well-ordered farms, and numerous intersecting roads. The district is devoted chiefly to sheep grazing and grain growing, and contains many extensive and well managed estates. It possesses a public school, a blacksmith's shop, and a post office, with a daily mail service. The nearest railway stations are Kirwee and Norwood.