Westholme Cowichan Valley Regional District, British Columbia

Community - An unincorporated populated place, generally with a population of 50 or more, and having a recognized central area that might contain a post office, store and/or community hall, etc, intended for the use of the general public in the region. In North Cowichan Municipality, W of Crofton, Chemainus Land District

Mapped Location

Westholme: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.

 

Information

General information on Westholme

  • Feature Type: Place

 

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for Westholme

A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named

Name Description
Westholme Official

 

Origin Notes and History of Westholme

References to Westholme that document the origin of its place name

Westholme (Village) was adopted in the 18th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 31 March 1924. Westholme (Post Office) identified in the 1953 BC Gazetteer. Form of name changed to Westholme (community) 15 March 1983 on 92B/13.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

Westholme, also known as Hall's Crossing, is listed in Williams BC Directory 1892, as a flag station on the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway. Westholme first appears in E&NR timetables in June 1895.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

After the completion of the E&N Railway in 1886, Captain C.E. Barkley, RN (retired) took to walking over to the little station at Hall's Crossing and handing his letters to the mail clerk on the train when it stopped there. Neighbours began asking the captain to take their letters also, and soon the postal authorities [supplied him with a mailbag.] When a post office was opened, Captain Barkley was appointed postmaster and the post office took the name of his house, Westholme, in which it was located. According to a grandson, Captain Barkley named his house Westholme because it was his 'home in the west' but it may have been the name of a family property in England. In 1909 Captain Barkley perished when a smaller house to which he had recently moved was consumed by fire. This Captain Barkley was, incidently, a grandson of Captain C.W. Barkley, who in 1787 discovered and named Barkley Sound.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
Akrigg, Helen B. and Akrigg, G.P.V; British Columbia Place Names; Sono Nis Press, Victoria 1986 /or University of British Columbia Press 1997  |  Province of British Columbia

 

Cowichan Valley Regional District

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2023-09-25