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The Pa Maori

Pohokura Pa Situated at Urenui—Taranaki District

Pohokura Pa Situated at Urenui—Taranaki District

This pa is a very small isolated hill of elongated form situated on a low river flat less than a quarter of a mile from the sea beach at the mouth of the Urenui river. It stands on the right bank of the river, which flows at the base of the hill. The hill is a small one and its summit about 50 feet above the level of the flat. Although an old and historic place Pohokura is by no means imposing in appearance; page 221 Fig. 59—Pohokura Pa, Taranaki. Longitudinal and Cross Sections. Miss E. Richardson it is small and lacking in earthworks, the scarps and terraces are also much broken down. It was examined and measured simply because it serves as an illustration of a fortified isolated hill, and also on account of it being a very old pa, according to native tradition.

The defences of Pohokura consisted of scarps and stockades, but the escarpments have become much abraded, as shown in the longitudinal section (Fig. 59, above), hence the unimposing aspect of the place.

The southern side of the hill is a perpendicular cliff, with the Urenui river flowing immediately beneath it. This limits the terraced area to the two ends and northern face of the elongated mound. At the S.W. by W. end are two terraces, the lower one 18 ft. wide, while 16 ft. above it is another one 15 ft. wide. Both were wider originally, for the scarps are much abraded and a considerable amount of detritus has been deposited on the terraces.

From the upper terrace a rise of 13 ft. lifts us to the summit area, which is nearly level and about 70 yds. in length. At about 60 yds. from the river the upper terrace runs out, but another one lies above page 222its level and continues along the northern side of the hill. These terraces have been wide enough to accommodate many huts. Both terraces end at the N.E. by N. corner of the hill, where the upper one breaks down to the short wide terrace marked B which lies below it, and is 23 ft. below the level of the summit.

Urenui pa, another such isolated hill, but much larger than Pohokura, lies about 10 chains to N.E. by E.

A large number of old fortified places are in evidence near the Urenui township. There are twelve within a mile of the mouth of the river; viz., Maruwehi, Pohokura, Urenui, Pihanga, Kumara-kaiamu, Ohaoko, Pa-oneone, Moe-ariki, Horopapa, Te Kawa, Pa-wawa and Orongowhiro. Fourteen others were observed within a comparatively small area in this district, and yet others known to exist have not yet been fixed on the map. The accompanying plan (Fig. 60, p. 223) shows 26 of these old fortified places within a small area.

In the view given of the Urenui valley Pohokura is the isolated hill seen in the middle distance. The corner of the Urenui pa can be seen on the right. Maruwehi is the far point on the right. The view is from Te Kawa pa, the abraded earthworks of which are seen in the foreground. See Fig. 58, p. 219.