Stokes Valley
Stokes Valley, a major suburb of the city of Lower Hutt in the North Island of New Zealand, lies at the edge of the city, seven kilometres northeast of the city centre. It occupies the valley of a small tributary of the Hutt River, called Stokes Valley Stream, which flows north to meet the main river close to the Taitā Gorge. Stokes Valley takes its name from Robert Stokes, who formed part of the original survey team of 1840 commissioned to plan the city at Thorndon in Wellington.
Stokes Valley | |
|---|---|
The entrance to Stokes Valley, with the large sculpture Mating Worms by Stokes Valley resident Guy Ngan in the foreground. To the right side are houses in Holborn, which is part of Stokes Valley. In the distance are bush-clad hills at the top end of the valley. | |
| Coordinates: 41°10′S 174°59′E | |
| Country | New Zealand |
| City | Lower Hutt |
| Local authority | Hutt City Council |
| Electoral ward | Northern |
| Established | 1840–1843, settled in 1853 |
| Area | |
| • Land | 967 ha (2,390 acres) |
| Population (June 2023) | |
| • Total | 10,640 |
| Manor Park | Pinehaven | |
| Pomare |
Stokes Valley
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Blue Mountains |
| Taitā |
Stokes Valley comprises a suburb in its own valley, physically separated from the rest of Lower Hutt. It is surrounded on all sides by densely forested hills.
Its cultural identity, very similar to that of the rest of Lower Hutt, has progressed [some would jokingly disagree] a long way from the "congregation of old shellbacks and whalers, men-o'-wars men and seamen, lags and hard cases, living in tents and whares ... [a] heterogeneous mass of misguided humanity" reported in 1855.