Earthworks, Restoration, and Visitor Centre

Cutting step in west wall Sept 2013	Determining position of path to SE bastion Dec	E wall construction N end Dec 08 Ian on tractor
East wall construction looking south to SE bastion. Dec 08	Excavation for SE Bastion looking North Dec 08	Investiagtion of area to west of SE Bastion Dec 08
Closeup of part of the Timeline on one of the central curved	Closeup of the NW corner of the Model and the Great South Rd	Visitors looking at the scale model of the redoubt
Looking through some of the displays

The Cobbled Road

In 2022 during one of our monthly working bees, I spotted  3 or 4 stones just visible in the grass. They were in a straight line, and I thought may indicate the edge of some sort of stone-lined feature.  The stones were visible for the first time after a dry summer and the grass was unusually short.  I started probing and it soon became apparent there were a lot of stones over an area about 3 metres wide and at least 20 metres long. The next working bee we systematically pulled up all the grass which was over the stones and uncovered a cobbled road inside Queen’s Redoubt. We decided to keep a 5m by 3m section permanently open as a interpretable feature.  Further probing revealed the cobbled road divided the redoubt in half and it extends from the west gate across the  redoubt to the east gate. There may be paved side tracks off it leading to various buildings in the redoubt but these have not been found yet.

A notable feature about the rock used to form the cobbled road is that they were all broken by hand and it is remarkably chunky and angular (see photo). It would have been a rough ride over it and uncomfortable for horses. The rock almost certainly came from Austin’s farm (off the road to the Bluff Stockade) to the west of present day Pokeno. The British Army established an initial base on his farm, occupied by companies of the 12th and 14th Regiments  while they built the southern end of the Great South Rd in late 1862- early 1863. They also quarried rock on the farm. The camp was abandoned after Queen’s redoubt was first occupied in September 1862.

We believe the cobbled road would have been built about the same time Queen’s Redoubt was being constructed, as the main thoroughfare.  Although there are mentions in diaries and other records of wet weather during the period Queen’s redoubt was occupied (September 1862  until late1866, we have found no reports indicating the interior of the redoubt turned into a quagmire after heavy rain, which one might expect when up to 450 men were moving about inside the redoubt during long wet periods. We know from archaeological excavations there was a box culvert through the west wall to allow drainage, presumably both entrances into the redoubt (in the east and west walls) allowed drainage from the interior, and there may have been corduroyed or gravelled paths between the buildings, but we have found no evidence or records of such features.

Road into QR, Discovered Jan 2021
Cobbled road uncovered at Queen’s Redoubt. It appears to have extended for 100 yards (the width of the redoubt from the west entrance to the east entrance (the gap in the east wall of the redoubt visible in the background)

A drone view of Queen’s Redoubt
The exposed section of the cobbled road is clearly visible centre right and in a direct line to the west entrance of the redoubt (which also serves as the present entrance). The building (top centre left) is the Queen’s Redoubt NZ Wars Education Centre.