Stratford Heritage Walkway

Key points of interest include:

• The Bell Tower was constructed in 1981. The bells were removed from the old clock tower (built in 1924 and demolished in 1963) and lay in disuse for 20 years until this tower was built. The original clock tower and bells were built as a memorial to the soldiers of Stratford who fell in the Boer War and WWI.
• Erected in 1923, the Malone Memorial Gates is the largest war memorial to an individual soldier in New Zealand. They were built to recognise the outstanding bravery and leadership of Lieutenant Colonel W G Malone of Stratford who died at the battle of Chunuk Bair at Gallipoli.
• Kauri Tree was planted in 1954 by Queen Elizabeth II to commemorate her royal visit to Stratford and Lone Pine is a lone conifer tree planted from a seedling from Lone Pine Ridge in Gallipoli.
• Erected in 1902, the swing-bridge commemorates the coronation of King Edward VII.
• Built in 1912/13 the Otago Chambers is an impressive brick structure has housed a law firm associated with the Thomson family.
• Newton King was once a livery stable, then a vehicle and machinery centre.
• Victoria Bridge is a wide bridge opened in 1924 by Prime Minister, Hon J G Coates.
• The Salvation Army Building has been the site of the Salvation Army since it was built in 1894.
• The Curtis Store site is the site of the first shop in Stratford built in 1878.
• The Hall of Remembrance is a unique war memorial of photographs that commemorates soldiers from the district who lost their lives in the Boer War and the two World Wars.
• The Post Office is the site of the original Post Office built 1896.
• The Clock Tower/Glockenspiel is an Elizabethan clock tower built in 1996 and surrounds the previous tower built in the 1960s. The tower hosts New Zealand’s first glockenspiel, which performs a five-minute sequence depicting the world’s best-known love story, Romeo and Juliet four times daily (10am, 1pm, 3pm and 7pm).
• Built in 1918, Kings Theatre held the first talking pictures in the Southern Hemisphere in 1925.
• Originally part of a gully and stream which was piped and filled in, Prospero Place is now a popular pedestrian link through to Miranda Street.

For further information contact New Plymouth, Stratford or South Taranaki i-SITE Visitor Centre, or view the downloadable brochures from our website.