PUKEKURA PARK - PLANS

The map below is what may be considered to be the first plan of the park even though it is part of a bigger map. The map was of New Plymouth and drawn by T. K. Skinner (Puke Ariki ARC2010-220) who also happened to be the honorary surveyor of the Recreation Grounds and indeed laid out most of the area in the first 25 years, including all the paths, the Sportsground and the main lake. When the Board got the land in 1875 one of the first things they did was to run a competition for laying out the grounds which was won by Reginald Bayly and the map probably reflects what bayly drew up.
There are several interesting aspects to this map. The lake then was actually longer than it is today, extending back to the stream crossing north of Goodwin Dell. The southern 90m of the lake was reclaimed in 1899 to form Manhatten Island. The path on the eastern bank of the lake is broken by water which was crossed by a little bridge which can be seen on the old photo below the map, and this was the path which was used to get to the southern end of the park from the east side of the lake. The spit of land that the bridge sits on became the small island that is in the park today which happened in the mid 1890s by which time a path along the east bank of the lake must have been made.
The four entrances to the grounds are interesting, the one adjacent to section 1245 is Racecourse Walk, the one next to section 1172 is Horton Walk leading to Rogan Street. There is the main path from Liardet Street and at the top left the Victoria Road entrance.
The original plan was to have the main entrance at what is now the Victoria Road entrance, however section 1084 which was key for that plan was not made available which meant access and egress at that point was extremely difficult and the decision was made to make Liardet Street the main entrance.