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The defences consisted of a stockade and trench, with a two-storied blockhouse in one corner. The stockade, which has long been pulled down, was 9 ft. high and bullet-proof, as described below, though its form of loopholes is not given. The blockhouse projected outside two faces of the stockade so as to act as a flanking angle, the opposite corner being provided with a bastion as shown on the plan: thus each covered two curtains or faces. The northern and western curtains were each commanded by eight loopholes in the blockhouse, four on each floor. The western and southern sides of the stockaded area still show a parapet on the outer side of the fosse, or trench. Presumably the stockade occupied this low parapet, while the defenders would occupy the fosse inside it.
The space enclosed inside the trench, is 30 yards east and west, and somewhat more north and south. The measurements given in the report would douhtless be those of the line of stockade. The trenches now contain a considerable amount of debris, but were probably 2 ½ ft. or 3 ft. deep originally, the width being about 5 ft. at the bottom. The spoil from these trenches was evidently used to form the parapet, of which, however, we now see no sign on the north and east sides. The entrance to the enclosure was probably at the side of the blockhouse where for a space of 18 ft. no signs of a trench are to be seen.
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The blockhouse is in a good state of preservation, the timber sound and still showing in places the marks of the circular saw; it was probably cut in Cruickshank's mill, the first to be erected in this vicinity, which produced some fine totara timber, The ground floor is divided into two rooms, the larger one containing the staircase, as also a small room in the south-west corner, like the sergeant's cubby-hole in a military barrack-room. Four sides of the ground floor present loopholed walls, the two interior walls being blank, save for the doorway and two windows as shown. There are twenty-four loopholes, as marked, not including three higher up to be occupied by persons stationed on the staircase. These loopholes are rectangular, formed with 1 in. timber, with the smaller end outward, the inner and larger orifice being 8 in. by 6 in. Some are still plugged with the original tompions—solid blocks of timber. The walls are flush-lined with 1 in. boards, and the outside weatherboarded with the same; studs, 6 in. The interior space is filled with fine gravel.
The upper floor is in one room, and is pierced with loopholes all round, on all six faces. The southern end has but two loopholes, but the two windows there are probably modern and not a part of the original plan. The west and north faces have each eight loopholes. The two interior walls have three each, two long vertical ones and a small square one between them. Two of these appear in the illustration. Not being a disciple of Vauban, the writer is unable to explain why these elongated loopholes should appear in two walls only, and those both interior faces. On the outer side these loopholes are 36 in. by 3 in., but the inner part is wider.
The blockhouse is built on piles, and roofed with corrugated iron; height of walls, 18 ft.
The magazine was a small building, 9 ft. by 5 ft. in size, originally lined, and probably with gravel-filled walls. Outside the blockhouse is a small ditch of unknown use, for presumably the stockade did not extend along outside the north and west sides of the blockhouse. The place seems to have been used as a residence at some time, and a stove has been used in the upper floor. Again, the place seems to have been utilized as a chicken-ranch at no distant period.
The well was covered over with timber, as it appears in the photograph (Plate II, fig. 2). The bastion shows no signs of having contained any small flanking blockhouse, such as we constructed in Taranaki as late as the “seventies.” From the trench outside the bastion a covered drain runs to a stream-channel, evidently designed to carry off storm-waters from the trench. A part of the outer scarp of the trench at the south corner of the bastion has been neatly faced with stones, reminding one of the Koru pa at Oakura.
No trace of a parapet is seen on the eastern and northern faces of the defence; the interior of the defended area is level ground, which extends far out on all sides.
(An outpost of singular form was erected at Taita in 1846, and was occupied by Militia for some time. The following appeared in the Wellington Independent at the time: “The troops and native allies in the Hutt have been forming an entrenched camp at Taita, in the shape of two squares connected at an angle of each, and having a communication from one to the other.” The main post of that period was Fort Richmond, at the Bridge, Lower Hutt.)
The Australian and New Zealand Gazette of the 17th October, 1860, contains the following: “The natives in the Wellington district still continue quiet, but the settlers are, as they ought to be on the alert. The
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Fig. 3.
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Militia has been called out both in Wellington and Whanganui, all the disposable rifles have been distributed, and two stockades are being erected in the Hutt district.”
The same publication in its issue of the 24th November, 1860, giving Wellington news up to the 7th September, quotes the following from the Wellington Independent: “A stockade is about to be erected at the Upper Hutt, and the one now erecting at the Lower Hutt is rapidly progressing. Recently, at the request of several gentlemen of the Hutt, the contractor supplied them with a target made the exact thickness of the sides of the stockades and filled with screened gravel, which was carted to a suitable place under the superintendence of Captain Carlyon, Lieutenant Ludlam, and Corporal Tapp, of the Royal Engineers. The firing commenced at 120 yards, shortening the distance until within five paces, when several rounds were fired from three different descriptions of rifles, likewise from one of the percussion muskets. On examination of the target the result proved very satisfactory, sixteen having struck the centre, but not one had passed through, the balls flattening as soon as they come in contact with the gravel, thus proving the efficiency of the present works.”
“A memorial for the erection of stockades has been sent to the Governor from about sixty of the residents in the small-farm neighbourhood of the Wairarapa. It is worthy of note that none of the sheep-farmers whose homesteads are scattered over the valley, and whose property would have to be abandoned should an outbreak occur, have consented to sign it.”