Riverstone Retaining Wall (1930s)

Retaining wall of andesite river stones on the Rata Street frontage of Trimble Park, Inglewood. (Opposite the Inglewood Baths and Cemetery)

Photograph above (Puke Ariki collection) is from a Borough Council presentation to the Inglewood Mayor, Joseph Gibbs (1931-38) of "improvements completed" during his mayoral tenure. (Other projects included the eastern earth terraces of Jubilee Park and the railway reserve near the Kurapete Stream, Mountain Road - now Joe Gibbs Scenic Reserve.)

Colonel Robert Trimble (1824 -1899) after whom the park is named, was born in Belfast and went to the USA in the 1840s and supported the North during the Civil War. He gave support for emancipated slaves but returned to England where he was actively involved in church and education campaigns. In 1875 he and his family emigrated to New Zealand and took up land at newly-established Inglewood. He was the first chair of both the Inglewood Town Board and Taranaki County Council.

He was elected MP for Grey & Bell and Taranaki between1879 and 1887 and later became a judge of the Native Land Court.

He died at his home, Riversdale, in 1899.

The Trimble Park Walkway now (2018) provides access to the top of the hill behind the stone walling.