Kent Road (Korito)

The Mangorei War Memorial Hall, located opposite the entrance to Lake Māngamāhoe, stands at the corner of Kent Road in Korito. This road then winds its way toward Taranaki Maunga, eventually linking with Maude Road.

Kent Road was first mentioned in a local newspaper in 1862, when the Public Works Board announced that a number of settlers had “taken up land in a new line of road in the forest, named the Kent road [sic] in the Hua and Waiwakaiho district”. It wasn’t until 1872 that the road was finally completed after Taranaki Provincial Council compulsorily acquired “one acre eleven perches” from Alan Marsh.

It seems likely that the road was named after Kent, a county in southeast England. It is the fifth most populous in the country and the name is of Celtic origin, said to date back at least 2400 years.

The poor condition of some rural roads in Taranaki has long vexed those who use them and Kent Road is no exception. In 1955 a reader of the Taranaki Daily News took the county council to task. “Townite” wrote to the editor complaining that he “never visualised that any present-day road… could be in such a deplorable state… with potholes fully a foot deep”. The council listened and, 18 months later, “Smoother Sailing” wrote in congratulating them for their work on the road, admitting that it was “wonderfully improved”.

Now nicely sealed, Kent Road was in the news more recently for a very different reason. In December 2020 the Taranaki Daily News noted the growing trend (popularised by social media) of people standing or sitting on the road’s double yellow lines at the brow of a hill to capture an iconic photo of the maunga. The dangerous practice had become so common that residents were concerned someone would eventually be seriously injured or even killed.

Despite their pleas for action, nothing has been done to make the spot safer, and it remains easy to find the spectacular image on photo-sharing websites. Thankfully there have been no reports of serious accidents, although the residents of Kent Road must still be hoping that something is done to prevent a possible tragedy.  

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.

Related items:

Compulsory Taking of Land for Kent Road (Taranaki Herald 25 May 1872)

Kent-Albert Roads - Letter to the Editor, (Taranaki Daily News 12 July 1955)

Taranaki SO396 Sheet 1 Egmont SD Block II (1878), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

Taranaki DP258 Sheet 1 (1888), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

Taranaki SO17-4 Sheet 1 Egmont SD Block II (1885), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

Taranaki SO7414 Sheet 1 Egmont SD Block II (1926), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

Mountain photo 'fatality risk' (Taranaki Daily News 8 December 2020 p.1)

Fears photo shot may end in death (Taranaki Daily News 8 December 2020 p.2)

New no-stopping signs target tourists (Taranaki Daily News 12 July 2025 p.3)