Stokes Valley

Area Specialist: 

Stokes Valley was part of the first bundle of land bought from Maori in September 1839 by Edward Gibbon Wakefield's New Zealand Company; the deal was settled on the decks of the ‘Tory’, when anchored in the harbour. It’s a scenic suburb nestled in a lush valley, with houses spread out on surrounding hills. Stokes Valley has a small shopping centre, Scott Court, a library and swimming pool; it’s serviced by bus. The area is named after Robert Stokes, who arrived in Wellington in 1840 as part of the New Zealand Company’s surveying party responsible for planning the city at Thorndon. Stokes led the first European crossing of the Rimutakas in 1841 and was an advocate of building a railway across to the Wairarapa. The area was subdivided in 1920, and soon became a popular weekend resort for Wellingtonians.