Last updated October 2026
Egmont Village is a small rural settlement in the New Plymouth District, on State Highway 3 between the city and Inglewood. The village sits where Junction Road meets Egmont Road, the northern approach toward Taranaki Maunga and Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki.
Daily life is shaped by surrounding farmland, a long-running primary school and a community that still works as a village rather than a suburb.
The Inglewood Community Board, which covers the Kōhanga Moa Ward, treats Egmont Village as one of the ward’s rural communities. Most people arrive on the highway, either passing between New Plymouth and Inglewood or turning inland toward the mountain. Shops and larger services are in those towns, while the school, community centre and highway junction are the local anchors.
Practical Information
- Ward or local board
- Kōhanga Moa Ward, represented by the Inglewood Community Board
- Getting there
- State Highway 3, known here as Junction Road, runs through the village. Egmont Road turns off toward Taranaki Maunga. School buses and regional connector services use the highway; the community board has noted the village has lacked a designated bus shelter.
- Schools
- Egmont Village School, a co-educational full primary (Years 1 to 8), 1052 Junction Road
- Nearby landmarks
- Egmont Road approach to Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki; Egmont Village Recreation Reserve; Egmont Village Community Centre; Waiwhakaiho River
About Egmont Village
Egmont Village sits on the inland side of New Plymouth, where the coastal plain rises toward the ring plain of Taranaki Maunga. State Highway 3 runs through the settlement as Junction Road.
Egmont Road leaves the highway here and continues toward the northern side of the mountain and Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki, the national park long known as Egmont National Park. The Waiwhakaiho River passes to the west and the Mangaoraka Stream to the east, so the village reads as a pause in open country rather than a built-up suburb.
The name Egmont is the colonial name of the mountain, carried into local use through Egmont Road and the settlement at its junction with the inland highway. No separate Māori name for the village was confirmed in the council or museum sources used here.
The ward name Kōhanga Moa, meaning nest of the moa, refers to moa habitat across the wider Inglewood area, not to a tradition recorded for this village alone.
The village’s recorded settler history sits in the later years of the Taranaki wars and the bush-clearing decades that followed. A blockhouse was established in 1868 because of settler fears during Tītokowaru’s War. Egmont Village School, which opened in 1877, stands on that site. Early families cleared bush for pasture.
Edward and Mary Olson took up land about 1874 after the Armed Constabulary was disbanded, lived for a time in the blockhouse, and later farmed a property they called Woodlands. Olson Street, and a line of English trees on Egmont Road toward the mountain, still mark that family.
Land in the general vicinity also includes the Junction Road Endowment, 544 hectares vested in the former Taranaki County Council in the latter part of the nineteenth century so that lease income could maintain Junction Road.
New Plymouth District Council now holds that land under the Taranaki County Reserves Act 1966. Council records describe it as farmland held as an endowment. That history still shows in the landscape: pasture, shelter belts and a small village core rather than a commercial street.
Today the school is the clearest public institution. It is a co-educational full primary for Years 1 to 8, at 1052 Junction Road. Its values are expressed in te reo as aumangea (resilience), ngākau pono (integrity), whakaute (respect) and mahi tahi (teamwork).
The Egmont Village Community Centre is used for community meetings. Egmont Village Recreation Reserve has been used for grazing, and the community board has discussed future local use rather than treating it as a developed park.
Getting Around
The practical way in is State Highway 3. From New Plymouth the highway runs south-east through the village and on to Inglewood. Egmont Road is the turn for the mountain. It is a rural road, and it is the route people use when they are heading for the northern side of the national park.
A footpath extension linking Junction Road with Egmont Road, from 1033 Junction Road to 1278 Egmont Road, has been built, so the short village centre is easier to walk than the highway shoulders alone. Beyond that footpath, walking is limited.
The Inglewood Community Board has identified a longer walking and cycling link from Inglewood toward Lake Mangamahoe via Egmont Village, with a further connection toward the national park. That link should be treated as a planned connection, not a finished trail.
There has been no designated bus shelter in the village. The community board has considered a stop on the northbound side of Junction Road, just north of the Egmont Road intersection, so that school buses and the regional connector have a proper place to pull in.
Anyone using a bus should check the operator for the exact pickup, because the highway itself is not a formal station.
Getting Outdoors
Egmont Village is a farming settlement first. The outdoors here is ring-plain country around Taranaki Maunga: pasture, shelter trees, and long views to the mountain on clear days. Egmont Village Recreation Reserve is a named council reserve, but it has been grazed rather than laid out with playgrounds or sports fields, so it is not a destination park.
The standout trip from the village is up Egmont Road toward the northern side of Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki. That road is the local link to the national park, not a walk that starts in the village centre.
Closer to the highway, the Waiwhakaiho River and Lake Mangamahoe, back toward New Plymouth, are the other easy outdoor names on this stretch of State Highway 3. Check the Department of Conservation for track and weather conditions before heading onto the mountain.
Where to Learn More
Egmont Village on Wikipedia: settlement overview, ward, school founding and the 1868 blockhouse, with citations to council, census and historical sources.
Inglewood Community Board Plan: New Plymouth District Council plan for the Kōhanga Moa Ward, including Egmont Village priorities for paths, reserves and local links.
Puke Ariki: Olson Street, Egmont Village: museum account of an early settler family, the blockhouse and the English trees on Egmont Road.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Egmont Village part of New Plymouth?
Yes. It is a rural settlement in the New Plymouth District, in the Kōhanga Moa Ward, not a suburb of the city centre. The Inglewood Community Board represents it.
How do you get to Egmont Village?
Follow State Highway 3, called Junction Road through the village. The settlement is the junction with Egmont Road, between New Plymouth and Inglewood.
What school is in Egmont Village?
Egmont Village School is a co-educational full primary for Years 1 to 8, at 1052 Junction Road. It opened in 1877.
Is there a bus stop in Egmont Village?
The Inglewood Community Board has recorded that the village has not had a designated bus shelter. School buses and the regional connector use the highway. Check the operator before you travel, because a formal stop has been under consideration rather than confirmed as built.
Why is it called Egmont Village?
The name follows the colonial name Mount Egmont, the mountain now known by its Māori name Taranaki, and Egmont Road, which leaves the village toward the mountain. A separate Māori name for the village was not confirmed in the sources used here.
What is the Egmont Village blockhouse?
A defensive blockhouse was set up in 1868 during Tītokowaru’s War. The school stands on that site, and the building was later used by early settler families and as an early schoolroom. Council sources do not describe the original blockhouse as a building open to visitors.
Where do people shop?
No shopping centre in the village was confirmed. Everyday shops and services are in Inglewood and New Plymouth.
Can you walk to the mountain from the village?
Egmont Road is the driving route toward the northern side of Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki. It is not a village walking track. Use Department of Conservation advice for park tracks, weather and any closures.
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