Last updated October 2026
Hurford is a rural locality in the New Plymouth District, spread along Hurford Road in the Ōmata area southwest of the city. It is not a village with a main street of its own.
The name comes from a settler family who took up a bush farm here in the 1850s, and the track to their property was known as the Hurford road almost as soon as they arrived.
Today the locality is farmland and lifestyle properties: paddocks, shelter and a quiet country road, rather than shops or a community hall. People who live here use Ōmata for the local primary school and New Plymouth for everyday services.
Visitors usually pass through while following Ōmata’s settler and Taranaki Wars history, or while driving the country roads between the city and the coast.
Practical Information
- Getting there
- By Hurford Road, in the Ōmata area southwest of New Plymouth. State Highway 45 (Surf Highway) is the main route through Ōmata. No verified bus, train or ferry service into the locality.
- Main shopping
- No shopping centre or retail strip in the locality. Everyday shopping is in New Plymouth.
- Schools
- No school in Hurford. Ōmata School, a co-educational full primary for years 1 to 8, is at 1 Holloway Road, Ōmata. Hurford Road School amalgamated with it in 1937. Secondary schooling is in New Plymouth.
- Nearby landmarks
- Ōmata, including the site of the Ōmata Stockade; the Battle of Waireka area; the former Methodist chapel site in Ōmata, where John Hurford is buried; Tapuae Marine Reserve on the coast beside Ōmata.
About Hurford
Hurford is a locality in the addressing sense: a named rural area used so that properties along Hurford Road can be told apart from others in the district.
New Plymouth District Council property records list addresses on this road as Hurford, New Plymouth. There is no township centre, no verified public reserve inside the locality, and no cluster of shops. What you see from the road is working farmland and larger residential sections, the pattern of a Taranaki rural fringe within a drive of the city.
The name is English, not Māori. It records the Hurford family, who were Ōmata settlers. John Hurford and his wife Ann arrived in New Plymouth on the Blenheim in 1842, with a baby daughter born in Wellington Harbour on the voyage.
John sold fresh butter at the local market, and around 1854 the family bought a fifty-acre section of bush in Ōmata. Neighbours already called the way to that farm the Hurford road.
That short settler chapter ended in the First Taranaki War. In March 1860, Pākehā men gathered at the Ōmata stockade while women and children, including Ann Hurford and seven of her children, were shipped to Nelson.
On the night of 2 August 1860, John left the stockade with three artillerymen to look for food at the farm. They were ambushed by what is believed to have been a party of Waikato warriors. John was shot dead, as was one of the soldiers. Ann and the children did not return to the farm. They stayed in Nelson.
The road name outlasted the family. A small Hurford Road School later served local children; its admission book covers 1932 to 1937, and in 1937 the school amalgamated with Ōmata. The locality has stayed rural. It is a place people live in for space and quiet, not a destination with facilities of its own.
Getting Around
Hurford Road is the only way in. It sits in the Ōmata area, so the practical approach from New Plymouth is southwest toward Ōmata on State Highway 45, then onto Hurford Road.
The highway is also known as Surf Highway. There is no verified public transport stop in the locality, and no railway or ferry. A private vehicle is the realistic way to visit or to commute.
The road is a public road in the New Plymouth District. It is a country road through farms, not a street with footpaths, lighting or a village car park.
Drive to the conditions, and do not assume there is anywhere to stop for fuel, food or a public toilet. Those services are back in New Plymouth, or further along the coast road.
History and Heritage
Hurford’s story is tied to Ōmata and to the opening months of the First Taranaki War, rather than to a surviving homestead. Puke Ariki’s account, first published in the Taranaki Daily News, records John Hurford’s involvement in local politics and his offer of military service as tension grew over land sales.
When fighting started, the Ōmata stockade was the refuge for local Pākehā men. The stockade had been built by settlers on the site of Ngāturi Pā. Most of Ōmata village was burnt in August 1860. Troops remained at the stockade until 1866, and farmers later demolished it.
John Hurford’s death on 2 August 1860 is the event that fixed the family name in local memory. The Taranaki Herald mourned him as a comrade. His name is on a memorial stone at St Mary’s Cathedral in New Plymouth, but he is buried in Ōmata, on what was the site of the small Methodist chapel where the family had worshipped. There is no Hurford cottage open to the public.
Do not confuse this locality with Hurworth, a different settlement south of New Plymouth, or with Hurdon, a suburb of the city. Hurworth Cottage, associated with Harry Atkinson, is a separate historic place.
The later community trace is the school. Puke Ariki holds Ōmata School Committee records that include the Hurford Road School admission book for 1932 to 1937, and notes that Hurford Road School amalgamated with Ōmata in 1937.
Several private schools had operated in the Ōmata area in 1853, and the first public school there opened in 1866. Ōmata School on Holloway Road is the full primary that serves this side of the district now.
Getting Outdoors
Hurford itself is not a reserve or a walking destination. There is no documented public track, beach or picnic area inside the locality. The outdoor character is open farmland, shelter belts and a quiet road, with the usual care needed around stock, driveways and working properties.
The coast is the nearest notable outdoor place, and it belongs to Ōmata and western New Plymouth rather than to Hurford. Tapuae Marine Reserve lies beside Ōmata and the western edge of the city.
The Ōmata Stockade site and the nearby ground of the Battle of Waireka, fought on 28 March 1860, are the historic points people look for in this district. Treat them as places in Ōmata, and check on-site signage before walking private land.
Where to Learn More
Puke Ariki: Hurford Road (Ōmata): Rachel Sonius’s account of the Hurford family, the naming of the road, and John Hurford’s death in 1860.
Education Review Office: Ōmata School: Official profile of the full primary at Holloway Road that serves the Ōmata area, including Hurford Road.
New Plymouth District Council: District services, roads and contact details for the council that covers Hurford.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Hurford the same place as Hurdon or Hurworth?
No. Hurford is the rural locality along Hurford Road in the Ōmata area. Hurdon is a suburb of New Plymouth. Hurworth is a separate locality south of the city, known for Hurworth Cottage.
How do I get to Hurford?
Drive via Hurford Road, which runs through the Ōmata area southwest of New Plymouth. State Highway 45, also called Surf Highway, is the main road through Ōmata. There is no verified bus, train or ferry into the locality.
Does Hurford have shops or a cafe?
No shopping centre, retail strip or verified cafe sits in the locality. Everyday shopping and meals are in New Plymouth.
Which school is nearest?
Ōmata School, at 1 Holloway Road, Ōmata, is the local co-educational full primary for years 1 to 8. A Hurford Road School once served the road and amalgamated with Ōmata in 1937. Secondary schools are in New Plymouth.
Why is it called Hurford?
The road, and later the locality, took the name of John and Ann Hurford. They bought a fifty-acre bush section in Ōmata around 1854, and the way to their farm was called the Hurford road almost at once.
What happened to John Hurford?
During the First Taranaki War he was based at the Ōmata stockade. On 2 August 1860 he and three soldiers went back to the farm for food and were ambushed. John was killed. He is buried in Ōmata on the site of the former Methodist chapel, and his name is on a memorial stone at St Mary’s Cathedral in New Plymouth. His wife and children remained in Nelson.
Is there anything to visit in Hurford itself?
Not as a public attraction. There is no museum, cottage or reserve documented in the locality. The related places are in Ōmata: the stockade site, the Battle of Waireka area, John Hurford’s burial ground at the old chapel site, and Tapuae Marine Reserve on the nearby coast.
What is Hurford like as a place to live?
It is a quiet rural locality of farms and lifestyle properties, with a drive to New Plymouth for shops, work and most services, and a local primary at Ōmata. It does not have its own town centre.
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