Ngātapa, site of Te Kooti Arikirangi's defeat in January 1869

Two sides of the triangular defended area were cliffed, offering strong natural defences. The third sloped down to the south-east with only a natural slump-scarp offering a potential defensive line. This line appears to have been too long and to have enclosed too large an area for practicable defence. This outer defensive line was abandoned early in the fighting. The main defences were the three or four prominent lines of ditch and/or breastwork at the summit of the hill. The attacking forces cut off the escape from the rear by putting in two lines of trenches on the narrow northern ridge, which otherwise offered a natural escape route, and occupied the south-western slopes below the cliff. Saps show in the centre of the slump-scarp (scrub-dotted), traversing uphill and to the west of the first defensive rifle trench. The saps brought the attackers over the exposed crest of the natural scarp up to the defensive lines. A second sap or communication trench runs from the intermediate defensive line to the double ditch near the summit. The photograph was taken in 1952. An oblique colour photograph is on page 204.