Town and rural service centre 18 km south-east of New Plymouth. Inglewood was founded in 1875, in a clearing in dense forest. Settlers under Julius Vogel’s assisted immigration schemes came from England, East Prussia (now Poland), Denmark and Switzerland. In 1876 the railway from New Plymouth reached Inglewood. From 1952 to 1972 Inglewood held an annual ‘greatest show on earth’ – a gala day featuring parades, races, circus acts, wood chopping and more, which in its heyday drew up to 35,000 people.