Welcome to Bournemouth

Situated on England’s temperate southern coast, Bournemouth has been since its conception, an alluring seaside retreat which sits proudly on 7 miles of golden sand beaches. The town’s vantage points offer views out to a clear blue sea and the Isle of Wight. With development, facilitated by the growth of tourism, the town has grown into an attractive destination, sporting bars and cafes, bistros and restaurants, gardens and parks, shops of all shapes and sizes and some fine Victorian architecture.

Although Bournemouth is a relative newcomer on England’s southern coast, it sits in an area of enormous interest in terms of heritage. To the west, the coast itself is noteworthy with the UNESCO Dorset and East Devon World Heritage Site, otherwise known as the Jurassic Coastline due to the 195 million years of geological time displayed in its cliffs, nearby.

For millennia this area of coast was also extremely important to our ancestors due to its proximity to the continent. By around 100 BC, Hengitsbury Head, the headland at Bournemouth’s eastern extremity, had become the island’s main port for continental goods, such as Italian wine and fine bronze articles. In fact, its importance was such that some have argued that the ancient town at Hengitsbury Head should be seen as the first urban settlement in the British Isles. Unfortunately, the port went into decline in Roman times and never recovered its former prominence.

To follow the growth of the Bournemouth we know today we have to jump forward almost 2000 years. By the 18th century there was little where Bournemouth now stands other than the heath land where cattle grazed. At this time the local landowner ordered that a couple of acres of land be enclosed to form a hunting ground and that a lodge be built (where Debenhams now stands in the main square), to accommodate hunting parties. These hunting grounds are the origin of what would become Bournemouth’s exquisite parks.

In the 1790’s Queen Elizabeth’s great-great-great grandmother, botanist and poet Lady Eleanor Bowes, lived in Pokesdown, a small hamlet now swallowed up by Bournemouth. Although Lady Eleanor, the richest heiress in England, was there under less than happy circumstances, fleeing a husband that had only married her for her money, her brief stay drew attention to this part of the coast. In some ways, Lady Eleanor can be seen as the forerunner of those who would come to Bournemouth in the coming centuries, as it became a retreat for England’s wealthy elite.

The first inhabitants of Bournemouth proper were Lewis and Henrietta Tregonwell, friends of the then Prince Regent (later George IV). Lewis first brought Henrietta to Bourne Bottom (as the heath land was then known) in 1810 after the death of their infant child in an attempt to provide some relief from their grief. It is said that Henrietta, in particular, fell in love with the area and persuaded her husband to build a house there, although it is also possible that Lewis saw near the mouth of the Bourne Stream as the ideal base for his involvement in smuggling, which was rife on this part of the coast in the mid 19th century. In any case, he purchased eight and a half acres of land and had a number of houses built, on and around the area of the current Royal Exeter Hotel, for the family and their servants.

However, there was no settlement as such at Bournemouth until 1837. In this year Sir George Tapps-Gervis, a local landowner, decided to construct a seaside resort in response to the increasing popularity of similar resorts at locations such as Brighton and Eastbourne. He had a number of seaside villas constructed for let in summer, as well as the Bath Hotel in 1838. The momentum created by Tapps-Gervis was such that it was not unduly effected by his death in 1842. The little village with under 700 inhabitants in the 1850s had by the 1860s more than doubled its population to over 1,700. Over the same period in time, shops had sprung up along Commercial Road, a church had been consecrated, a brick bridge over the Bourne constructed, streets paved and gas lighting and sewers installed. In the decades that followed Bournemouth’s first Iron pier replaced the old wooden one, the Winter Gardens and Pleasure Gardens were laid out and the Theatre and Arcade were built. With the arrival of the railway in 1870 Bournemouth’s future was assured.

As Bournemouth contined to expand it started swallowing up it neighbours; Boscombe, Springbourne, Westbourne and even Southbourne On Sea, which had been set up as a rival resort in the 1870s, were all incorporated into Bournemouth by 1900 when the population of the town was measured at around 59,000. Bournemouth’s expansion continued into the 20th century, taking in Pokesdown, Kinson, Wallisdown and Holdenhurst.

Although the emergence of cheaper foreign travel has in more recent years provided competition to Bournemouth’s tourist industry, the town’s charm has proved a draw to even the most modern of holiday makers. Finance and insurance also play an important role in the town’s economy, and together, continue to ensure that Bournemouth remains as attractive, as it is prosperous.