Poole is a coastal town in Dorset, on England's south coast, which is best known for its history of pottery-making but also has a fascinating maritime heritage. Sitting on Europe's largest natural harbour, Poole has been inhabited for at least 2,500 years and the town's fortunes have been intimately tied to the sea: the town was invaded by the Romans in the 1st century AD, suffered Viking attacks in 876 and 1015, was a principal port for the Newfoundland cod fishery in the 16th and 17th centuries, and served as one of the launching points for the Second World War D-Day landings on 6 June 1944. Poole was one of the most important ports on the southern coast of England in medieval times and endured its share of smuggling and piracy. Poole's best known pirate and privateer, Harry Paye (died 1419), was a local hero who raided 40 towns and villages along France's Normandy coast and captured many ships laden with trade goods which he brought back to the people of Poole. To punish Poole for Paye's piracy, the French invaded the unfortified town in 1405. Although the local residents were able to repel the invasion, the town's church and some warehouses were burned and Paye's brother was killed. (Paye was not in Poole at the time.)
The rich oyster beds of Poole Harbour fed Roman and Saxon settlers and the town was founded to supply seafood to the nearby Manor of Canford. After the discovery of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland by Christopher Columbus in 1497, Poole became closely linked to the 'Newfoundland trade'. The town prospered in the 18th century as merchants and fishermen settled in Poole and used its port as the jumping-off point for the long-distance voyages to the Grand Banks, to return with their holds filled with salted cod for the export market. This prosperity fuelled the construction of numerous fine Georgian era mansions in Poole, home to the wealthy merchants who dominated the town's economic, social, and political life at this time. The Newfoundland trade collapsed in the 19th century, bringing bankruptcy to many of the merchants and ruin to the town's economy. After a long period of decline in Poole's fishing industry, the town's fishing fleet has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years and now consists of around 100 boats, landing 3,000 tonnes of fish and shellfish each year. The quaint Poole Quay still contains many of the 18th century warehouses and pubs erected by the town's merchants to service the Newfoundland trade and the many sailors based out of Poole at that time, giving today's visitors a sense of what a bustling 18th century English coastal fishing town would have looked like.
The famous Poole pottery owes its existence to the large clay deposit (the Poole Formation) on which the town sits. This clay deposit consists of two types of clay: a brown clay suitable for making bricks and a grey clay used in pottery manufacture. Pottery making in Poole declined during Anglo-Saxon (410-1066) times and revived with the Norman invasion (1066). In these early years, Poole's potteries made simple cooking and tableware. After 1500, pottery production in Poole again declined, likely due to shortages of nearby timber to fuel the kilns. During the Industrial Revolution in Britain, huge quantities of Poole clay were shipped by barge to the pottery manufacturing centres in the Midlands and Northern England, such as Josiah Wedgwood's. It was not until the Victorian era (1837-1901) that industrial-scale pottery making returned to Poole with the kilns fired by coal imported via Poole Harbour. Patent Architectural Pottery opened in 1855, followed in 1873 by Carter & Co., with the companies mass-producing architectural ceramics, such as bricks, floor and wall tiles, water and sewage pipes, terracotta urns, and toilet bowls. Carter & Co. bought Patent Architectural Pottery in 1895 and the Carter family expanded into handmade decorative pottery. This decorative pottery line became world famous and much sought after by collectors. The company closed its operations in Poole in 2006, but Poole Pottery continues as a brand name manufactured in Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. Meanwhile, Poole continues to export about 120,000 tonnes of clay per year, with most going to Spain, Portugal, and other markets as far away as Australia and India.
Poole is also known for its centuries-old boat-building industry, with yacht-builder Sunseeker having been based in Poole since 1960. One of the company's luxury yachts has even appeared in the James Bond film The World is Not Enough (1999).
Today, thousands of tourists visit Poole and surrounding resort towns like Swanage each year to enjoy the nearby sandy beaches and the Jurassic Coast UNESCO World Heritage Site that stretches east 154 kilometres (96 miles) from Studland Bay in Dorset to Exmouth in East Devon. The sheer white cliffs, pinnacles, stacks, coves, and arches showcase 185 million years of geological history and are testament to the gradual erosion caused by the sea over the millennia. The cliffs contain numerous fossils from the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods, when this area was alternately desert, shallow tropical sea, and marshland. Poole is also a port from which ferries run to the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey, as well as Cherbourg in France.
Photos taken 1 and 2 May 2022
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| A London Waterloo-bound South Western Railway British Rail Class 450 Class Desiro train at Poole Train Station on Serpentine Road. The 450 Class entered service with South Western Railway's predecessor, South West Trains, in 2003 and has a top speed of 161 km/h (100 mph). |
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| The Foundry Arms pub on Lagland Street in Poole, established in 2000. |
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| The Lord Wimborne pub on Lagland Street, near the intersection with High Street. A JD Wetherspoon pub, The Lord Wimborne is named after Sir Ivor Bertie Guest, Lord Wimborne (1835-1914), who owned large tracts of land in Poole in the 19th century. To mark Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887, Lord Wimborne sold part of his land to the Poole council for £100, to be used for the construction of this building, which served as the town's main public library and schools of science and art. Later that year, the Free Library was opened by Lord Ilchester, Lord Lieutenant of Dorset and Poole, while the Schools of Science and Art were opened by Wimborne. Wimborne and his mother, Lady Charlotte, also contributed money to the fund to purchase books and equipment for the building. |
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| The Antelope, a former coaching inn turned hotel and pub on High Street. Built sometime in the 16th century, it is allegedly the oldest hotel in Poole. It was remodelled in the 18th century, again in the early 19th century, most recently in the late 20th century. Today, The Antelope offers 23 bedrooms. The three-storey Grade II listed building features brick with stone dressings and a tiled roof. |
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The King Charles Inn, one of Poole's oldest pubs, is located at the intersection of Thames and Sarum Streets, just off Poole Quay. Built around 1550 and previously named The New Inn, it became a public house around 1770. The main part of the building, on the right of the photo, was built in the Tudor period and features quintessential Tudor elements like timber framed walls and protruding oriel windows. Inside, the King Charles Inn retains many original features, such as wooden wall panelling, wood roof beams, and a large fireplace. The King Charles Inn is reputed to be haunted, including by the spirit of a young landlady in the 18th century who hanged herself from the roof beams upstairs in the belief that her lover had perished at sea; when the lover returned after a long voyage and found her dead, he killed himself with a knife. Over the years, there have been numerous reports of bottles and glasses smashing for no apparent reason; the sound of heavy footsteps going up and down the staircase at night; the sound of doors slamming; mysterious laughing; visitors feeling taps, nudges, and being brushed past by an invisible force; and female visitors being plagued by a feeling of sadness and desperation.
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The Kings Head pub on High Street, located one block from Poole Quay. The building is believed to date from the 16th century and may be Poole's oldest operating pub.
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| The Custom House, at the intersection of Poole Quay and Thames Street, is located in the oldest part of the Quay. The original structure was built in 1747 and in that year was burgled by 30 smugglers, led by the Hawkhurst Gang, who broke into the building at night and stole two tons of confiscated smuggled tea and 39 barrels of rum, worth over £500. Four of the burglars were convicted in London in 1749 and hanged at the gallows at Tyburn. The original Custom House burned down and was replaced by the current three-storey Georgian building , completed in 1813. In the 19th century, customs inspectors based in the Custom House collected taxes from boats entering Poole Harbour; however, the building was closed in 1883 and its functions transferred to the custom house in Weymouth. Poole's Custom House was Grade II* listed in 1954 as a building 'of special interest, warranting every effort to preserve it'. It has been restored and in 1997 re-opened as a seafood restaurant before becoming the Custom House Cafe in 2018. Outside the Custom House today sits a 1947 replica of the old town beam, the balance used for weighing goods arriving at Poole Quay aboard ships; customs duties were assessed at a halfpenny per hundredweight (112 pounds or 50.8 kilograms). |
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| Looking east along Poole Quay from the multi-level viewing platform. |
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| A line of sightseeing vessels along Poole Quay reflect the town's status as a popular tourist destination, given its picturesque harbour (including Brownsea Island and its nature preserve) and the nearby Jurassic Coast, running 154 kilometres (96 miles) along the southern coast of England between East Devon and Studland Bay in Dorset. |
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| The sightseeing vessel Fortuna, operated by City Cruises, a subsidiary of San Francisco-based Hornblower Cruises & Events. Fortuna is the sister ship of another of the company's vessels, Solent Scene. |
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| Another City Cruises vessel, Island Scene, is used for bespoke cruises. It can carry 100 passengers on daytime cruises and 80 on an evening cruise. |
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| The Maid of the Harbour is operated by Brownsea Island Ferries Ltd, which operates between Brownsea Island and Poole Harbour and the neighbourhood of Sandbanks. The company also runs cruises around Poole Harbour, Bournemouth, Sandbanks, the Jurassic Coast, and the Isle of Wight. The Maid of the Harbour, like her sister The Maid of Poole, can carry up to 185 passengers and has central heating, a dance floor, and a fully licensed bar onboard. |
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| City Cruises' Solent Scene, and her sister Fortuna, are the company's largest vessels operating in the Poole and Swanage areas. The boats can carry over 200 passengers on daytime cruises and up to 150 for evening functions. |
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| The sightseeing vessel Purbeck Princess, operated by Greenslade Pleasure Boats. It has seating for 122 on the upper observation deck, with a large saloon on the main deck outfitted with additional seating and tables, plus a bar and toilet facilities. |
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| Three historic buildings along Poole Quay. More information on each is below. |
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| The Portsmouth Hoy pub, with windows adorned with model ships. The interior retains many original features and is said to have 'the look and feel of a historic galleon', with dark wood interior, oak beams, and exposed timber floorboards. The Grade II listed building was built in the late 18th century and altered in the mid-19th century. It is built in stucco with tall gable stacks braced with iron from the ridge. |
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| Now housing a souvenir shop on the ground floor and offices and an apartment on the upper floors, the four-storey Grace House was formerly a warehouse for John Carter Shipping Ltd. The building was erected in the mid-19th century and is of Flemish bond brickwork and stucco construction, with a hipped slate roof and red ridge tiles. |
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| The Poole Arms pub is the oldest pub on Poole Quay, with parts of it dating to 1635. The distinctive green tiles of its façade were made by Carter & Co., the predecessor of the famous Poole Pottery. Near the peak of the roof, the roundel displays Poole's coat of arms, featuring a dolphin and three scallop shells, as well as the town's motto, Ad Morem Villae de Poole, Latin for 'According to the custom of the town of Poole'. The single room interior of the Poole Arms is decorated with old photos of thr town and the menu is heavy on locally-sourced seafood. |
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The Quay, a JD Wetherspoon pub. Housed in a former warehouse, Wetherspoon acquired The Quay in 1996 and retained the name. In Tudor times (1485-1603), Poole's quayside was called the Great Quay, despite being less than 200 feet in length. The New Quay was added and extended in the late 18th century, and warehouses and wharves were subsequently built to service the vessels using it. The five-storey building was built as a warehouse for shipping agents Coast Lines Ltd in the early- to mid-19th century and converted to commercial use in 1980. It is Grade II listed by Historic England as a building of special interest.
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| An order of fish & chips, served with mushy peas, at The Quay pub along Poole Harbour. |
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| The Jolly Sailor pub, operated by Bury St Edmunds-based pub retailer and brewer Greene King. |
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| The Lord Nelson pub on Poole Quay was built in 1764. Until 1810, it was known as the Blue Boar but was renamed to honour Lord Horatio Nelson, the victor of the Battle of Trafalgar, who died in that battle in 1805. Today, the Lord Nelson hosts live music beer festivals, and barbecues. |
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| The centre of Poole Quay, at the intersection with Old Orchard. |
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| Dolphin Quays, a residential and retail development on Poole Quay completed in 2004. In addition to its 104 apartments, Dolphin Quays is home to a number of restaurants, shops, offices, a Tesco Express, and a retail pottery outlet. |
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| Solent Cat, a 180-passenger catamaran sightseeing vessel operated by City Cruises. With a top speed of 13 knots (24 km/h), Solent Cat operates spring/summer sightseeing cruises of Poole Harbour and the Jurassic Coast of southern England during the day and is also available for private charters and events. An upper sun deck offer bench seating and great open-air views. |
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| Comfortable seating in the saloon located on the lower deck of the Solent Cat. The saloon also has a bar selling hot and cold beverages, including alcohol, and snack foods, as well as men's and women's toilets. |
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| His Majesty's Cutter Seeker, one of four 42-metre (138-foot) customs cutters operated by the UK Border Force. Built in the Netherlands by Damen Group, the four cutters were completed between 2001 and 2004, with Seeker being the first to commission. Based on the Damen Stan Patrol 4207 design, the cutters are steel-hulled, with an aluminium superstructure, and are powered by two Caterpillar 3516B DI-TA Elec engines generating 5,600 horsepower and driving twin four-bladed controllable-pitch propellers. Seeker's top speed is 26 knots (48 km/h) and she has a range of 3,240 kilometres (1,750 nautical miles) at 12 knots (22.2 km/h). With a crew of 12, Seeker has an endurance of 14 days and is typically used for intercepting vessels suspected of smuggling narcotics in UK waters. UK Border Force cutters are not armed and the gun-like object mounted on the bow is a high-pressure water gun which can spray 2,000 litres per minute to fight fires on other vessels. |
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| Pulling away from Poole Quay as the Solent Cat departs on a 2.5 hour cruise of Poole Harbour, Studland Bay, and the eastern tip of the Jurassic coastline. |
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| A view of Poole Quay from the upper deck of Solent Cat. |
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| The colourful sightseeing boats and picturesque buildings of Poole recedes into the distance as Solent Cat makes its way towards the English Channel. |
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| Passing the 2,102-ton Trinity, an 80-metre long general cargo ship that runs supplies from Poole to the nearby Channel Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney. The ship was built in 2007 and originally named Nazim Bey. It is registered in the Isle of Man. |
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| The expensive waterfront homes of Sandbanks, an upscale neighbourhood in Poole which sits on a spit of land at the mouth of Poole Harbour and borders the English Channel to the east. Sandbanks was reported in 2005 to have the world's fourth-highest land value by area and has been called "Britain's Palm Beach". |
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| This buoy in Poole Harbour is named 'Aunt Betty' after a 19th century prostitute frequented by sailors operating out of Poole. After Aunt Betty's death, the sailors named a buoy after her. |
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| The red ensign flaps from the Solent Cat's stern in a brisk harbour breeze as the vessel makes its way out of Poole Harbour, toward Studland Bay. |
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| Brownsea Castle, located on the southeast corner of Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour. The original castle was built between 1545 and 1547 as a 'Device Fort', one of several fortifications ordered built along vulnerable sections of the coast by King Henry VIII via an instruction called a 'device'. These Device Forts were designed to repel an invasion of Britain by French and Holy Roman Empire forces following their declaration of alliance against Henry VIII due to his 1533 break with the Catholic Church so that he could annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and remarry. |
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| The original Brownsea Castle consisted of a one-storey, square stone blockhouse measuring 13 metres (44 feet) across and a hexagonal gun platform on the seaward side for eight artillery pieces. While the Crown and the town of Poole paid for the construction of the castle, the manning of the fortifications and their maintenance was the responsibility of local militia, which provided six soldiers to garrison Brownsea Castle. Additional work was done to the castle throughout the 16th century and it continued to be garrisoned after the passing of the threat of French invasion. It was occupied by Parliamentary forces during the English Civil War in the 1640s and placed under the control of the Governor of Poole. With additional fortifications added in 1644, the castle has a garrison of 20 men by 1646. |
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| After a long period in which Brownsea Castle was left to fall into disrepair, it was purchased by Whig politician William Benson and converted into a private residence in 1726. Benson and a succession of subsequent owners demolished external fortifications, added extensions to the original 15th century structure to create a country house, and built landscaped ornamental gardens and lakes around the property. Restored and renovated after a devastating January 1896 fire, Brownsea Castle again fell into disrepair and was purchased by the National Trust in 1962 following the death of its owner, Mary Bonham-Christie. The National Trust leased the property to the John Lewis Partnership, which restored Brownsea Castle in phases over several years and uses it as a corporate hotel for current and retired John Lewis department store employees. |
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| Brownsea Castle has been, since 1984, protected as a Grade II listed building by Historic England. |
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| The Sandbanks Ferry, a vehicular chain ferry which crosses the entrance to Poole Harbour between Sandbanks and Studland. The ferry and the road on the Studland side are owned by the Bournemouth–Swanage Motor Road and Ferry Company, which charges a toll for the use of both the ferry and the Studland road. A chain ferry uses chains connected to both shores to pull the vessel from one side to the other and back again using an onboard drive mechanism. The original Sandbanks Ferry, carrying 15 cars, entered service in July 1926 and during that summer carried 100,000 passengers and 12,000 cars. The current ferry, Bramble Bush Bay, is the fourth generation ferry and entered service in 1994. It carries up to 48 cars on each crossing and departs every 20 minutes, although inclement weather or other vessels transiting into or out of Poole Harbour can cause delays to this schedule. The Sandbanks Ferry operates between 7:00am and 11:00pm 364 days of the year, with Christmas Day service running between 8:00am and 6:00pm. |
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| The Haven Hotel, a four-star hotel in the Sandbanks neighbourhood at the entrance to Poole Harbour. Built on the site of the demolished North Haven Inn of 1838, the current Haven Hotel was completed in 1887 and rebuilt in 1926. The hotel is notable for having been the home of wireless telegraphy inventor Guglielmo Marconi between 1898 and 1926. Marconi conducted some of his earliest wireless telegraphy experiments from the hotel, building tall wooden transmitting masts on the hotel's grounds. Sandbanks was the third place in the world to have permanent wireless station. During the First World War, the hotel housed Belgian refugees and during the Second World War was a naval detachment. In more recent times, guests of the Haven Hotel have included UK Prime Minister John Major and the Real Madrid football team. |
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| The heath-topped chalk cliffs of Studland Bay on a gloomy afternoon. This marks the eastern end of the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. |
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| Passing Handfast Point marking the southernmost edge of Studland Bay where it meets the English Channel. The deeply-eroded chalk cliffs are part of the Jurassic Coast, carved away by the waves over thousands of years. |
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| Old Harry Rocks, a collection of three chalk formations at Handfast Point on the Isle of Purbeck, part of the county of Dorset. These formations mark the easternmost point of the Jurassic Coast stretching from East Devon to Dorset and are the remains of a long stretch of chalk coastline between Purbeck and the Isle of Wight which was eroded by wind, rain, and waves over thousands of years. On clear days, the similar chalk stacks known as The Needles, located at the western end of the Isle of Wight, can be seen from Old Harry Rocks. Old Harry Rocks was formed when the sea eroded the chalk to form caves and eventually arches, with those arches collapsing to leave stacks of rock. The current stacks will eventually collapse while ongoing coastal erosion will create new ones along the coast to the southwest. The name 'Old Harry Rocks' is attributed to various stories, with one explanation being that the devil (traditionally known as 'Old Harry') slept on the rocks, while another story claims that the rocks are named after Poole-based pirate Harry Paye, who used the rocks to hide while waiting for unsuspecting merchant vessels to pass by. A third story claims that the rocks are named after a 9th century Viking, Earl Howard, who drowned in a storm during a failed raid and was turned into a pillar of chalk. |
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| Proceeding down the coast south of Old Harry Rocks are the chalk cliffs of Ballard Down. These chalk cliffs are part of the Portsdown Chalk Formation, dating from the late Cretaceous period (72-84 million years ago). Much of Ballard Down is owned by the National Trust, responsible for heritage conservation in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. |
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| A small boat is dwarfed by the sheer chalk cliffs of Ballard Down. The silhouettes of ramblers can be seen at the top of the cliff. |
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| A long look northeast, along the chalk cliffs of Ballard Down on the Isle of Purbeck, which is not an island but rather a peninsula in Dorset surrounded by water on three sides. |
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| A sailboat passes Durlston Head, atop which sits Durlston Castle. |
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| Durlston Castle was built as a folly in 1886-87 by George Burt, a local businessman involved in the quarrying and construction trade. The 'castle' was built using local stone and meant to be part of a tourist attraction, the Durlston Estate, serving as a restaurant for visitors. After passing through various owners, Durlston Castle was bought by Dorset County Council in 1973 and given Grade II heritage designation by Historic England in 1983. |
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| Today, Dulrston Castle serves as a visitor centre and gateway to the Jurassic Coast, sitting within the 280-acre Durlston Country Park and National Nature Reserve. In 2010-11, Dorset County Council funded the restoration of the castle and its Great Globe, a 40-tonne, three-metre diameter globe crafted out of local Portland stone in 1887. The park encompasses part of the Jurassic Coast, but the castle itself sits outside of the Jurassic Coast. |
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| Anvil Point Lighthouse, located to the southwest of Durlston Castle but within the grounds of Durlston Country Park and National Nature Reserve. Completed in 1881 and built with local stone, the lighthouse stands 12 metres in height, with the light standing 45 metres above the high water mark on the cliffs below. The Anvil Point Lighthouse was electrified in 1960 and fully automated in May 1991, with its current LED light having a range of 17 kilometres (10 miles; 9 nautical miles). Owned and operated by Trinity House, the official authority for lighthouses in England, Wales, the Channel Islands, and Gibraltar, the lighthouse grounds contain two holiday cottages rented to visitors. |
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| A panoramic photo of Durlston Head before Solent Cat turns around for the return voyage to Poole. |
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| A view of the Dorset resort town of Swanage, as seen from Solent Cat en route back to Poole. Located about 10 kilometres (6.25 miles) south of Poole, Swanage began as a small fishing port and later became a shipping outlet for nearby limestone quarries. In the Victorian era, the town became a popular seaside tourist resort due to its sandy beaches. |
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| A long view of the chalk cliffs of the Jurassic Coast with Old Harry Rocks on the far right. |
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| Rounding Old Harry Rocks and entering Studland Bay for the return to Poole Harbour. |
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| The HSC Condor Liberation, a fast trimaran ferry operated by Condor Ferries and currently operating between Poole and the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey. Built by Australian shipbuilder Austal in 2009-10, the 6,307-gross tonne vessel sat unsold for years until purchased by Condor Ferries in 2014. Following modifications by Austal to meet Condor's requirements, Condor Liberation entered service on 27 March 2015. Condor Liberation is 102 metres (335 feet) in length, with a 27.95 metre (91.7 foot) beam, and a top speed of 39 knots (72 km/h, 45 mph). It can carry up to 245 cars and 880 passengers and features various classes of seating, onboard restaurants, and a duty free shop. |
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| HSC Condor Liberation dwarfs the small accompanying pilot boat as it proceeds out of Poole Harbour into the English Channel on a rainy, overcast day. |
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| Studland Bay to the right, with Old Harry Rocks in the distance and the English Channel beyond. |
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| During the Iron Age, 2,300 years ago, ocean levels were nearly three metres (9.8 feet) lower than today and Poole Harbour would have been mudbanks and reed beds with snaking channels of water. |
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| The Sandbanks Ferry Bramble Bush Bay seen from Solent Cat during the return to Poole Quay. |
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| Passing close by expensive waterfront homes on Panorama Road in the Sandbanks neighbourhood of Poole. |
The Poole Museum
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| The entrance to the Poole Museum, located on Lower High Street in the Old Town district of Poole. With free admission, this local history museum was the fifth most visited free attraction in South West England in 2016. The Poole Museum originally opened in 1989 as the Waterfront Museum and is housed in a former warehouse. Between 2005 and 2007, the museum underwent an extensive renovation funded by a £1.3 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and local fundraising. An additional National Lottery Heritage Fund grant of £2.24 million in 2021 will be used to turn the museum into a 'world-class cultural centre'. |
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| The centrepiece of the museum is the Poole logboat, a 2,300-year old Iron Age vessel uncovered in 1964 as a result of dredging work near Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour. It is the only logboat found underwater and the only one found in a harbour. The logboat was made from a single enormous oak tree measuring 1.7 metres (5.6 feet) in diameter, which was likely 150 to 200 years old when it was felled. Researchers believe the boat was made by splitting the oak tree's trunk in half lengthwise using hammered-in wedges, and then hollowing it out using a combination of burning and chipping with iron or flint hand tools. Research suggests it could have carried the weight of up to 18 passengers, each weighing 60 kilograms (132 pounds). It is possible the logboat was abandoned at its moorings at an Iron Age settlement now enveloped by the waters of Poole Harbour. Conservationists working on the Poole logboat pioneered the use of sugar crystals to preserve the boat's wooden structure, avoiding the collapse that naturally occurs when old, waterlogged wood dries out. The Poole logboat was the first large wooden artefact preserved using this method, which involved soaking the boat in more than six tons of sugar solution, carefully drying it in a sealed chamber, and then painstakingly removing thousands of excess sugar crystals left on the boat's surface. Forty-three years after it was first discovered, the Poole logboat was put on permanent display at the museum in 2007. |
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| The upper portion of the 8.5-metre tall rudder from the 17th century Dutch merchant ship Fame, discovered in 2004 in Studland Bay during survey work in preparation for the deepening of the main shipping channel into Poole Harbour. Known as the Swash Channel Wreck, Fame was a high status, long distance merchant vessel based in Hoorn in the Netherlands. In 1631, during a voyage to the West Indies, Fame sought refuge in Studland Bay during a storm but was driven onto Hook Sands by the wind and capsized. While at 45 of her crew were able to abandon ship and make it safely to shore, Fame was a total loss and was plundered by locals. With the shifting sands revealing the wreck and threatening The wreck, consisting of nearly an entire intact side of the ship, was excavated by a team from the University of Bournemouth between 2005 and 2013. Items discovered in the wreck included rare decorative carvings, six carriage-mounted cannons of the original 26 aboard (the others having been salvaged after the sinking), and a number of domestic items, tools, navigational equipment, and ship's fittings which provide a glimpse into 17th century ship design and construction, shipboard life, and international trade at that time. |
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| The entrance to the first floor gallery, devoted to the history of Poole and its residents from prehistory to the 21st century. |
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| The Canford Cup, first awarded as a prize at the Poole Regatta on 11 August 1849. The Regatta, an organised program of yacht and boat racing in Poole Harbour, has been held at least since the late 18th century. During the 1849 edition, the Canford Cup was presented by Sir John J Guest, MP, of Canford Manor, to Southampton-based Gleam, the winner of the race for yachts not exceeding 15 tons. The cup was made in London in 1822 and features an engraving of a racing scene. It was privately owned until 2015 when it was purchased by the Poole Museum Service and has now been presented to the overall winner of the annual Poole Regatta. |
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| The finely-carved top of the Swash Channel Wreck rudder, one of the artefacts recovered from the remains of the Dutch merchant vessel Fame, which sank in Studland Bay in 1631 during a storm. A carved human or animal head at the top of the rudder is a long-standing Dutch maritime tradition. The rudder is composed of three main timbers held together with iron bolts and covered in a layer of sacrificial pine, which would have protected the rudder against boring marine organisms, such as teredo worm. The rudder would have been hung on hinges on the sternpost and steered by a whipstaff, a steering mechanism commonly used aboard ships before the invention of the ship's wheel. Before the wreck's identity was known, researchers analysing the recovered artefacts were able to confirm that the timber used in the ship was cut down in the Netherlands or Germany around 1628 and that the type of pottery found aboard the wreck was made in the Netherlands between 1625 and 1650. This permitted a narrower search of High Court of Admiralty records which led to the conclusion that the wreck was most likely that of Fame. The rudder was preserved by injecting polyethylene glycol, a type of wax, into the wood to reinforce its cellulose structure, followed by a three-year drying process. The excavation of the Fame was the largest conservation of a maritime wreck since that of the Tudor-era warship Mary Rose in the 1980s. |
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| A model of a dory, a small, flat-bottomed boat used in the Newfoundland cod fishery. Stacked on the decks of fast schooners dispatched to the Grand Banks fishery, these dories were rowed or sailed from their parent vessels and used long lines to catch the cod. In front of the model dory is an 18th or 19th century hook believed to have been used in the Newfoundland fishery. The hook's mirrored sides would have flashed in the sunlight, attracting the fish. The Newfoundland fishing grounds were once the world's greatest cod fishery, with control over the fishery being contested by Britain, France, Holland, and Spain. The south coast English ports of Dartmouth, Exeter, and Poole were particularly successful in reaping the profits to be made from the sale of salt-preserved cod. For 200 years, Poole's economic and political life were dominated by the handful of families who owed their fortunes to the Newfoundland trade, which was responsible for Poole's golden age when the harbour was filled with ships preparing to depart for Newfoundland waters or returning from southern European ports laden with olive oil, wine, or salt. The profits earned from the cod fishery funded the construction of Poole's Georgian-era mansions and public buildings and many locals emigrated to Newfoundland, with 30% of today's population of Newfoundland claiming Dorset ancestry. |
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| A display of navigation instruments. On the top shelf are a small telescope, an 'artificial horizon', a lantern, and the box in which they were kept, belonging to Captain Sion W. Wilkins, a master mariner in the mid- to late-1800s. The middle shelf holds a mid-19th century telescope with a leather-bound barrel, then log book of the Poole-based brigantine Volunteer, captained by J. Dyke, and an image of the Volunteer, circa 1880. Volunteer was built in Nova Scotia in 1855 and registered in Poole the next year by her owners, who employed the ship in trade with Newfoundland. The bottom shelf holds a compass and a sextant, which was used to measure the angle between the horizon and an astronomical object, like a star or planet (celestial navigation). |
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| A display on Poole's boat-building heritage containing hand tools, a small row boat, paintings, and models. For centuries, boat-building was one of Poole's principal industries, and stored timbers once held in a 15th century boatyard have been excavated only 100 metres from the Poole Museum, on Thames Street. The height of the Newfoundland trade in the 1700s was a time when the boat-building industry Poole flourished. Since then, Poole's boat-building industry has focused on building and maintaining small craft, such as racing yachts. Between the 1920s and the 1990s, Bolson's shipyard built dredgers, tugs, and ferries and during the Second World War, the yard was the largest builder of Landing Craft, Assault (LCA). Today's Poole's boat-building is best known for the luxury yachts built by Sunseeker, seen in Bond films like Casino Royale. |
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| An iron strongbox, also known as an 'Armada chest', dating from the 16th or 17th century. Such boxes were used to store valuables aboard ship and possessed a complicated lock inside the lid that automatically locks when the lid is shut. Notwithstanding the name, there is no known connection with the Spanish Armada. |
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| A corner of the first floor gallery devoted to Poole's mariners and their voyages. On the back wall hang three examples of woolwork pictures of sailing vessels from the late-19th to early-20th centuries. The making of wool art was a popular pastime for mariners between around 1850 and 1920. There is a display on Poole Harbour's use as a flying boat base for Imperial Airways in 1940, after the airline moved its operations from Southampton Water to Poole Harbour due to Southampton's greater vulnerability to German air attacks. From the end of the war to 1948, the new British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) used Poole as a flying boat passenger terminal, with luxury services to Egypt, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia. The postwar development of the more efficient land-based airplane ended plans to convert Poole Harbour into a major international flying boat base. |
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| A binnacle from the 19th century two-masted brigantine Lady of Avenel. The binnacle housed the ship's compass and is supported on a base shaped like three dolphins which is thought to have come from a 17th century Dutch East Indiaman trading vessel. |
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| Parts of ship frames from a local excavation site in Poole, dating to the 14th or 15th centuries. Boats of this era were clinker-built, a technique brought by the Vikings, and these artefacts provide important clues about Medieval boat-building techniques. |
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| A display on the maritime trades that composed such an important part of the Poole economy. The top shelf contains sail-making tools. The middle shelf holds an 1877 certificate of qualification to serve as a ship's Sailmaker's mate aboard HMS Argus; a sail hook; needles, thread, chalk, wax, and a protective hand covering used in repairing sails. With ships constantly coming and going from Poole, the maritime trades were crucial to keeping them supplied. A 1783 directory for Poole listed seven sail makers, one block maker, one rope maker, and two anchorsmiths. Coopers made barrels for storing the beer and salted meat fed to sailors, while local bakers produced the rock hard but long-lasting 'ship's biscuit' that was a staple of sailor's diets on long voyages. |
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| An 1862 oil on canvas depiction of the brigantine Venus, based in Poole. This portrait shows Venus, under the command of Hiram J. Williams, entering the port of Leghorn (Livorno) in Italy. The Venus was built in Poole in 1854 and worked in the Newfoundland cod fishery. Paintings like this were often produced by port painters as generic vessels, with the name and other details of a specific ship being added once a painting had been commissioned by a ship's owner. Often, two such paintings were produced, one for the ship's owner and the other for its captain. |
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| A 1930s oil on panel painting by Bernard Finnigan Gribble (1872-1962), entitled 'Poole Quay from the Shipwrights' Arms'. The painting shows a working day on Poole and Hamworthy quays as seen from an upper floor window of the Shipwrights' Arms pub on Hamworthy Quay. Poole's Custom House can be seen on the left, while a coal gantry can be seen on the right. Gondolier pleasure boats are seen in the harbour, with a sailing ship taking on cargo from barges alongside. In the foreground on the right is the ferry which carried passengers between the two quays. |
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| A display of artefacts recovered from the Studland Bay wreck, a Spanish vessel that sank in Studland Bay outside Poole Harbour around 1530. The artefacts include animal bones, glazed jug and plate fragments of a type originating in the northern Basque region, a Spanish leather shoe, a wooden comb, and stone cannonballs. A model of the ship based on the wreck sits at the bottom of the display case. |
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| An oil on canvas painting by Bernard Finnigan Gribble, entitled 'The Whelp of the Black Rover', circa 1914. A Poole resident for many years, Gribble was a noted maritime artist and illustrator who played a key role in recording key maritime events during the First World War, including the surrender of the German fleet at Scapa Flow in 1918. |
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| A collection of Roman coins and glass beads excavated in the local area around Poole. These include a dupondius, a brass coin from the reign of the Emperor Claudius (41-54 AD), and a sestertius from the reign of Emperor Vaspasian (69-79 AD). |
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| A display of Paleolithic hand axes dating from 450,000-200,000 BC. These flint axes discovered in the Solent River gravels are the oldest items in the Poole Museum and would have been used by both Neanderthals and the the Homo sapiens. |
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| Portraits of Poole's 'Merchant Princes', who made vast fortunes during the port's heyday in the 1700s, largely through involvement in the Newfoundland trade. These men transformed businesses established by their fathers or grandfathers into highly profitable enterprises through hard work, thereby attaining their wealth and high social status. Through intermarriage amongst these wealthy families, they acquired further wealth, property, and power. Two of the men, Benjamin Lester and Robert Henning, both served as Mayors of Poole, while Lester and Joseph Gulston both represented the town as Members of Parliament. Gulston and fellow MP Thomas Calcraft contributed to the construction of Poole's Guildhall, located on Market Street, in 1761-62. Portraits such as these were commissioned by the Merchant Princes to reflect their social status, with Joseph Gulston's (centre) being painted by Thomas Hudson, the most fashionable portrait painter in London in the 1740s. |
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| The second floor of the Poole Museum contains exhibits on Poole's people, economy, culture, and recreational pursuits. The displays seen here focus on Poole and the Scouting Movement, education, religion, and law and order. |
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| A display on the Royal Marines presence in the Poole area. In 1954, the Royal Marines took over HMS Turtle, a seaplane and landing craft base in Hamworthy, and established the Amphibious School, Royal Marines. Today, the facility is known as Royal Marines Poole and between 2001 and 2013, it served as the base for 1 Assault Group Marines, responsible for landing craft training. Royal Marines Poole is the centre for activities by the Special Boat Service (SBS), the elite special forces unit traditionally manned by Royal Marines Commandos. In 1973, the Corps of the Royal Marines was awarded honourary freedom of the Borough and County of Poole. Seen on the left of the display is a Royal Marines 'battledress blouse' (1949 pattern) and green beret once worn by Warrant Officer 2 Brian Green, who served between 1953 and 1975. On the right is a No. 1 Dress 'Blues' Jacket, Warrant Officer 2 and parade helmet that belonged to WO 2 Green, who served in Aden, Kenya, Egypt, Cyprus, Malta, Italy, Libya, Malaysia, and Northern Ireland. |
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| An display on the domestic lives of Poole residents features a recreation of a typical kitchen in the postwar period. As noted by the signage next to the display, throughout history the kitchen did not exist as a separate room for preparing food, with food being cooked over an open hearth, often in an outbuilding. Kitchen first appeared in the Middle Ages in royal palaces and grand houses, though usually still in a separate building. It was not until the 19th century that the kitchen became a separate room in most working class houses. |
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| A display on Poole Power Station, whose boilers were originally fuelled by coal but were converted to oil fuel beginning in 1954. The station operated between 1950 and 1984, employing 300 people at its peak, and featured brickwork and bas-relief details inspired by London's famous Art Deco Battersea Power Station. The station's Turbine House was home to six rotating turbines that generated 1,500 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually, enough to make a cup of tea for every person on earth four times over. Artefacts from the Poole Power Station displayed here include a smoke indicator for the stacks, a turbine temperature indicator, and a turbine instruction or enunciator panel. |
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| Original wooden fittings from the pharmacy at 10 Station Road in the village of Parkstone, near Poole. |
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| Now-controlled or illegal drugs like opium were sold over the counter in pharmacies during the Victorian era and it is estimated that four out of six working class English families used opium on a regular basis. Opium sales were restricted to professional pharmacists under the 1868 Pharmacy Act and then banned entirely under the 1920 Dangerous Drugs Act. As late as 1915, there were 40,000 patent medicines containing significant quantities of opium, mercury, or antimony. Some of the most popular patent medicines of the era were Dover's Powders for gout, Godfrey's Cordial to soothe crying babies, and laudanum, a mixture of opium and alcohol. |
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| A recreation of a mid-1900s dentist's office. As noted by the signage, only the very wealthy could afford dental care by a skilled dentist with the vast majority of people relying on barbers or marketplace 'tooth drawers' for painful extractions of rotted teeth. In the 18th and 19th centuries, dentures made from an ivory base with rivetted human teeth were popular; the human teeth were sourced from corpses on battlefields or in graveyards. The wealthy often suffered from greater dental problems as their higher sugar consumption paired with poor oral hygiene led to rotten teeth. |
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| A display of weights and measures, important tools for commerce and trade. The top shelf holds avoirdupois bell weights (19th-20th century), a verification scale for one ounce weights (1927), and measures for various fluid ounce measurements (c. 1880). The upper middle shelf holds a weights and measures conviction book (1912-1974), used to record charges brought against local merchants for offences under the Weights and Measures Act, usually for the sale of underweight goods. The lower middle shelf holds copper and brass conical measures for fluids in gallon, pint, and gill measurements. The lowest shelf holds large, two-handled cylindrical measures. |
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| Left to right: Avoirdupois bell weights weighing one, two, and four pounds. These imperial weights, based on the avoirdupois pound, became the UK standard in the 19th century. The abbreviation 'lb' for pound is derived from the Latin 'libra pondo'. |
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| A display on Poole's Second World War experience. During the war, local youth worked on farms or in coal mines, replacing men who had left to join the armed forces. The pupils of the Poole Grammar School hosted the pupils of Southampton's evacuated King Edward VI Grammar School. In the town's worst incident of the war, in March 1941, a German bomber struck the Bourne Valley Gas Works, killing 34 men. Poole residents also raised money for the war effort, including contributing £5,000 during a 'Spitfire Week' to purchase aircraft for the Royal Air Force; unfortunately, Poole's sponsored Spitfire, named 'Villae de Poole', crashed in a snowstorm near Chester in 1941, killing the pilot. Amongst the items in this display case are an Air Raid Precautions (ARP) helmet and badge, various gas masks for adults and children, a 1940 poster with blackout information, items belonging to Local Defence Volunteers (LDV) and Home Guard personnel, tins of dried milk and dried eggs, ration books, postcards, a piggy bank in the shape of a bust of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and a fire guard's helmet and armband. |
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| On the museum's third floor is its impressive collection of the famous Poole Pottery, as well as foreign ceramic artefacts discovered during archaeological excavations around Poole. The earliest pottery excavated in Poole are round-bottomed bowls dating from the Neolithic period and are at least 5,000 years old. Bronze Age (2,500-7,000 BC) people of the area made urns for the cremated ashes of their dead and beakers for drinking beer or mead. Later, Roman Britons made black burnished ware pottery in the Poole Harbour area, supplying the Roman legions in Britain for 250 years between c. 120 AD and c. 370 AD. Using funds raised from private donors and local and national groups, the Poole Museum was able to purchase a number of items from the Poole Pottery Museum collection that were auctioned by Christie's in 2004. Poole Pottery's origins lie in the arrival in Poole of the Carter family in the 1870s. The family established Carter & Company in 1873, with an original focus on manufacturing architectural ceramic products like wall and floor tiles. Around 1900, the company began experimenting with the manufacture of bowls and vases and a decorative pottery section was formed during the First World War. Carter & Company was well known at this time for an unglazed type of pottery inspired by Romano-British pottery displayed in local museums. Although the production of decorative items was suspended during the Second World War, the company resumed production after the war and was officially renamed Poole Pottery in 1963. Although the company's pottery making operations left Poole in 2006 and relocated to Stoke on Trent in Staffordshire, 'Poole Pottery' lives on as a brand name for many products manufactured in Stoke. |
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| A display of pottery made in Poole. On the top shelf are unglazed vitreous earthenware items made by James Radley Young between 1914 and 1921 featuring hand-painted decoration in manganese brown oxide. The middle shelves hold stoneware items by Young and Carter & Company, including bowls and vases with colourful lustre glazes. |
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| Stoneware items crafted in the 1920s and 1930s by the firm of Carter, Stabler & Adams. The firm of Carter, Stabler & Adams was formed in 1921 as a subsidiary of Carter & Company and was known for its Art Deco-inspired decorative hand-painted designs. The large commemorative plates on the bottom shelf depict a sailing ship, Waterwitch, and an Empire Airways C-class flying boat. |
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| More colourful earthenware pottery by Carter & Company, including vases, serving dishes, a coffee set, a milk jug, and a covered bowls. |
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| Poole Pottery products designed in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, including a 1973 model of a bottle kiln in which pottery was fired; and vases and bowls from the company's Olympus, Atlantis, Aegean, and Delphis design collections. The brightly-coloured Aegean and Delphis lines were particularly fashionable in the 1960s and 1970s. |
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| Glazed stoneware human and animal figurines produced by Carter, Stabler & Adams. The various pieces, dating between the 1910s and the 1970s, include peasant figures, monkeys, elephants, a bull, a knight, a galleon, deer, and dolphins. |
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| A tile panel depicting Poole Quay and High Street around the Pole Pottery Works, made by Carter & Company around 1930. It was painted by Margaret Holder from a design created by Edward Bawden in 1922 for a booklet entitled, 'Pottery Making at Poole'. This tile panel was one of the items purchased by the Poole Museum from the Poole Pottery Museum auction in 2004. |
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| Examples of pottery made elsewhere in England. Earthenware 'Verwood' pottery was manufactured in the East Dorset town of Verwood between the medieval period and the mid-20th century. Coarseware was pottery used for domestic purposes rather than as decorative display. The top shelf holds a bowl, dish, and chamber pot made in Verwood and dating from the 17th to 18th centuries. The middle shelves hold a jug, teapot, tankard, bowls, a saucer, and a candlestick originating in Verwood, Sunderland, Yorkshire or Staffordshire, and the Midlands. |
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| A display of Continental European pottery excavated in Poole, including items from Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain, and Italy. Some items were imported as pottery and others arrived in Poole as containers for trade goods, such as wine or olive oil. Excavations in Poole's Old Town have revealed that in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, up to half of all the pottery used originated in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. German pots became especially popular after 1500 and were often salt-glazed, achieved by throwing salt into the hot pottery kilns to give the pottery a hard, shiny surface. The top shelf holds German-made jugs from the late 16th to early 18th centuries, as well as a fragment of plate dating from 1460. The upper middle shelf holds pottery from the Netherlands, which also became more common after 1500 and often employed tin glazing to give the pieces a brilliant white, opaque surface to paint over. Included on this shelf is a tin-glazed jug decorated with blue flowers, including tulips, and dating from c. 1700-15. The lower middle shelf contains fragments of dishes, bowls, and an olive jar from Spain, Italy, and France. |
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| Black burnished ware pottery from the Roman-British times, including storage jars from the 1st and 4th centuries AD on the top shelf. The upper middle shelf also holds black burnished ware, including examples of the mass-produced bowls made in Poole in Roman times and trades all over Britain, as well as fragments of an Iron Age or Roman salt boiling tray used to extract salt from seawater boiled over a fire. The lower shelves hold even older items, including round-bottomed bowl fragments from early Neolithic period (4,000-3,000 BC), as well as beakers from the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age (c. 2,000 BC). |
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| A display on industrial pottery includes products manufactured at local industrial potteries in the late 19th to early 20th centuries. Items include two chimney pots made by the Bourne Valley Pottery; a chimney cowl from the Kinson Pottery; a 'Midland' lavatory; a chimney pot, ridge tile, roof finial, and architectural mouldings from George Jennings' South Western Pottery. Industrial potteries have existed in the Poole area for centuries, making ordinary ceramic items, such as tiles, bricks, sewage and water pipes, and toilet bowls. Carter & Company got its start in 1873 in Poole as an industrial pottery, while Bourne Valley Pottery manufactured terracotta vases, figures, and chimney pots. The Kinson Brickworks in nearby Hamworthy had a kiln capable of firing 320,000 bricks at a time, and much of Victorian era Bournemouth was made from Poole bricks. The South Western Pottery produced massive quantities of pipes for water, drainage, and cabling that were exported around the world from the company's own pier. |
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| A terracotta jardinière and stand designed around 1902 by Archibald Knox (1864-1933). Knox was known for his silver and pewter objects sold by the London store Liberty & Co., with his designs inspired by Celtic art. This jardinière and stand is an example of a series of garden wares designed by Knox, manufactured by Carter & Company in Poole, and sold by Liberty & Co. in the early 1900s. |
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| Examples of ceramic tiles manufactured in Poole. Such tiles were the core product of Carter & Company, with the firm producing huge numbers of cream-glazed and white-glazed floor and wall tiles for use in hospitals and factories. Carter & Company also notably supplied tiles for new and modernised stations of the London Underground in the 1930s. Prestigious contracts followed in the 1930s for tiles installed on the ocean liners RMS Queen Mary and RMS Queen Elizabeth and London luxury hotels The Savoy and Claridge's. Carter & Company tiles were exported throughout the British Empire and the blue plaques on many London buildings with famous associations were made in Poole between 1955 and 1981. |
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| Early- to mid-20th century examples of decorative pottery made by Crown Dorset Pottery, whose characteristic designs were country scenes and mottoes adapted from the Dorset dialect poetry of William Barnes. Items include vases, teapots, jugs, mugs, and lavender water bottles. |
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| A display of tiles made by Carter & Company, the leading tile maker in southern England by 1900. The company produced a range of Art Nouveau designs during the first two decades of the 20th century and between 1915 and 1935 specialised in hand-painted picture tiles. The Carter & Company tiles displayed here feature floral designs, Anglo-Persian designs, portraits, Dutch watercolour scenes, and water birds. |
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| A ceramic plaque manufactured in Poole to commemorate the Empress Club's gift of a shop to the Preston Hall Colony, a manorial home in Aylesford, Kent used as a convalescent home for wounded and sick soldiers during the First World War. |
