is a large
Town and
Tourist resort, situated on the south
Coast of
England . With a population of 164,000 it is the largest settlement in the ceremonial county of
Dorset , though in the
Historic County of
Hampshire . The town is a regional centre of education and business, and forms the main part of the
South East Dorset Conurbation , with the adjoining town of
Poole . It is also the largest town on the English south coast between
Southampton and
Plymouth . The town is most notable as the home of the
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra ,
The Arts Institute At Bournemouth as well as
Bournemouth University and the
Bournemouth International Centre . The town is also home to several financial companies including
JPMorgan Chase , the
Nationwide Building Society ,
Liverpool Victoria and
Standard Life .
In a recent survey by First Direct Bank, Bournemouth was found to be the happiest place in Britain with 82% of people questioned saying they were happy with their life.
2
Bournemouth is located about 105
Mile s southwest of
London at . A roundabout at the end of the
Wessex Way called "County Gates" (but commonly known as Frizzell roundabout after the insurance brokers based there, now part of
Liverpool Victoria friendly society) marks the historic border between
Hampshire and
Dorset , and also marks the border between Bournemouth and Poole.
Historically Bournemouth was part of Hampshire, with Poole just to the west of the border between the two counties. At the time of the
1974 Local Government Re-organisation , it was considered desirable that the whole of the
Poole/Bournemouth Urban Area should be part of the same county. Bournemouth therefore became part of the
Non-metropolitan County of Dorset on
1 April 1974 . On
April 1 1997 ,
Bournemouth became a
Unitary Authority , independent from the county council. For the purposes of
The Lieutenancy it remains part of the
Ceremonial County of Dorset.
The urban geography of Bournemouth is complex as the town merges with several other towns to form the
South East Dorset Conurbation which has a combined population of 383,713, the whole area being sufficiently populous to be one of the major retail and commercial centres in the south of England. As such the town adjoins
Poole in the west and
Christchurch in the east. To the north west of Bournemouth is the small town of
Wimborne and to the north east is the settlement of
Ferndown .
Bournemouth International Airport lies to the north east of the town centre, towards
Hurn . The town is intersected by the
A338 dual carriageway, known as the "Wessex Way".
Although Bournemouth lies adjacent to the sea, the centre of the town lies inland - the commercial and civil heart of the town being "
The Square ". From the Square the gardens descend down to the seafront and the pier. Areas within Bournemouth itself include
Bear Cross ,
Boscombe ,
Kinson ,
Pokesdown and
Westbourne . Traditionally a large retirement town, Bournemouth (mostly the Northbourne, Southbourne and Tuckton areas of Bournemouth together with the Wallisdown, and Talbot Village areas of Poole) have seen massive growth in recent years, especially through the growth of students attending
Bournemouth University (the administrative area and main campus of which is in fact located in Poole).
Bournemouth is located directly to the east of the "Jurassic Coast", a 95 mile section of beautiful and largely unspoilt coastline recently designated a
World Heritage Site . Apart from the beauty of much of the coastline, the Jurassic Coast provides a complete geological record of the
Jurassic Period and a rich
Fossil Record 3. Bournemouth itself overlooks
Poole Bay and the
Isle Of Wight , which is visible from some vantage points. Bournemouth also has approximately 7 miles of sandy
Beach es that run from Christchurch in the east to
Sandbanks in the west. The stretch of beach along Poole Bay does not all belong to Bournemouth however, since its western part is in
Poole .
Because of the coastal processes that operate in Poole Bay, the area is often used for
Surfing . An
Artificial Reef (Europe's first) is expected to be installed at
Boscombe , in Bournemouth, during the winter of 2007 using large sand-filled
Geotextile bags. The reef is being constructed as part of the larger Boscombe Spa Village development.
4 Bournemouth also has several
Chine s (e.g. Alum Chine) that lead down to the beaches and form a very attractive feature of the area. The beaches are themselves subdivided by
Groyne s.
Bournemouth is in Hardy country, and appears as Sandbourne in
Thomas Hardy 's novels.
Tess lived in Sandbourne with Alec d'Urberville, and the town also features in The Well-Beloved and
Jude The Obscure . Bournemouth is also mentioned in
So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish , the fourth book of the inaccurately named
Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy trilogy, in which a large robot comes to earth and spends a week lying on the beach in Bournemouth face down. In
James Herbert 's horror novel The Fog, the entire population of Bournemouth runs into the sea and drowns in a mass
Suicide . It is also mentioned in Roald Dahl's The Witches, where the hotel is located.
Apparently
J. R. R. Tolkien spent 30 years taking holidays in Bournemouth, staying in the same room at the Hotel Miramar, with a second room to write in. He retired to nearby Poole.
Mary Shelley is buried in St Peters Church, her son Sir Percy having settled at
Boscombe Manor.
Bournemouth is also in an area of
England with a mild
Climate and a section of the coast that enjoys some of the warmest, driest and sunniest weather in
Britain , especially in the summer. Because of this and the town's proximity to the
New Forest ,
Jurassic Coast ,
Devon and the Dorset and Hampshire
Countryside , Bournemouth is a historically popular
Tourist destination.
See Also: History of Bournemouth
The area surrounding Bournemouth has been the site of human settlement for thousands of years. In
1800 the area was largely a remote and barren heathland. No-one lived at Bourne Mouth and the only regular visitors were a few fishermen, turf cutters and gangs of smugglers who landed their cargoes of spirits, tea and tobacco on the deserted beach.
The area had once been a hunting estate, 'Stourfield Chase', but by the late
18th Century only a few small parts of it were maintained, including several fields around the Bourne Stream and a cottage known as Decoy Pond House, which stood near where The Square is today.
Generally, until
1802 the area was common land. The
Christchurch Inclosures Act 1802 and the Inclosure Commissioners' Award of 1805 transferred hundreds of acres into private ownership for the first time.
Pier]]
In
1809 , the Tapps Arms public house appeared on the heath. In 1812 the first residents, retired army officer
Lewis Tregonwell and his wife, moved into their new home, built on land he had purchased from
Sir George Ivison Tapps .
First Tregonwell and later Tapps began developing the settlement for holiday letting. They planted pine trees, providing a sheltered walk to the beach. The town would ultimately grow up around its scattered pines. Twenty-five years after the Tregonwells started work on their holiday mansion, Bournemouth was still a small community with a scattering of houses and cottages.
In
1835 , after the death of Sir George Ivison Tapps, his son Sir
George William Tapps-Gervis inherited his father's estate and started developing the seaside village into a resort similar to those that had already grown up along the south coast such as
Weymouth and
Brighton .
In
1841 , there were still only a few hundred people living in Bournemouth, but that year saw the town visited by the physician
Augustus Bozzi Granville . Granvilla was the author of ''The Spas of England'', which described health resorts around the country. As a result of his visit, Dr Granville included a chapter on Bournemouth in the second edition of his book. It was this more than anything that put the town on the map as the perfect place for people with health problems, especially chest complaints, which were common in the 19th century. Bournemouth quickly became a destination for affluent holiday-makers and for invalids in search of 'the sea air'. In the 1840s the fields south of the road crossing (later The Square) were drained and laid out with shrubberies and walks.
In
1856 , Parliament approved the Bournemouth Improvement Act. Under the Act, a board of 13 Commissioners was established to organise all the things involved in the running of a small but growing town, such as paving, sewers, drainage, street lighting and street cleaning.
By the 1860s the fields to the north were also laid out with walks by the owners of the
Branksome Estate. In the early 1870s all the fields were leased to the Bournemouth Commissioners by the freeholders. These fields now form The Pleasure Gardens, which run through the centre of the town. The area continued to develop along with the railways and the popular idea of visiting the seaside for holidays. Among the people who contributed to the development of Bournemouth at this time were Sir Percy Florence Shelley (son of
Percy Bysshe Shelley and
Mary Shelley ) and Sir
Merton Russell-Cotes .
In 1880, the town had a population of 17,000 people. By 1900 this had risen to 60,000, and by 1990 it had more than doubled again, reaching 150,000. In the latest census, the town had a
Population of 163,441. Since the 1990s there have been increasing calls for the town, together with Poole, to attain official city status (as per the example of
Brighton & Hove ) due to its sheer expanse and regional importance.
The town is an important venue for major conferences, with the
Bournemouth International Centre (BIC), which stands on the cliff-tops near the middle of the town overlooking the
Sea and the
Pier , often hosting the annual conferences of the main national political parties amongst its events. The BIC also hosts theatrical productions and concerts.
Bournemouth is also a major centre for the
Teaching Of English and has numerous English language schools. Many thousands of foreign students are attracted to the town every year, an important form of
Invisible Export . The town also has its own internationally recognised university -
Bournemouth University the main campus of which is actually in
Poole .
The
Russell-Cotes Museum is located just to the east of the Central Gardens near to the
Pavilion Theatre and next to the Royal Bath Hotel. The museum includes many fine mostly
19th Century paintings and the family collections acquired when travelling e.g in
Japan and
Russia . It was Sir
Merton Russell Cotes , one of Bournemouth's most prominent
Victorian s, who successfully campaigned to have a
Promenade built; it runs continuously along the Bournemouth and Poole shoreline.
The
Royal Bath Hotel , located near the sea and just to the east of the Central Gardens, has attracted many important visitors over the years, including
Oscar Wilde ,
H. G. Wells ,
Richard Harris , Sir
Thomas Beecham ,
Shirley Bassey , and prime ministers
Lord Beaconsfield (who stayed for three months to help his gout),
Gladstone ,
Asquith and
Lloyd George . Royal guests have been
Edward VII and
Edward VIII when each was the Prince of Wales,
George VI when he was the Duke of York,
Queen Wilhemina Of The Netherlands and
Empress Eugenie Of France .
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