![\"Custom-House---Poole-Quay\"](\"http:\/\/chineland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Custom-House-Poole-Quay.jpg\")
<\/a>Custom House – Poole Quay<\/p><\/div>\n
The town’s name derives from a corruption of the\u00a0Celtic\u00a0word\u00a0bol<\/i>\u00a0and the\u00a0Old English\u00a0word\u00a0pool<\/i>\u00a0meaning a place near a pool or creek.Variants include Pool, Pole, Poles, Poll, Polle, Polman, and Poolman. The area around modern Poole has been inhabited for the past 2,500\u00a0years. During the 3rd century BC, Celts\u00a0known as the\u00a0Durotriges\u00a0moved from hilltop settlements at\u00a0Maiden Castle\u00a0and\u00a0Badbury Rings\u00a0to heathland around the\u00a0River Frome\u00a0and\u00a0Poole Harbour.\u00a0The\u00a0Romans\u00a0landed at Poole during their conquest of Britain\u00a0in the 1st century and took over an\u00a0Iron Age\u00a0settlement at\u00a0Hamworthy, an area just west of the modern town centre.\u00a0In\u00a0Anglo-Saxon\u00a0times, Poole was included in the Kingdom of Wessex. The settlement was used as a base for fishing and the harbour a place for ships to anchor on their way to the River Frome and the important Anglo-Saxon town of\u00a0Wareham.\u00a0Poole experienced two large-scale\u00a0Viking\u00a0invasions during this era: in 876,\u00a0Guthrum\u00a0sailed his fleet through the harbour to attack Wareham, and in 1015,\u00a0Canute\u00a0began his conquest of England in PooleHarbour, using it as a base to raid and pillage Wessex.<\/p>\n RNLI at Poole Quay<\/p><\/div>\n Following the\u00a0Norman conquest of England, Poole rapidly grew into a busy port as the importance of Wareham declined. The town was part of the\u00a0manor\u00a0of Canford, but does not exist as an identifiable entry in the\u00a0Domesday Book. The earliest written mention of Poole occurred on a document from 1196 describing the newly built St James’s Chapel in “La Pole”. The\u00a0Lord of the Manor, Sir\u00a0William Longsp\u00e9e, sold a\u00a0charter\u00a0of liberties to the\u00a0burgesses\u00a0of Poole in 1248 to raise funds for his participation in the\u00a0Seventh Crusade. Consequently, Poole gained a small measure of freedom from\u00a0feudal rule\u00a0and acquired the right to appoint a mayor and hold a court within town. Poole’s growing importance was recognised in 1433 when it was awarded\u00a0staple port\u00a0status by\u00a0King Henry VI, enabling the port to begin exporting wool and in turn granting a licence for the construction of a town wall. In 1568, Poole gained further autonomy when it was granted legal independence from Dorset and made a\u00a0county corporate\u00a0by the Great Charter of\u00a0Elizabeth I. During the\u00a0English Civil War, Poole’s\u00a0puritan\u00a0stance and its merchants’ opposition to the\u00a0ship money\u00a0tax introduced by\u00a0King Charles I\u00a0led to the town declaring for\u00a0Parliament. Poole escaped any large-scale attack and with the\u00a0Royalists\u00a0on the brink of defeat in 1646, the Parliamentary garrison from Poole laid siege to and captured the nearby Royalist stronghold at\u00a0CorfeCastle.<\/p>\n Sunseeker boatyard<\/p><\/div>\n Poole established successful commerce with the\u00a0North American colonies\u00a0in the 16th century, including the important fisheries of\u00a0Newfoundland. The trade with Newfoundland grew steadily to meet the demand for fish from the Catholic countries of Europe. Poole’s share of this trade varied but the most prosperous period started in the early 18th century and lasted until the early 19th century. The trade was a three-cornered route; ships sailed to Newfoundland with salt and provisions, then carried dried and salted fish to Europe before returning to Poole with wine, olive oil, and salt. By the early 18th century Poole had more ships trading with North America than any other English port and vast wealth was brought to Poole’s merchants. This prosperity supported much of the development which now characterises the Old Town where many of the medieval\u00a0buildings were replaced with Georgian\u00a0mansions and terraced housing. The end of the Napoleonic Wars\u00a0and the conclusion of the War of 1812\u00a0ended Britain’s monopoly over the Newfoundland fisheries and other nations took over services provided by Poole’s merchants at a lower cost. Poole’s Newfoundland trade rapidly declined and within a decade most merchants had ceased trading.<\/p>\n Pub at Poole Quay<\/p><\/div>\n Poole Quay was the busy centre of the town’s maritime trade and the town grew rapidly during the industrial revolution\u00a0as urbanisation\u00a0took place and became an area of mercantile\u00a0prosperity and overcrowded poverty. At the turn of the 19th century, nine out of ten workers were engaged in harbour activities, but as the century progressed ships became too large for the shallow harbour and the port lost business to the deep water ports at Liverpool, Southampton and Plymouth. Poole’s first railway station opened in Hamworthy\u00a0in 1847 and later extended to the centre of Poole in 1872, effectively ending the port’s busy coastal shipping trade. The beaches and landscape of southern Dorset and south-west Hampshire\u00a0began to attract tourists during the 19th century and the villages to the east of Poole began to grow and merge until the seaside resort\u00a0of \u00a0Bournemouth\u00a0emerged. Although Poole did not become a resort like many of its neighbours, it continued to prosper as the rapid expansion of Bournemouth created a large demand for goods manufactured in Poole.<\/p>\n During World War II, Poole was the third largest embarkation point for D-Day\u00a0landings of Operation Overlord\u00a0and afterwards served as a base for supplies to the allied forces\u00a0in Europe.\u00a0Eighty-one landing craft containing American troops from the 29th Infantry Division\u00a0and the U.S. Army Rangers\u00a0departed Poole Harbour for Omaha Beach. Poole was also an important centre for the development of Combined Operations\u00a0and the base for a US Coast Guard\u00a0rescue flotilla\u00a0of 60 cutters. Much of the town suffered from German bombing during the war and years of neglect in the post-war economic decline. Major redevelopment\u00a0projects began in the 1950s and 1960s and large areas of slum\u00a0properties were demolished and replaced with modern public\u00a0and facilities. Many of Poole’s historic buildings were demolished during this period, particularly in the Old Town area of Poole. Consequently, a 6-hectare (15-acre) Conservation Area\u00a0was created in the town centre in 1975 to preserve Poole’s most notable buildings.<\/p>\n Courtesy Wikipedia<\/i><\/p>\n ———————————————————————————————–<\/p>\n More recent times<\/span><\/p>\n Poole is a\u00a0tourist\u00a0resort, attracting visitors with its large\u00a0natural harbour, history, the\u00a0Lighthouse\u00a0arts centre and\u00a0Blue Flag beaches. The town has a busy commercial port with\u00a0cross-Channel\u00a0freight and passenger ferry services to Cherbourg and the Channel Islands. The headquarters of the\u00a0Royal National Lifeboat Institution\u00a0(RNLI) are located in Poole, and the\u00a0Royal Marines\u00a0have a base in the town’s harbour. Despite their names, Poole is the home of \u00a0The Arts University Bournemouth, the\u00a0Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra\u00a0and a significant part of\u00a0Bournemouth University. It has to be said however that these days Poole\u2019s town centre is rather run down. After walking through the Dolphin Centre (when it is open) visitors have to walk down the rather tacky pedestrianised ‘High Street’ before reaching the charming Old Town area with its fine selection of restaurants and pubs. The Quay is still the centre of most activity with the stunning boats of the Sunseeker boatyard occupying most of the far side. The Poole beach area east of Sandbanks includes Flaghead Chine, Canford Cliffs Chine, Branksome Chine and Branksome Dene Chine.<\/p>\n ————————————————————————————————-<\/p>\n This article requires original content and updating, please help it grow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Poole Human settlement in Poole dates back to before the\u00a0Iron Age. The earliest recorded use of the town\u2019s name was in the 12th century when the town began to emerge…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-368","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chineland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/368"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chineland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chineland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chineland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chineland.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=368"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/chineland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1486,"href":"https:\/\/chineland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/368\/revisions\/1486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chineland.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a><\/a>Seaplanes and Flying Boats started using Poole Harbour around 1916 and you can read more about this and the days of Imperial Airways & \u00a0BOAC at this fascinating website – Poole Flying Boats<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n