Poole Heritage Cycle Route

Upton Country Park provides a good place to start your heritage trip, either arriving by bike on the Trailway/Roman road, or the Hamworthy cycleways, with the bike on the car or by other means. Refreshments can be obtained at a kiosk at the house or in the heritage centre, which also contains the Peacock Art Gallery upstairs, with regularly changing exhibitions.

We start at Upton House, an early 19th century mansion which is a Grade II listed building set in over 100 acres of woodland, parkland and shoreline. This was built for Christopher Spurrier, one of Poole's "Merchant Princes" and MP for Bridport. The wealth of the Spurriers came from the Newfoundland trade which was based on salt cod. This trade went into decline at the end of the Napoleonic Wars and in 1830 Spurrier was declared bankrupt. It is said that he even lost the family silver in a bet on a maggot race. Subsequent owners included the Doughtys and the Llewellyns.

Near the Heritage Centre you can glimpse the gravestones of a pet cemetery amongst the flower beds.

The Heritage Centre has interpretative panels on the flora and fauna of the lovely gardens. Close by is the Romano-British farm, an archaeologically correct reconstruction of the sort of building that might have stood here 2000 years ago. The thatched building is used by schools as a centre for educational activities.

Returning up the drive, and turning right just before the road, you can now cycle along the shores of Holes Bay passing Pergins Island. Originally this was known as Longfleet bay, Parkstone bay being called Holes Bay until the 19^th century. Soon the Old Town becomes visible on low ground projecting into the great Harbour. The Tudor antiquary Leland said of Poole that "it standith almost as an isle in the haven". The view has changed greatly in recent years.

Approaching the town, the Victorian houses to the left, on Sterte Esplanade show the historic shoreline, but these too are on land reclaimed when the railway arrived. To the right used to be timber wharfs, a relic of the Newfoundland trade, most now replaced. JJ Nortons yard has become the Asda store. You will also see the national works for the RNLI, with their new national training centre and workshops. At the entrance to the Asda carpark, we need to cross the dual carriageway via the Toucan lights towards the Poole railway station, and turn right.

We enter the town under the Towngate Bridge(2), next to the railway station. The entrance to Poole used to be defended by a dyke and a fortified gate around here. These defences withstood the Royalist forces throughout the Civil War when Poole was staunchly for Cromwell and Parliament. Once we get to Baiter, on a clear day the Royalist stronghold of Corfe Castle can be seen nestling into the Purbeck hills across the harbour.

Having passed along Vanguard Road under and then alongside the flyover, we emerge in North Street, and ahead one is faced with the impressive bulk of Beech Hurst (3) built for Samuel Rolles in 1798.

Around the corner in Lagland Street is the magnificent Victorian edifice of the Free Library, School of Art and Museum (4) given to the Borough by the redoubtable timber merchant JJ Norton in 1887. We cross the roundabout and enter Green Road via a cyclepath link.

We now pass along Green Road and Emerson Road to emerge on the edge of Poole Harbour itself. This great harbour, one of the largest in the world, lies at the heart of Poole's history - it is from here that Poole traders, pirates and smugglers left to make their fortunes.

At the end of Green Road, the cycleway leaves the road, and you can explore the open land of Baiter. Historically, Baiter was a narrow peninsula. The ancient maps of the area show a windmill (near 5) on Baiter and the town archives refer to a storehouse for gunpowder at a safe distance from the Old Town (6). There was also an isolation hospital in use until 1936. A cyclelink continues towards Poole Park, Lilliput and and the NCN Route 2 linking Bournemouth to Swanage and the Purbecks via the chain ferry, , but we retrace our tyre tread at the foundations of what may have been the powder house.

At low tide, the outline of the first public swimming pool can be seen (near 5). Built in 1890, salt water and tidal, it was replaced by one in the corner of Poole Park in the 1930s.

Returning towards the town we pass through the hard of Fishermen's' Dock. Here are the modern inheritors of a tradition that goes back over 2000 years. Opposite is Brownsea Island off which an Iron Age logboat (dated 300 BC) was discovered in 1964.

Next we pass Poole Old Lifeboat Station (7) built in 1882. It now houses the retired lifeboat - the Thomas Kirkwright - which served Poole from 1939 to 1962 and participated in the Dunkirk evacuation. The museum is open daily. Close by is a memorial plaque to the United States Coastguard a flotilla of which was based on Poole Quay during World War II saving many hundreds of lives.

Poole Pottery, known around the world, used to stand on the site of Dolphin Quays on our right. This is followed by the Fish shambles, a modern reproduction, but a covered market historically stood on the same site. Now we are on Poole Quay a delightful mix of historic pubs and warehouses punctuated by narrow alleys. Ahead rises the modern sculpture, Sea Music (8), by Sir Anthony Caro. Opposite are the boatyards and Quays of Hamworthy reminding us that Poole is still a working port. Steel, timber, oil and gravel are offloaded, but much of the quay is now devoted to building Sunseeker Speedboats, famously used in James Bond films, but exported worldwide.

The Environment Agency have built a sea defence wall along this stretch. The practical purpose is to prevent waves in winter from overtopping the quay wall, but it incorporates seating and some interesting carvings of items associated with Poole. A contraflow cycleway takes us along the New Quay to the bottom of the High street. Ahead of us lies the third Poole lift bridge, built in 1927.

Shortly after Sea Music, between the Harbour office and the magnificent Custom House (9), we turn right into Thames Street. We immediately pass between the ancient Town Cellars on the right and the King's Hall of the King Charles on the left. Once this was one building - the longest medieval storehouse known in Northern Europe. The Town Cellars are now part of Waterfront Museum(10) where you can learn more of the story of Poole.

Thames Street takes us into the heart of Georgian Poole. If we pause at the junction with Church Street we can see a group of buildings that form a testament to the prosperous days of Poole's dominance of the Newfoundland trade in the 18th and early 19th centuries. This trade saw goods and men shipped from Poole across the Atlantic. Off Newfoundland the most prolific fishing grounds in the world were exploited for millions of cod which were dried and salted. Poole ships then took the salt cod to the West Indies to feed the slave plantations and to the Catholic countries of southern Europe. Back came wine, salt and olive oil to the port of Poole. Vast fortunes were made by families such as the Lesters who built the Mansion House (11) and the Slades who built West End House (12) at the far side of the square.

Turning right to go up Church Street we have St James Church (13) on the left. This was built in 1820 to replace a medieval church. Inside the structure is supported by giant pillars made up from the trunks of massive pine trees brought back from Newfoundland. On the other side of Church Street is the old Church School bombed in the Second World War.

Church Street is a delight of Georgian domestic architecture with occasional medieval buildings such as St George's Almshouses (14) with origins in the 15th century. We pass seamlessly into Market Street (now a one way street) to be faced by the Guildhall (15) an elegant Georgian building of 1761. Originally the arches under the Guildhall were open and the ground floor used for market stalls. The impressive room above was used for Council meetings and courts..

We fork right at the Guildhall steps and follow the side of the building to the corner by the main road. This is the site of the assassination of Alderman Horatio Hamilton, a one-time mayor of Poole, shot by a discontented water pilot in 1886. The sunken garden to the right contains the town maypole - a modern revival of an old Poole tradition, also in early May, Market Street hosts the Poole Cockle Festival.

Crossing the main road (New Orchard), and right into Dear Hay Lane, we see ahead the Blue Boar pub (16) once the home of the Adey family of wine merchants. Bearing left of the Blue Boar we go up Market Close passing the Lodge of Amity on the left - home of the oldest Masonic Lodge in Dorset. Further up the close, on the right, is Sir Peter Thompson's House (17) - Dorset's finest Georgian town house built in 1749, and used as the Town Hall before 1923.

Love Lane takes us down to busy West Street be careful as you cross here and when you cross West Quay Road. We pass alongside the headquarters of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (18) an honoured Poole resident. On West Quay Road, we pass between the training centre and workshops (on the left), and headquarters (on the right) of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. If you climb the steps to the viewing platform, you'll be surprised to be just above the swimming pool surface, and may witness trainees and equipment being put through their paces.

There will be more change in this area soon, the new Poole Twin Sails Bridge will provide a second crossing link to Hamworthy. West Quay Road takes us back to the Town Gate roundabout and so to the cycle track back to Upton House. We hope that you have enjoyed this glimpse of Poole's rich heritage.

Click on thumbnails for larger photos.

The trail is a result of a partnership between and ,
and supported by a grant from the Heritage Lottery fund.

Web design and content by Andy Hadley, Poole Agenda 21. Route created 2000, text updated 2008
Photos reproduced with permission from and thanks to Poole Museum Services. Not to be reproduced in any form without permission from Poole Museum Services.