page_title: Poole
section_title: Landmarks
hierarchical_section_title: Poole / Landmarks
caption_attribution_description: View towards Sandbanks and Poole Bay from Bournemouth
context_page_description: Poole is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is 21 miles east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council which is a unitary authority. Poole had an estimated population of 151,500 making it the second-largest town in the ceremonial county of Dorset. Together with Bournemouth and Christchurch, the conurbation has a total population of nearly 400,000.
  Human settlement in the area dates back to before the Iron Age. The earliest recorded use of the town's name was in the 12th century when the town began to emerge as an important port, prospering with the introduction of the wool trade. Later, the town had important trade links with North America and, at its peak during the 18th century, it was one of the busiest ports in Britain. In the Second World War, Poole was one of the main departing points for the Normandy landings.
  Poole is a tourist resort, attracting visitors with its large natural harbour, history, the Lighthouse arts centre and Blue Flag beaches. The town has a commercial port with cross-Channel freight and passenger ferry services.
context_section_description: Poole Quay is a visitor attraction to the south of the town centre lined with a mixture of traditional pubs and listed buildings alongside new bars, redeveloped warehouses and apartment blocks. Once the busy centre of Poole's maritime industry, all port activities moved to Hamworthy in the 1970s as the Quay became increasingly popular with tourists. The Grade II* listed Customs House on the quay-front was built in 1814 and now functions as a restaurant and bar. Nearby the Grade I listed Town Cellars, a medieval warehouse built in the 15th century on the foundations of a 14th-century stone building, houses a local history centre. Scaplen's Court, another Grade I listed building, also dates from the medieval era. Poole Pottery has been redeveloped into an apartment block. Boats regularly depart from the quay during the summer and provide cruises around the harbour and to Brownsea Island, the River Frome and Swanage. Public artworks along the Quay include Sea Music – a large metal sculpture designed by Sir Anthony Caro, and a life-size bronze sculpture of Robert Baden-Powell created to celebrate the founding of the Scout Movement on Brownsea Island. At the western end of the quay, near the mouth of Holes Bay, is Poole Bridge. Built in 1927, it is the third bridge to be located on the site since 1834.
  Poole's Guildhall has played a varied part in the history of the town. A Grade II* listed building, the Guildhall was built in 1761 at a cost of £2,250. The new building included an open market house on the ground floor and a courtroom and offices for the town council on the first floor and has also been used as a Court of Record, Magistrates' Court, Court of Admiralty and a venue for Quarter Sessions. Between 1819 and 1821 the building was consecrated as a Parish Church while the old St. James Church was pulled down and replaced with the present church. During the Second World War, the building was used as a canteen and meeting room for American soldiers before the invasion of France. The showers and washing facilities installed at this time were later converted into public baths which were used until the 1960s. The building was converted for use as the town museum between 1971 and 1991 but stood empty for the next 16 years. After a renovation project funded by Poole Borough Council, the restored Guildhall opened in June 2007 as a Register Office for weddings, civil partnerships and other civic ceremonies.
  Poole has several urban parks – the largest is Poole Park adjacent to Poole Harbour and the town centre. It opened in 1890 and is one of two Victorian parks in Poole. Designated a Conservation Area in 1995 and awarded a Green Flag in 2008, the park comprises 44.3 hectares (109 acres) of which 24 hectares (59 acres) include the park's man-made lake and ponds. The park contains two children's play areas, a miniature railway, tennis courts, a bowling green, a miniature golf course, an Italian restaurant and an indoor ice rink for children. A cricket field and pavilion at the eastern end are home to Poole Town Cricket Club and water sport activities such as sailing, windsurfing, kayaking and rowing take place on the large lake. A war memorial stands in the centre of the park as a monument to Poole citizens killed during the First and Second World Wars. The park hosts several road races such as the Race for Life and the annual Poole Festival of Running.
  Poole's sandy beaches are a popular tourist destination extending 3 miles (4.8 km) along Poole Bay from the Sandbanks peninsular to Branksome Dene Chine at the border with Bournemouth. The beaches are divided into four areas: Sandbanks, Shore Road, Canford Cliffs Chine and Branksome Chine. Poole's beaches have been awarded the European Blue Flag for cleanliness and safety 21 times since 1987, more than any other British seaside resort and in 2000 the Tidy Britain Group resort survey rated Poole's beaches among the top five in the country. Along the seafront, there are seaside cafés, restaurants, beach huts and numerous water-sports facilities. Royal National Lifeboat Institution B
caption: Poole Bay and the beaches of Poole and Bournemouth
exif: {"Image Make": "FUJIFILM", "Image Model": "FinePix S602 ZOOM", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Digital Camera FinePix S602 ZOOM Ver1.00", "Image DateTime": "2005:05:09 08:23:59", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "258", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1234", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9233", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/420", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2005:05:09 08:23:59", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2005:05:09 08:23:59", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3/2", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "87/10", "EXIF ApertureValue": "6", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "218/25", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "76/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2832", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2128", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1086", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "3704", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "3704", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "3"}