page_title: History of Bournemouth
section_title: Tram
hierarchical_section_title: History of Bournemouth / History of transport in Bournemouth / Tram
caption_attribution_description: English: Bournemouth Corporation Tramways tram no 47 in The Square ca. 1910
context_page_description: The History of Bournemouth and human settlement in the surrounding area goes back for thousands of years.
  In 1800 the area was largely a remote and barren heathland, used only by smugglers – most notably Isaac Gulliver, now considered one of the founding fathers of Bournemouth – and revenue troops. 'Bourne Heath' was also known as Wallis Down in the north and Little Down in the south and east, and was part of the Great Heath of central Dorset which extended as far as Dorchester. To the east was Christchurch, to the west was Poole and to the north east was the River Stour. There were villages at Kinson, Throop, Holdenhurst and Iford and a handful of buildings at Pokesdown but the area between these communities was just a wilderness of pine trees, gorse, ferns and heather. The area now called central Bournemouth and the Pier Approach was 'Bourne Mouth' – the mouth of the Bourne Stream. 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 eastern part of the heath was called the Liberty of West Stour.
context_section_description: Between July 1902 and April 1936, Bournemouth Corporation operated a tramway between Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch and Winton. On 1 May 1908, a tram was derailed on Avenue Road (near to the present day library), killing 7 people and seriously injuring 2. The tramway system began its closure in 1929 when motorbuses of Hants and Dorset Motor Services were introduced as a tram replacement on the Lower Parkstone route. Bournemouth tram number 85 is preserved and on static display at the Museum of Electricity in Christchurch.
caption: The Square in Bournemouth with a tram c1910.
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