Kinson
Encyclopedia
Kinson is a former village which has been absorbed by the town of Bournemouth
in the county of Dorset
in England
. The area became part of Bournemouth on 1 April 1931.
The village has a shopping centre and two pubs, the Royal Oak and Gulliver's, known for much of the 19th and 20th centuries as 'The Dolphin', after the boat named Dolphin owned by Isaac Gulliver
. Kinson nearly became part of Poole in 1931; however, a vigorous campaign by the residents saw the parish added to Bournemouth instead, necessitating an adjustment to the Hampshire/Dorset county boundary, which had separated the two areas.
The area centres on Kinson village green
which is on the Wimborne Road (at this point the A341) next to Kinson Library. The present green, which features a set of stocks
, was once the site of the village school. The 1887 Ordnance Survey
map for Kinson shows the school, which is now on a site to the south off Kinson Road. By the time of the 1949 survey maps, a library had taken the place of the old school. It was only when the library moved to a new location nearby that the old school/library site was combined with the village pound to form a new village green. A commemorative stone bench was officially unveiled by Mayor Benwell and his wife. The older village green, where cricket
matches were played, has now become a development of bungalow
s, with the name Wicket Road surviving to mark its older use.
and Site of Special Scientific Interest
, and the historic St Andrew's Church, a grade B listed building and the resting place of Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby
.
Kinson Common
is a relatively small site of 40 acre
s owned by Bournemouth Borough Council, however, despite its small size, it provides a rich and varied habitat. The Friends of Kinson Common work as Countryside Volunteers and help with the management of the site. An 1843 tythe map, held at the Dorset County Records Office, shows that the land then formed part of Howe Farm. Since 1933 the local authority purchased a number of parcels of land (mostly from Viscount Wimborne) for the purposes of a cemetery and as public open space. In 1988 Kinson Common was designated as an SSSI, becoming an LNR
in 1995.
Kinson Parish, within the Manor of Canford Magna
, is centred on the site of a Saxon church. The parish boundaries extend far beyond Kinson Village, taking in various hamlets, Cudnell (or Bear Cross
), High Howe, West Howe, Howe, East Howe, and Ensbury. These hamlets gave rise to the names of several 20th century housing estates, although the origins of their names is debatable. The 'howe' form appears to be an old English word for a mound. This could either be a topographical feature, as the gravel terraces along the south of the River Stour have been carved into rounded promontories by small rills and streams; but 'howe' could also refer to the various burial mounds which formerly covered the slopes.
The area was historically used by the smuggler Isaac Gulliver whose men would carry the contraband
up from The Chines in Poole Bay
and take it across Cranborne Chase
to be distributed to patrons all over Southern England. Gulliver had several properties in the area; however, all of the contraband were stored in the tower of St Andrew's Church (the marks of the ropes used to haul it up can still be seen in the soft sandstone walls of the tower) and in several stone graves in the churchyard which were constructed for this purpose and never saw a coffin. A tunnel was also reputed to exist to allow smugglers to escape to the local river under cover (this has never been proved, however).
Also in the churchyard is the grave of one Robert Trotman, who was killed when trying to land contraband
on the shore near Poole. Smugglers at the time were regarded by some as folk heroes, as they circumvented high government taxes
on goods such as alcohol
, tobacco
, etc. The presence of this grave openly in the churchyard, with its rhyming elegy
to the deceased, is an interesting comment on the social status at the time of people who were technically criminals.
Near this church is a bridge over Millham's Splash, a small offshoot of the River Stour
. In the early years of the twentieth century this was a ford
, and while travelling by carriage from Canford House
to Highcliffe Castle
the future Kaiser
of Germany became bogged in the water and had to be rescued by the locals. They had cause to regret this act before very long with the outbreak of World War I
.
Some descendants of Isaac Gulliver remained in Kinson and brought it a further notable connection. Isaac's grandson Isaac Fryer lived at Kinson House, which passed to his daughter Ada Russell. Ada's sister-in-law Isabella Russell was the grandmother of Agnes Sybil Thorndike
, the actress, who spent several childhood holidays at Kinson. In the hamlet of Ensbury the Rev. John Hiley Austen lived in the ancient Ensbury Manor. He was an antiquarian, collector of fossils, and the author of 'A Guide to the Geology of the Isle of Purbeck and the South-West Coast of Hampshire'.
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
in the county of Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The area became part of Bournemouth on 1 April 1931.
The village has a shopping centre and two pubs, the Royal Oak and Gulliver's, known for much of the 19th and 20th centuries as 'The Dolphin', after the boat named Dolphin owned by Isaac Gulliver
Isaac Gulliver
The name of three generations of Gullivers from Semington in Wiltshire, England during the 18th and early 19th century; Isaac Gulliver was so successful as a smuggler on the south coast that he came to control its length from Lymington on The Solent in Hampshire, through Dorset to Torbay on the...
. Kinson nearly became part of Poole in 1931; however, a vigorous campaign by the residents saw the parish added to Bournemouth instead, necessitating an adjustment to the Hampshire/Dorset county boundary, which had separated the two areas.
The area centres on Kinson village green
Village green
A village green is a common open area which is a part of a settlement. Traditionally, such an area was often common grass land at the centre of a small agricultural settlement, used for grazing and sometimes for community events...
which is on the Wimborne Road (at this point the A341) next to Kinson Library. The present green, which features a set of stocks
Stocks
Stocks are devices used in the medieval and colonial American times as a form of physical punishment involving public humiliation. The stocks partially immobilized its victims and they were often exposed in a public place such as the site of a market to the scorn of those who passed by...
, was once the site of the village school. The 1887 Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
map for Kinson shows the school, which is now on a site to the south off Kinson Road. By the time of the 1949 survey maps, a library had taken the place of the old school. It was only when the library moved to a new location nearby that the old school/library site was combined with the village pound to form a new village green. A commemorative stone bench was officially unveiled by Mayor Benwell and his wife. The older village green, where cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
matches were played, has now become a development of bungalow
Bungalow
A bungalow is a type of house, with varying meanings across the world. Common features to many of these definitions include being detached, low-rise , and the use of verandahs...
s, with the name Wicket Road surviving to mark its older use.
Kinson Common
Nearby is Kinson Common, a Local Nature ReserveLocal Nature Reserve
Local nature reserve or LNR is a designation for nature reserves in the United Kingdom. The designation has its origin in the recommendations of the Wild Life Conservation Special Committee which established the framework for nature conservation in the United Kingdom and suggested a national suite...
and Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
, and the historic St Andrew's Church, a grade B listed building and the resting place of Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby
Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby
Major General The Honourable Sir Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby, GCMG, KCB, KCH , styled The Honourable from 1806 to 1837, was a British military officer, the second son of the 3rd Earl of Bessborough and Henrietta Spencer....
.
Kinson Common
Common land
Common land is land owned collectively or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect firewood, or to cut turf for fuel...
is a relatively small site of 40 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s owned by Bournemouth Borough Council, however, despite its small size, it provides a rich and varied habitat. The Friends of Kinson Common work as Countryside Volunteers and help with the management of the site. An 1843 tythe map, held at the Dorset County Records Office, shows that the land then formed part of Howe Farm. Since 1933 the local authority purchased a number of parcels of land (mostly from Viscount Wimborne) for the purposes of a cemetery and as public open space. In 1988 Kinson Common was designated as an SSSI, becoming an LNR
Local Nature Reserve
Local nature reserve or LNR is a designation for nature reserves in the United Kingdom. The designation has its origin in the recommendations of the Wild Life Conservation Special Committee which established the framework for nature conservation in the United Kingdom and suggested a national suite...
in 1995.
St. Andrew's Church
Canford Magna
Canford Magna is a village in Dorset, England. The village is situated just south of the River Stour and lies in between the towns of Wimborne Minster and Poole. The village is the site of the large boarding school - Canford School. The school was previously the mansion and estate of Lord Wimborne....
, is centred on the site of a Saxon church. The parish boundaries extend far beyond Kinson Village, taking in various hamlets, Cudnell (or Bear Cross
Bear Cross
Bear Cross is a suburb on the edge of Bournemouth, Dorset named after the crossroads made by the main road between Poole and Ringwood and the Wimborne Road/Magna Road...
), High Howe, West Howe, Howe, East Howe, and Ensbury. These hamlets gave rise to the names of several 20th century housing estates, although the origins of their names is debatable. The 'howe' form appears to be an old English word for a mound. This could either be a topographical feature, as the gravel terraces along the south of the River Stour have been carved into rounded promontories by small rills and streams; but 'howe' could also refer to the various burial mounds which formerly covered the slopes.
The area was historically used by the smuggler Isaac Gulliver whose men would carry the contraband
Contraband
The word contraband, reported in English since 1529, from Medieval French contrebande "a smuggling," denotes any item which, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold....
up from The Chines in Poole Bay
Poole Bay
Poole Bay is a bay in the English Channel, off the coast of Dorset in southern England, which runs from the mouth of Poole Harbour in the west to Hengistbury Head in the east. It consists of steep sandstone cliffs and several 'chines' that allow easy access to the sandy beaches below...
and take it across Cranborne Chase
Cranborne Chase
Cranborne Chase is a Chalk plateau in central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. The plateau is part of the English Chalk Formation and is adjacent to Salisbury Plain and the West Wiltshire Downs in the north, the Dorset Downs to the south west and the...
to be distributed to patrons all over Southern England. Gulliver had several properties in the area; however, all of the contraband were stored in the tower of St Andrew's Church (the marks of the ropes used to haul it up can still be seen in the soft sandstone walls of the tower) and in several stone graves in the churchyard which were constructed for this purpose and never saw a coffin. A tunnel was also reputed to exist to allow smugglers to escape to the local river under cover (this has never been proved, however).
Also in the churchyard is the grave of one Robert Trotman, who was killed when trying to land contraband
Contraband
The word contraband, reported in English since 1529, from Medieval French contrebande "a smuggling," denotes any item which, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold....
on the shore near Poole. Smugglers at the time were regarded by some as folk heroes, as they circumvented high government taxes
Tax
To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
on goods such as alcohol
Alcoholic beverage
An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...
, tobacco
Tobacco smoking
Tobacco smoking is the practice where tobacco is burned and the resulting smoke is inhaled. The practice may have begun as early as 5000–3000 BCE. Tobacco was introduced to Eurasia in the late 16th century where it followed common trade routes...
, etc. The presence of this grave openly in the churchyard, with its rhyming elegy
Elegy
In literature, an elegy is a mournful, melancholic or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead.-History:The Greek term elegeia originally referred to any verse written in elegiac couplets and covering a wide range of subject matter, including epitaphs for tombs...
to the deceased, is an interesting comment on the social status at the time of people who were technically criminals.
Near this church is a bridge over Millham's Splash, a small offshoot of the River Stour
River Stour, Dorset
The River Stour is a 60.5 mile long river which flows through Wiltshire and Dorset in southern England, and drains into the English Channel. It is sometimes called the Dorset Stour to distinguish it from rivers of the same name...
. In the early years of the twentieth century this was a ford
Ford (crossing)
A ford is a shallow place with good footing where a river or stream may be crossed by wading or in a vehicle. A ford is mostly a natural phenomenon, in contrast to a low water crossing, which is an artificial bridge that allows crossing a river or stream when water is low.The names of many towns...
, and while travelling by carriage from Canford House
Canford School
Canford School is a coeducational independent school for both day and boarding pupils, in the village of Canford Magna, near to the market town of Wimborne Minster in Dorset, in South West England. The school was founded in 1923. There are approximately 600 pupils at Canford, organised into houses...
to Highcliffe Castle
Highcliffe Castle
Highcliffe Castle, situated on the cliffs at Highcliffe, Dorset, was built between 1831 and 1835 by Charles Stuart, 1st Baron Stuart de Rothesay in a Gothic Revival style on the site of High Cliff house, a Georgian Mansion designed for the 3rd Earl of Bute with the gardens laid out by Capability...
the future Kaiser
Kaiser
Kaiser is the German title meaning "Emperor", with Kaiserin being the female equivalent, "Empress". Like the Russian Czar it is directly derived from the Latin Emperors' title of Caesar, which in turn is derived from the personal name of a branch of the gens Julia, to which Gaius Julius Caesar,...
of Germany became bogged in the water and had to be rescued by the locals. They had cause to regret this act before very long with the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Some descendants of Isaac Gulliver remained in Kinson and brought it a further notable connection. Isaac's grandson Isaac Fryer lived at Kinson House, which passed to his daughter Ada Russell. Ada's sister-in-law Isabella Russell was the grandmother of Agnes Sybil Thorndike
Sybil Thorndike
Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike CH DBE was a British actress.-Early life:She was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire to Arthur Thorndike and Agnes Macdonald. Her father was a Canon of Rochester Cathedral...
, the actress, who spent several childhood holidays at Kinson. In the hamlet of Ensbury the Rev. John Hiley Austen lived in the ancient Ensbury Manor. He was an antiquarian, collector of fossils, and the author of 'A Guide to the Geology of the Isle of Purbeck and the South-West Coast of Hampshire'.