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History of Winton

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WINTON - FROM THE BEGINING

For this research, no one could have documented this better than S J Lands and J A Young, and its with thanks we have this history today. A large area including that which is now occupied by Bournemouth was originally the Royal Demesne of Edward the Confessor whose arms are incorporated in the Bournemouth coat of arms. The whole area became part of the Liberty of Westover which itself was part of the Manor of Christchurch. Westover means west bank or boundary indicating the region between the west bank of the Stour, at Redhill, and the sea. The old County Boundary ran from Riddlesford at Redhill, south to the coast just to the west of Alum Chine. Westover was divided into the tithing's of Muscliff, Muccleshell, Throop and Holdenhurst - all within the Chapelry of Holdenhurst. At this stage only the area in general can be referred to; not until the mid 19th century was there a district known as Winton.

HEATHLANDS

An early book on Bournemouth sets the scene on the open heathland part of which was to become Winton. The open country north of Bourne Mouth then called Wails Down but extending much further east than the present Wallisdown, was described thus:

Inland the country was intersected by tracks of the carts in which peat, then almost the only fuel used, was taken to the outlying farms and here and there on some little hillock well away from the main road rose the sinister form of the gallows. The chains in which the bodies of those who had suffered on it had been hung still dangling from it and the ground beneath strewn with the blackened bones of earlier victims. In the summer a few sheep and oxen browsed upon the scanty herbage; their presence slightly relieving the desolation of the scene, but almost the only wild creatures were rabbits, hares and adders, the last so numerous that an antidote to the poison of their bite used to be kept in holes in the gates of farms ready for immediate application to the wound.”

This scene in the romantic 19th century vein should be contrasted with one quoted later as seen through the more mundane eyes of one born a century later, the 1890s.

Much use was made of Poole Bay with its deserted hinterland for the landing and distribution of contraband from the Continent and the tracks, one of which led from the coast up through future Winton, there to govern the layout of later road systems. Kegs and bundles were concealed in the bushes awaiting collection by co-operators from further inland. The downs reach their highest, 142.5 feet, at the County Boundary west of Winton. A stream found its way from the highland, through what was to become Winton, down over the slopes and out past Strouden Farm to meet the Stour at Holdenhurst. Farms recorded in 1805 were at Muscliff~ Moor Down and Strouden Green. Turf was cut and carted away to be sold as fuel at Poole; the area was interspersed with clay and gravel pits.

ENCLOSURE OF THE COMMON LANDS

In 1802, under the Christchurch Enclosure Act, Commissioners were given the task of allotting and enclosing certain common lands within the Parish of Holdenhurst. Many parcels of land were sold to several, now well known owners. The Winton and Moor Down areas were purchased chiefly by the Earl of Malmesbury and William Driver, a speculator. The Malmesbury Estate was interested in it as farm land but William Driver sold again to the Reverend George Bruce who was also concerned with farming. Five pieces of land, however, were held over and later sold under easy terms and with conditions to the local authority:

Redhill was one of these parcels.

Owing to the enclosure of common lands the people of the Liberty of Westover were in danger of losing privileges one of which was the ancient right of turbary - turf cutting for fuel. Led by farmer William West, of Muscliff Farm, they drew up a petition to be presented to the Enclosure Commissioners. The document called for the apportionment of sufficient land to ensure the continued supply of turf, of free grazing for cattle and of brushwood to cut. The petition was presented at Ringwood and was successful in that 425 acres, not all in one piece, were placed in trust with the lord of the manor, Sir George Tapps, and are now preserved as parks within the town. Landowners, yeoman farmers and shareholders were granted land as compensation for loss of commopi rights; the owners of Moor Down Farm were given 87.5 acres adjacent to their farm. (The farm later became

Charminster Farm and eventually Hunts Farm, its lands diminishing as gradually built upon and surviving today in name only). Talbot Woods was one of the several areas planted with pine trees soon after the Enclosure Act.

FIRST ROADS

It was also the task of the Commissioners of the Christchurch Enclosure Act, one of whom was William Clapcott, and of the Commissioners of Poole Heath and Canford Enclosure Act, to convert the main tracks across the heath into roads so that the track, then known as the Muscliff' Road, which led from Decoy Pond past Rush Corner (Cemetery Junction) on to that little community, was leveled and surfaced with gravel in preparation to become Winton's main road, occasionally called the Richmond Hill Road. The route bearing the name Wimborne Road in the early 19th century was that which led from Iford to Redhill and on ultimately to Wimborne. The Mediaeval track from Poole had cut across from that town following the high ridge of the present Wallisdown Road, Talbot Road and on across Walls Down, Little Down to Iford and eventually to Christchurch. This apparently was so little used as to be excluded from the early Survey maps executed at the time of the Napoleonic Wars but which do show us the existing tracks which were to become the busy main roads of a century later. The narrow track, Park Lane, at Redhill, was a much used route linking Moordown with the ford over the Stour at Riddlesford.

At this time of road-making much gravel was needed and land was set aside to provide material for this purpose at places which included the slopes to the north and north-east of the present North Cemetery, ~he junction of Charminster and Malvern Roads and what is now the Malvern Road Recreation Grounds. The Corporation had kept back a percentage of all the gravel dug and allocated it to the eventual creation of the recreation ground.

In 1803, when the Napoleonic invasion threatened, patrols were needed along the coast and men volunteered or were “pressed” to help. They were issued with great-coats and set to keep watch. The inland farmers were not free from the attentions of the press gangs when they helped the fishermen to land their catches, as was the custom when the fishing was good. Permission to fish had to be sought from Christchurch and the catch was sold to such isolated dwellings as there were and dispatched to Wimborne. Fish was delivered to the outlying farms of Poole Heath by Poole fishermen using dog carts. (The use of this form of transport, made illegal in 1849, was stopped by Tregonwell's son, St. Barbe). The “inlanders” were paid in kind for their help, a welcome supplement to their diet.

MUSCLIFFE AND MUCCLESHELL

Two very much older communities adjoining those of Winton and Moor Down were Muscliff and Muccleshell, both recorded in the Hundred Court Rolls of 1560. Muscliff (o.e. Mus - mouse and clif - cliff) in 1805 was a detached village of old cottages. Part of one with the date 1729 over its doorway is said to be the dwelling of William West, previously mentioned. At Muccleshell (i.e. mucel - personal name and hyll - hill) a little further from Muscliff there was an independent chapel, later to become Throop Congregational Church. It is reported that in 1828 when a minister was able to come to take a service a white flag was hoisted and people from the surrounding country would attend. From their elevated position Winton and Moordown residents could see the signal; how much notice they had is not told. Brick kilns were worked at Muccleshell.

Unusually white clay was found at Winton and houses built from bricks of this distinctive white are much in evidence. The typical “cottages” to be built in Winton were to have decorative bands of contrasting white bricks. They were built in the 1890s for 4/6 -5/6 a week. Charles Burt, local builder, chose to immortalise himself with a plaster likeness of his head mounted on the wall of one of his houses on Cardigan Road. It was framed with a band of white bricks, contrasted against the red brick walls. This is looking ahead; at this time there were very few dwellings. There were just a few cottages at Strouden Green with Moor Down Farm to the west, and a few cottages nearby, one of which, Moorside, remains. The nearest community was a small hamlet at the bottom of Red Hill.

BURT ‘S FARM

In 1810 Lewis Tregonwell, Bournemouth's founder, bought land to the north of Winton on the east side of the main road opposite the contemporary Ensbury Park Road. There he built a modest house of cob with an open-hearth turf fire and a thatched roof. It was renowned for its hospitality and it was said that in its early days free-traders were welcome and frequent guests. It became Burt's Farm with David Burt, Farmer, in possession in 1878 and with George Burt, Cowkeeper, in 1911. The farm was in full operation and bearing its old name in the late 1920s but building was rife all round it.

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