User:Ykraps/Landmarks of Christchurch, Dorset

Landmarks of Christchurch, Dorset

Christchurch is a borough and town in the county of Dorset on the English Channel coast, adjoining Bournemouth in the west, with the New Forest to the east. Historically in Hampshire, it joined Dorset with the reorganisation of local government in 1974 and is the most easterly borough in the county. Its close proximity to the Cotentin Peninsula made it an important trading port and a potential target for invasion during the Napoleonic and Second World Wars. The borough has 12 conservation areas, 300 listed buildings, 12 scheduled ancient monuments and three nationally important archaeological sites. In addition there is over 150 ha of nature reserves and wildlife areas including four sites of special scientific interest (SSSI).

Around the town



 * Christchurch town centre and the Harbour are overlooked by the 11th century Christchurch Priory. Once a monastery, it was given to the town for use as a parish church by Henry VIII after the dissolution in 1540. It is the longest parish church in England with a nave over 311 feet long. The nave and transepts are Norman with heavy columns and round arches, whereas the lady chapel is from the 14th century and more 'Perpendicular' in style. The great choir is even later, having been rebuilt in the 16th Century. The Priory is famous for its Miraculous Beam, which attracts pilgrims from all over the world.


 * The mediaeval Priory Cottage was built in the grounds of the priory in the 16th century as a porter's lodge. Other than the Priory itself, it is the only remaning monastry building.


 * Also in the grounds of the Priory is Priory House, built in 1777 by Gustuvas Brander, a curator at the British Museum and a governor of the Bank of England. It is here that the future King of France (Prince Louis Phillipe) took refuge during the Napoleonic Wars.


 * Place Mill is an Anglo-Saxon watermill mentioned in the Domesday book. The mill stopped working in 1908 and stood derelict until it was restored in 1981. It is remarkable, in that it takes water from one river and spills it into a second river. A mill-stream is supplied from the River Avon, near to the Electricity Museum behind Bargates, and flows for nearly half a mile to the mill between the Avon and the Priory grounds, before joining the River Stour at the Town Quay.


 * The bridge which crosses the millstream close to Place Mill is mediaeval in origin. The oldest part, the arches, date back to Saxon times.


 * The castle ruins are of a motte and bailey construction and are of Norman origin or possibly even Saxon. It has been suggested that there may have been a castle on this spot as early as 924 AD when; after Aethelwold captured the town ramparts in 901 AD, Edward the Elder decided to fortify the town further with a wooden fort on a motte. After the Norman conquest (1066) the castle's defences were again strengthened with the addition of a ditch and bailey surrounded by a wooden pallisade. The wooden fort was replaced; at first with another wooden structure and then in 1300, with a stone keep. The Constable's House was added at around the same time. Today the bailey is home to a bowling green and gardens, and the ditch has been filled but parts of the keep and the constable's house still stand. By far the most interesting of the two, both architecturally and historically, is the Constable's House; particularly the chimney (one of only five in the country) and the privy which extends out across the mill stream.


 * The Mayor's Parlour. Was originally built as the market hall in 1745 at the junction of Castle Street, Church Street and the High Street; it was moved to its present position in 1849. Later it was enclosed and extended, and used as the town hall until the civic offices were built, in Bridge Street, in the mid 1970s. It was partly demolished and restored to its former condition circa 1982 when Saxon Square was built. The celtic cross in the square marks the back of the building before its demolition.


 * Church Hatch is a listed Georgian house in Church Street. It was the home of Major-General Sir Owen Tudor Burne, renowned soldier and 3 times private secretary to the Viceroy of India. It was saved from demolition in 1929 by public appeal. Another former resident was the taphephobic Mrs Perkins whose mausoleum can be found in Priory Gardens at the rear of the property.


 * Ye Olde George Inne is one of two listed public houses in the High Street. Originally called the George and Dragon, it was a coach house where the Emerald coach would stop on its way from Lymington to Poole.


 * The Ship Inn which has the oldest licence in Christchurch, was a known haunt of smugglers. There is a smugglers' cache on the roof between the pub and the old toll house next door (now a 'phone shop) which is only visible from an alleyway opposite. The Ship's history can be traced back to 1688.


 * Ye Olde Eight Bells is now a gift shop but once was another alehouse frequented by smugglers and central to a number of local legends. A date above the door suggests that the building dates back to 1450 AD. It was here that a young woman foiled a revenue search by sitting with a tub of brandy beneath her skirts, while she nursed a baby. It was also reported that there was a tunnel from the basement leading to the Ship in Distress at Stanpit, over a mile away. The name comes from the Priory peal which at the time was seven bells (it is now twelve) and thus was a joke along the same lines of the nineteenth hole on a golf course. It closed as a public house in 1907.
 * Perkins' Mausoleum. A fear of being buried alive led the owner of this mausoleum to request that her body not be interred, nor her coffin lid screwed down, and that it should be placed at the entrance to the priory's school so that the pupils would hear if she revived. When her husband died 20 years later in 1803, her body was removed, the structure sold, and re-erected in Priory Gardens.


 * The old power station in Bargates is now the Museum of Electricity, which houses a variety of educational exhibits and old machinery, including a tram. It is one of two museums in the town.


 * The second of the town's museums is The Red House Museum which was once the town workhouse. It contains a variety of exhibitions pertaining to local history, costume, geology, natural history and archaeology. In addition there are a number of temporary exhibitions that change every few weeks. The grounds contain both formal and informal gardens.


 * The Perfumery is a 14th century thatched property which is often referred to as the old courthouse; although many local historians (including Michael A. Hodges and Sue Newman) maintain that this was next door and long gone. Nevertheless, as it is owned by the council, it can lay claim to being the oldest council house in the borough.


 * The old Fusee factory in Bargates. Was built in 1845 to an advanced design with particularly large windows on either side. 74' long but only 18' wide, it allowed the maximum amount of natural light to enter for the intricate assembly work that was carried out within.
 * Bemister's fountain is a grade II listed drinking fountain and cattle trough erected to commemorate Samuel Bemister, a local business man and mayor of Christchurch no less than 7 times. Constructed entirely of pink granite, the cattle trough sits on stone end blocks with heart shaped niches in each. Below there are 3 smaller troughs for cats and dogs hollowed out from plinth. A short round column of drinking fountain rises at one end from square base. This column is reminiscent of the town's power station chimney. It is this power station that Bemister supplied with coal brought from Southampton in his fleet of windjammers to the town quay. Built circa 1900 at the end of High St., it was moved to the quay when the bypass was built. It can now be found at the south end of Bargates close to its original site, now occupied by the Fountain Roundabout.


 * During the second world war Christchurch was fortified against an expected invasion. The construction of pillboxes, gun emplacements and tank traps in and around the town, made Christchurch an 'anti-tank island'. The idea was that an invasion by the German 6th Army from Cherbourg would be unable to link up east to west so long as the town was able to hold out. Part of this anti tank defence has been designated an ancient monument.

Mudeford and Highcliffe

 * Along the coast towards Highcliffe is Highcliffe Castle, a Grade I listed building. The castle was designed by William Donthorne for Charles Stuart, 1st Baron Stuart de Rothesay, and built between 1831 and 1835.  It stands on the site of High Cliff, a Georgian mansion that had belonged to Charles Stuart's grandfather John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute. Arguably the most important remaining example of the romantic and picturesque style of architecture, Donothorne's design incorporated carved, mediaeval stonework and stained glass dating back to the 12th Century.


 * Gundimore is a house near Avon Beach built in 1796 for the poet William Rose. Visitors to the house included fellow poets Coleridge and Southey. Sir Walter Scott stayed there whilst writing his epic poem Marmion. Rose designed one of the rooms to resemble an Arab tent, circular with a shallow pitched, conical roof.
 * Sandhills was the holiday home of Sir George Rose, Member of Parliament and close friend and advisor to the prime minister William Pitt. It was built on the beach at Mudeford and Sir George's other great friend, King George III stayed there on a number of occasions, helping to promote Christchurch as a tourist destination. Sandhills, Mudeford was also home to George Rose's two sons: Sir George Henry Rose, politician and diplomat, and William Rose, poet. Field Marshall Hugh Rose, 1st Baron Strathnairn, GCB, GCSI, son of George Henry Rose also spent time living at the family home. Sandhills is now a holiday park with static caravans in the grounds but the house still remains although it has been converted to flats.


 * The cottages on Mudeford Quay were originally built for workers involved with the dredging of the harbour and the Avon during the 16th century. Part of the group of cottages later became the Haven Inn, now known as the Dutch House which was the main focus in the Battle of Mudeford. The current Haven House tavern is an impostor dating back only a 150 years or so.


 * The Black House on the end of Mudeford Spit is a local landmark that supposedly has connections with smuggling. One such legend suggests that its colour is due to smoke and fire damage caused by revenue men who were attempting to drive out a gang of smugglers within. However as it was built in 1848 by the owner of the Hengistbury Head Mining Co., these stories are unlikely to be true.


 * The Ship in Distress is a public house in Stanpit, once owned by the notorious female smuggler, Hannah Sillars. A creek in the harbour, now known as the Mother Sillars channel led to its doorstep, providing a convenient 'trade' route. Another known smuggler was John Streeter who owned a tobacco and snuff factory next door. Many of his deliveries came after dark via this channel.