Place:Bournemouth, Hampshire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town on the south coast of England. According to the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491. With Poole to the west and Christchurch in the east, Bournemouth now forms the South East Dorset conurbation with a total population of over 400,000. Until 1974 Bournemouth and Christchurch were in Hampshire. In Hampshire Bournemouth had been a municipal borough and county borough since 1894. In 1997, the town was made a unitary authority, giving it autonomy from Dorset County Council. It does, bowever, remain part of the ceremonial county. The local council is Bournemouth Borough Council.

Before it was founded in 1810 by Lewis Tregonwell, the area was a deserted heathland occasionally visited by fisherman and smugglers. Initially marketed as a health resort, the town received a boost when it appeared in Dr Granville's book, The Spas of England. Bournemouth's growth really accelerated with the arrival of the railway and it became a recognised town in 1870.

The town centre has notable Victorian architecture and the spire of St Peter's Church, one of three Grade I listed churches in the borough, is a local landmark. Bournemouth's location has made it a popular destination for tourists, attracting over five million visitors annually with its beaches and popular nightlife. The town is also a regional centre of business.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Bournemouth.

Research Tips

• Victoria County History of Hampshire, volume 5, chapter on the Liberty of Westover.
• GENUKI has a list of archive holders in Hampshire including the Hampshire Record Office, various museums in Portsmouth and Southhampton, the Isle of Wight Record Office and Archives.
• The Hampshire Online Parish Clerk project has a large collection of transcriptions from Parish Registers across Hampshire.
• A listing of all the Registration Districts in England and Wales since their introduction in 1837 together with tables listing the parishes that were part of each district and the time period covered, along with detailed notes on changes of parish name, mergers, etc. Do respect the copyright on this material.
• The three-storey City Museum in Winchester covers the Iron Age and Roman periods, the Middle Ages, and the Victorian period.
• Volumes in The Victoria County History Series are available for Hampshire through British History Online. There are three volumes and the county is covered by parishes within the old divisions of "hundreds".

A collection of maps on the A Vision of Britain through Time website illustrating the English county of Hampshire over the period 1832-1932 (the last two are expandible):

• The Hundreds of Hampshire, a map from HMSO Boundary Commissioners, dated 1832
• Hampshire showing parishes in their Rural Districts as of 1900, a map from the Ordnance Survey
• Hampshire showing parishes in their Rural Districts after the alterations of 1932, a map from the Ordnance Survey

• A group of maps of the post-1974 municipal districts or boroughs of Hampshire on Wikipedia Commons