Town in Dorset, England
Poole
In the late 1940s you could board a flying boat in Poole Harbour and fly to Sydney. That is only one of the surprises in a town built around a giant, shallow harbour.
Key information
- County
- Dorset
- Nation
- England
- Population
- about 151,000 (2021 Census)
- Known for
- Poole Harbour, Brownsea Island, Sandbanks, Poole Pottery, the RNLI
- Famous people
- Harry Paye, Benjamin Lester, Robert Baden-Powell (Brownsea camp)
- Football clubs
- Poole Town (the Dolphins)
About Poole
The year Poole was Britain's gateway to Australia
From 1939 to 1948, Poole was one of Britain's main international air terminals, and the aircraft were flying boats. BOAC Hythe flying boats, converted from wartime Sunderlands, took off from the harbour on long routes to places such as Karachi and Sydney. Heathrow began civilian operations in 1946, but the flying boats kept using the sheltered waters of Poole until 1948, when BOAC moved its flying-boat operations to Southampton. The same shelter made Poole an embarkation point before D-Day, when troops and vessels gathered around the harbour.
A harbour so big it has its own island kingdom
Poole Harbour is one of the largest natural harbours in the world. It is a maze of mudflats, reedbeds and channels, with a narrow mouth that makes the tides surge and linger. Locals know it as a place where the water seems to go on for ever and never quite deepens. In the middle sits Brownsea Island, now a nature reserve. Its red squirrels are among the few left in southern England, and many people come for them alone. It is also the birthplace of Scouting. In August 1907 Robert Baden-Powell brought 20 boys to Brownsea for an experimental camp. Within a few years the idea had spread worldwide. Just across the water, the Wytch Farm oilfield, the largest onshore oilfield in western Europe, has wells that reach out beneath the harbour and Poole Bay.
The pirate, the cod barons and the Newfoundland connection
Poole's wealth was built on risk. In the early 15th century a local seafarer called Harry Paye led raids on Spanish and French coasts. The Spanish called him Arripay and feared him. Later, Poole merchants controlled much of the Newfoundland cod fishery. Ships sailed from the quay each spring, carried fish across the Atlantic, and traded salted cod to southern Europe. Benjamin Lester was one of the most powerful of these 18th-century merchants. His fortunes were bound up with a coast thousands of miles away. The old quarter still has the look of that trade, with its narrow lanes, the Town Cellars and the Custom House. Scaplen's Court is one of the town's best-known medieval survivals, and Poole Museum on the quay tells these stories well.
Sandbanks, yachts and a very pricey sandspit
Sandbanks is the narrow peninsula guarding the harbour mouth. Its seafront homes are famous for their price tags, and it is regularly mentioned among the most expensive places in the world to buy property by land value. It is also where the chain ferry starts for Studland. The crossing has run since 1926 and saves a long drive around the harbour. Poole is also a boat-building town. Sunseeker, the luxury yacht maker, has been based here since 1969, and the town's marinas and sailing clubs are busy all summer. The RNLI has its headquarters and training college in Poole too, a fitting home for the charity that runs the nation's lifeboats.
Pots, tiles and a pirate team
Poole Pottery grew up on the quayside in the 19th century. It became known for bright, hand-painted designs, and its tiles and mid-century ceramics are collected today. The Poole name on the base of a vase still stirs recognition among antique hunters. Sport here has its own quirks. Poole Town FC, known as the Dolphins, are the town's football club. The Poole Pirates have raced speedway since 1948, a sport of roaring engines and flying shale that suits the town's love of a swashbuckling name.
What to eat, and where to wander
Food in Poole starts with the sea. Crab, lobster and fish are served along the quay, and fish and chips are best eaten on the harbour wall, if you can keep the gulls off. Further inland, Dorset favourites such as apple cake and the famously hard Dorset knob biscuit turn up in local bakeries and delis. For a walk, try Poole Park with its lake and miniature railway, or the sandy beaches of Poole Bay. The Twin Sails Bridge, opened in 2012, lifts to let boats through between the quay and Hamworthy.