Not Strictly Moordown...but still Bournemouth!

Although most of our items will of course be directly related to Moordown, there are occasionally some Bournemouth history items that may be of interest as well?

After all, we are 'Bournemouthians', as well as 'Moordownites'!

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Pete Read has submitted a fascinating pamphlet from the 1980s,

describing the Stour Valley walk from Bear Cross to Hengistbury Head, as it was then

Just click on the image below to download a copy.....

thanks for that Pete..

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There are many collections of old Bournemouth photos and, naturally enough, the same 'old chestnuts' tend to crop up time after time. Some of the photos in the 'Bates Collection' are just that little bit different. Familiar locations certainly, but photographed from a slightly different viewpoint, in many cases. Makes for some fascinating viewing...

Just click on the image below to take a look....

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I found this old Echo photo of the Square, from the 1930's. It does show that traffic jams are not just a modern phenomenon!...

This next one is famous .....but probably not at this quality!

The bombing of the Metropole Hotel, on 23rd May 1943, was one part of the worst air raid that Bournemouth suffered, during WW2.

As far as I know, there are only 2 photos of the bomb damage to the Metropole that are widely known (if you know of any others.. do tell!)

This photo has been widely published.  If you click on this image though, you will link to a very high quality print of the photo, which you can download. It's about 2.5MB in size.

(We do actually have an even higher resolution version... but you'll need to send us a note if you would like a copy. It's over 21MB !)

Our thanks to John Goslin for this photo. 

John's  father Len had kept some very high quality prints of several of the 'famous' Bournemouth wartime photos, as a result of his association with the 'Bournemouth Times' newspaper, where he had been a staff member for many years.