Poole
Poole began the period 1580-1730 having overstretched itself financially a few years before. The grant by Elizabeth 1st of a better status for the Town and County of Poole and its port in 1568 led to spending on water supply, a new fish shambles and new town and market halls. This was followed by a fall in trade through the port with the loss of the cloth trade at a time when the rest of the country had already begun to ‘feel the pinch’ some years before.
Poole’s good fortune was its historic natural position and geography. On a naturally dredged channel with deeper water past the town quay; protected from the ocean by its large natural harbour and sheltered by the Swanage and Studland coasts, it developed successfully and progressively across the period.
The town’s shipping interests grew in scope and quantity over the period and a better economic condition was in evidence by the end of the period; growing even better in the subsequent decades. Poole’s built form, while its overall shape and pattern in 1636 maps looks similar in so many respects to that of today, had already begun to change as a result of the economic improvement.
Throughout, the Wool Hall and St James Church buildings remained in the same places, as did many of the streets along the promontory. At the beginning of the period Strand Street (in mediaeval days against the strand at the water’s edge) was in sight of the strand in front of today’s Inns such as the Poole Arms and the alleys of today were shown in maps from 1634 onwards. Most of the movement laterally in the promontory was provided for by the alleys and lanes for people on foot and on horseback or donkey, as opposed to the roads for the horse driven carts giving the necessary access to and from the Quay.
Related Posts
Town and Port of Poole, 1580-1730
Author: Jenny Oliver In the late C16th the town of Pooleoccupied only the peninsular south of the present railway line. The first detailed street map, the Pythouse map of c. 1630[1], shows a roughly oval area of land, with the clawed shingle spit of Baiter extending to the east. The town defences, consisting of a wall and ditch across the neck of land connecting Poole to the mainland, were constructed in C15th after Poole was …
Population and Occupations, 1580-1730
Author: Jenny Oliver The population of Poole is known pretty accurately from a census of 1574 when 1373 people were recorded. The first national census was not taken until 1801 so any totals of population between these dates can only be estimates and have to be treated with caution. Unfortunately this covers the whole of the period of our project. The estimate of around 1650 people in Poole in the 1660s is based on hearth tax …
Poole Governance, 1580-1730
Author: Peter Dawes Independence and early development Poole was created an independent County Borough (a “county corporate”) by the Charter 10 Elizabeth 23 June 1568. Ten years earlier, during the first year of her reign, the Queen had issued letters patent confirming the Longespee Charter of 1248 and subsequent charters granted by the lords of the manor of Canford. Before 1568, municipal records had been scarce and this had not been helped by the destruction …
Poole’s Economy, 1580-1730
Author: Roger Allen Preamble Tim Lambert in his paper ‘A BRIEF HISTORY OF POOLE’ slightly amends (for the sake of better understanding today) Leland’s words on Poole made in a visit to the town in around 1540, as follows: 'Poole was not, in the past, a trading town but it was, for a long time a poor fishing village. There are men living who remember when all the buildings in the town had thatched roofs. It …
Poole’s Merchant Venturers
Author: Eddie Newcomb From small beginnings as a trading centre in pre-Christian times, Poole survived the fluctuations of history as a somewhat poor fishing and trading port, exporting produce such as wool to France and the Low Countries. When he visited the town in the early C16th John Leland, the Tudor topographer, noted that: ‘Poole (is) a poor fisher village. There be men alyve that saw almost all the town of Poole kyvered with segge …
Poole Women, 1580-1730
Author: Katy Nutt Preamble This project is about Poole’s Maritime Heritage in the period 1580-1730 and as such it draws on research materials that largely concern the men of Poole in their different guises and occupations. But we wondered what ‘was life like’ for the women in that time period as they receive very little written recognition in their own right? In an interview with Lyse Doucet for a Radio 4 programme in January 2018, …
The lives and some experiences of our leading men – Woodes Rogers
Governor Woodes Rogers Woodes Rogers was a boy in Poole until his teens, when his family moved to Bristol with their shipping and trading business. He went to Newfoundland as an apprentice seaman and set off later at the age of 28 on a voyage around the world as a privateer captain with two vessels, the Duke and Duchess, and three hundred and thirty men under his command. He found the castaway Alexander Selkirk on …
Piracy and Poole, 1580-1730
Author: Don Nutt Elizabethan Days At the start of the period Piracy was rife in the Poole area and Lloyd saw it as one of Dorset’s important industries[1], “having its rich men even as the wool trade had”. A syndicate, involving local wealthy people and members of the establishment, was believed to exist that controlled the ports, as in other parts of the country. Commentary on the “Dorset Piracy Scandal”[2], so-called, in 1577 implicated …
Poole Smugglers, 1580-1730
Authors: Cynthia Wall & Susan Jabbari Introduction Roger Guttridge’s book, ‘Dorset Smugglers’ has been used extensively in assembling this summary note. According to him the word “smuggle” probably dates from the Scandinavian languages. The Danish smugle which literally means “smuggle” and the Swedish smuga means a lurking “hole”, the Anglo-Saxon smugan “to creep” is probably related to the Icelandic prefix smug which stems from smjuga means to “creep or “creep through the hole”. The …
Poole’s Governance then and maritime security
. Fishermen and traders alike cared very much about their safe passage free from risks from pirates and privateers. Life was hard enough without having to deal with the loss of goods or catches to other seamen. At the beginning of our project period piracy from French and Barbary pirates was rife in the Poole waters and further afield there were always such risks to business. Privateering was pursued by most countries and deemed acceptable …
Poole’s Coastal Shipping Trade, 1580-1730
Author: Don Nutt Overview and summary The coastal shipping business was a significant and growing activity across the period. But it is difficult to be precise since trade and responsibilities for it are relatively poorly recorded. The types of goods being moved and the places to which they were being brought from, or carried to, can be identified; but the scale of movement, but for a few snapshots within the period, is unclear. Coastal shipping …
The lives and some experiences of our leading men – John Bennett
Captain John Bennett RN (1670-1717) Bennett was a Royal Navy captain for parts of his career but also had other interests; sufficient that he left a will worth several millions in today’s money. There is speculation that he and his wider family were closely involved in smuggling locally. His father was also a Royal Navy captain and John and his parents moved to Barking, in Essex, in their later years where the family also had …
The Mulberry Tree
In the Universal British Directory compiled by Peter Barfoot and John Wilkes (of Milland House, Sussex) it states that’ The (soil) foil of Poole and its environs is particularly adapted to the culture of the mulberry….’ The fascination with the cultivation of mulberry trees seems to have been passed down through the centuries. The mulberry tree was brought to England by the Romans who used the leaves and bark for medicinal purposes. In Tudor …
Fraud and Corruption
Fraud and Corruption contributed by Jenny Oliver In July 1682, William Culliford, an officer in the King’s Customs Service, arrived in Poole prepared to delve into the all too cosy relationship between the Poole merchants and local customs officers. Culliford had been appointed by the Board of Commissioners to survey the efficiency and integrity of the Customs Service in western ports from South Wales to Dorset. In Poole he found widespread corruption involving merchants, ship-owners, …
Women
This project is about Poole’s Maritime Heritage in the period 1580-1730 and as such it draws on research materials that largely concern the men of Poole in their different guises and occupations. But we wondered what ‘was life like’ for the women in that time period as they receive very little written recognition in their own right. In an interview with Lyse Doucet for a Radio 4 programme in January 2018, Vigdis Finnbogadottir (Iceland’s …
Project Leaflet
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Project timeline
Our project concerns Poole’s Maritime Heritage between 1580 and 1730, a fascinating 150 years of development to the town and port of Poole. So much happened across the period and the backdrop to change in Poole was at times quite dramatic. As the timeline we have prepared shows, the period saw the reigns of nine monarchs, despite the civil war and 18 year period to the restoration. The Spanish Armada featured at the beginning …
Poole’s Maritime Heritage and our Three Leading Men
Poole's Maritime Heritage and our Three Leading Men Poole in 1568 began to develop in its importance, Queen Elizabeth 1st’ “Great Charter” made it one of only 16 ports in the country to be directly responsible for its maritime interests. Across the succeeding 150 years it grew in importance with the development of its fishing interest in Newfoundland, and through developing trade with the Communities and colonies on the east Coast of America and in …
In the beginning….
Introduction The purpose of the project was to delve into and tell the story of Poole’s Maritime Heritage in Early Modern Britain (C1580-1730); and to share it with as many people as possible. The Nao Victoria: a replica of the Spanish vessel C1519 at Poole Quay 2017 We knew when we developed the project proposal quite a lot about Poole in those days. We had not appreciated quite how small is was then; at 1373 …