East Beach Cafe and Pier Approach C.1954

Bournemouth Sea Front trail

The post-war period for Bournemouth were the real noom years as millions of ordianry people found themselves with greater leisure time and money to spend from the late fifties onwards. At its height around 40,000 deckchairs were out on the sands.

Bournemouth Pier Approach c1952

24# East Cliff Lift

Bournemouth Sea Front Trail

The East Cliff Lift built by Messrs Waygood limited was opened by Lady Meyrick on 16th April 1908. The two lift cars were orinially designed to carry up to ten passengers and ran on rails, technically classifying them as a railway. An electrically powered winding drum raised and lowered the cars then as now. The lift travels a distance of 35m up the cliff at a speed, these days, of 1/2m per second.

The East Cliff Lift  is the oldest of Bournemouth’s cliff railways. It is 170ft (52m) long, rising 117ft (36m) on a 1 in 1.5 (67%) gradient. The track gauge is 5ft 6in (1676mm) and it was built for the Corporation by Messrs Waygood & Co of London. This firm later became a subsidiary of the well known Otis Elevator Co of America.

In July 1940 the lift cars were removed for the duration of World War 2, restored to service in the summer of 1945.

The original wooden cars were replaced, in the early 1960s, by ones of aluminium construction. In 1987 the tracks were renewed and the original timber baulks replaced by pre-cast concrete units.

8# Bournemouth - The Lower Gardens - Pavilion Rockery c1953

The Lower Gardens

The gardens running through the centre of the town are one of the jewels in Bournemouth’s crown. Originally known as “The Meadows”, proposals were made as early as 1841 to create a pleasing ornamental water feature in this marshy area. Under the direction of Decimus Burton, some of the area was cleared and a little planting undertaken.

The beginnings of the present Lower Gardens occurred in 1859 when the Meyrick Estate granted a lease to the Bournemouth Improvement Commissioners to develop public pleasure grounds between The Square and the sea. Footpaths were laid and in 1871 a competition was run, won by Philip Tree, to design these new gardens. Flowerbeds and fencing, paths and promenades were constructed so that by March 1873, the former meadows had been opened as public pleasure gardens.

In 1875 three ornamental bridges were erected over the stream, replacing crude planks hitherto used. A rustic bandstand was built in 1884 and a large fountain added in the 1890s. Electric lighting was installed in 1899 so that visitors could enjoy their evening strolls.

An attractive rockery and series of waterfalls were created in 1930 alongside the then new Pavilion. A putting green opened in 1931 and the present bandstand was built in 1933.

The Bournemouth Balloon was put on the site of the former fountain and began operation in 1998. It’s officially classified as an aircraft (G-CFBF) and 28 passengers can be carried on each flight up to a height of 492ft (150m).

Peter Kazmierczak, Senior Heritage Librarian, Bournemouth Libraries

Russell Cotes Museum