The square 1873The Square
Standing in The Square on the pebble
mosaic by the cafe, you are at the heart of Bournemouth. Fully pedestrianised
in 2000, this was once a key road junction, bustling with passengers running to
catch their tram or trolleybus to the outlying suburbs from a large shelter in
the middle of the main thoroughfare.
Originally situated on the lonely trackway
over the heath between Christchurch and Poole, in the 1830s a wooden plank
bridge was provided for the road to cross over the Bourne Stream. Hence this
area became known as The Bridge. A stone replacement was provided in 1849 and
when a number of shops appeared at the lower end of Commercial Road in the
1850s, the name The Square began to be used.
This name probably applied to the open area in front of these shops – a
“shopping square”, rather than a physically square area.
Improvements were made in 1884 to the
bridge and in general widening of the area. There was a suggestion to alter the
name to Park-Place or Garden-Place, but this wasn’t taken up. Further
remodelling took place in 1899 with an enlargement of the area resulting in the
creation of a central island with an electric lamp standard in the middle.
In 1925 a shelter was provided with a
clock tower, for tram and trolleybus passengers. These were removed in 1947
when work began on the creation of a traffic roundabout.
Back in 1856 the Bournemouth
Improvement Commissioners measured their centre of influence from the Belle Vue
Hotel on the seafront, and after the Second World War town planner Patrick
Abercrombie felt that The Lansdowne would make a better centre. However The
Square has endured and is still the focal point of the town.
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