Poole, UK

[r.e.]

I'm going to the UK on December 26th and I want to take some photographs in Poole. I'm particularly interested in images that relate to (a) the enormous wealth that Poole earned from the cod fishery during the 1700s and 1800s and (b) the economic resurgence of Poole in the last few decades.

I've searched for images of Poole on the internet in the hope of identifying subjects, but most of what I've come across relates to tourism and none of what I've seen is inspiring.

So I'm looking for ideas for subjects from people who know the area.

One specific question. Does anyone know how hard/easy it is to arrange to make photographs at the Penske racing facility? There is very little information on the internet about this facility, let alone contact names, even on Penske's corporate website.

Thanks.

[percepts]

You need to understand that Poole ain't your quaint little fishing village it was a 100 years ago. It is part of a sprawling seaside resort which is Bournemouth and Poole. Extremely busy in the summer. Poole harbour is the home of windsurfers and the area has more posers per square foot than anywhere else I have lived.
Poole quay is worth a brief look but immediately behind you have shops and offices including a large corporate office of Barclays bank.
Poole harbour is a massive sailing and powerboat haven where most of the marinas are from the harbour entrance round to Wareham.
Having said that, it is still worth a visit. Browsea Island is definitely worth visiting and so is Wareham at the backend of the harbour.
Cross the ferry from Poole to Sandbanks and you are in what is termed millionaires row. Big expensive houses on the waterfornt. Not much there but beaches and sand dunes. Watch out for the nudists. But not old like it sounds like you are looking for. Goto Wareham and Corfe for oldy worldy (castle ruins at Corfe). Swanage which is past Corfe in the area known as "The Isle of Purbeck" is not very interesting but has a top golf course with superb coastal views. My have some historical stuff too but I ddn't look for it. Its not an island either. Go figure.
Bournemouth is great for students. Lots of bars, pubs and clubs. Traffic is a nightmare in the summer but should be OK in the winter. I lived in Bournemouth and also just outside Wareham years ago. Occasionally went drinking on the quay at Poole.
Inland Dorset is very pretty with thatched cottages. Durdle Door is worth a look for some cliff top photos as is Lulworth cove.
Along the coast to Christchurch and Mudeford are also worth looking at. Christchurch is old.

That should keep you busy for a week or so...

I guess there will likely be an old customs house at Poole but I don't recall. Its not like a cornish fishing village though.

Also the other side of Christchurch is Lymington and Bucklers Hard.

[percepts]

If you decide to go take a look at Bucklers Hard, then very close by is the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu. More vintage cars than you can shake a stick at. And they stay still so you can photograph them (if allowed).

[percepts]

Hope you are not flying B.A. cos if you are you might not be going...:eek:

[Baxter Bradford]

Winter is best for Dorset Coastline, sun rising and setting over the sea. Agree with 'percepts' that actual town of Poole is limited photo-wise. See my website for a range of ideas. baxterbradford.com (http://www.baxterbradford.com)

Would add these to your list of possible locations, ones where I love to return: Kimmeridge, Old Harry Rocks, Dancing Ledge. I wouldn't go further West than Portland. Travelling further east to Lymington area, I'd head for Hurst and the Beaulieu River.

No idea about your Penske Q.

[Struan Gray]

Poole has Robert White and the SBS, not many towns can compete with that. I'm not sure photographing either is going to be much fun though.

If you're looking for standard scenic photography, the Harbour and Brownsea Island are about it. The Isle of Purbeck has beautiful cliffs and medieval field systems, and Corfe Castle is justly studded with tripod holes. Wimbourne is a less well-known jewel if you want one of those places tourists go to when they want to avoid tourists.

Poole itself is a typical English town, shaped by local needs, then trade, then tourism, then consumerist prosperity. There are plenty of buildings left from the high point of the Newfoundland trade, but they are embedded in a matrix of other, mostly later, ages. Like most of the U.K.'s pre-industrial ports, the infrastructure that enabled the vast inflow of money was wiped out by prestigious buildings erected with the help of just that money.

The Newfoundland fisheries are a forgotten chapter in English (and European) history, as is the importance of salted fish in the early modern diet. Neither figures much in the national myth, and both are reduced to qirky local oddities like the marble cod fillets in the Mansion House.

The Francis Frith site is always a good place to research places of local importance which are often missed by the usual tourist gazetteers.

http://www.francisfrith.com/poole,dorset/photos/

If you're interested in landscape history, the UK county wildlife trusts manage reserves which, again, fall off the usual tourist radar:

http://www.dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/nature_reserves.html

The heath landscapes in particular have got a bad press since the romantics labelled them as places suitable to wander about having lost your mind or reputation, but they were once important parts of the agrarian economy, and can be highly photogenic in winter.

Otherwise, the National Trust and English Heritage manage the usual sites of the sublime. If you're feeling brave, pray for a winter storm and try and catch the waves breaking on the clifftops at Swanage (or, over the Cobb and the roofs of the seaside houses at Lyme Regis if you feel like a daytrip).

[jb7]

Thanks for Posting this r.e,
I'll be there as well, and the responses are very informative-

[cjbroadbent]

Take the chain ferry towards Purbeck drive in the direction of Corfe and look back down over the harbor. It's quite a view. I grew up there and remember the view with barrage balloons.

[r.e.]

Thanks a lot. I didn't expect this many responses.

I'm going to be based in Cowes from the 26th to January 4th, after which my schedule is open until the 25th. I plan to spend part of this time in the UK, including Dorset/Poole, before going to Italy or Turkey or wherever.

My interest in Poole/Dorset has to do with a photographic project that I'm doing about a small group of communities in Newfoundland where most of the population can trace itself to Dorset (and parts of Hampshire) and Poole in particular. The Poole/Dorset photographs may become a counterpoint to the photographs taken in the Newfoundland community. Hence my interest in images that relate to the cod fishing trade and images, not necessarily pretty, that relate to Poole's current prosperity.

As Struan points out (how do you know stuff like this?), Poole, and especially certain of its citizens, became enormously wealthy - indeed powerful - as a result of the Newfoundland fishery. I've read that one of the cod barons built a mansion, Beech Hurst, that is still standing, so I'll look into that. If there's an archive, I'll see whether there are opportunities there. At the other end of the scale, I'm interested in images of current prosperity. The Penske plant, where Penske makes its racing cars, is one thought; the Barclay's International Building another possibility. Does anyone know whether the nighttime light installation at the Lighthouse Centre for the Performing Arts is still in operation?

I'll also follow up on the suggestions regarding landscape and buildings in the general area. I love New Forest, and would like to explore further west.

[Struan Gray]

how do you know stuff like this?

Mental lint. Many threads converge in that area.

Two teenage years in Lyme Regis, and later weekend trips from Hampshire to climb on the cliffs between Swanage and Kimmeridge. One week's leaping in and out of landing craft and two-man kayaks in Poole Harbour. An early infatuation with Thomas Hardy. An amateur interest in the history of the Baltic timber and Norwegian codfish trades, and the decline of the Hanse. A C16th historian for a wife. A personal epiphany while pondering on why penguins are called penguins. A whole bunch of maiden aunts and grannies in love with Bournemouth and Studland. Too many hours spent gawping at the Robert White website....

[jb7]

A lot of the seasonal cod fishermen went from Ireland too,
particularly from the area around Waterford-
as I'm sure you already know-

[cjbroadbent]

.... as a result of the Newfoundland fishery.....
you will find it all here (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.pooleview.co.uk/jpg/towncellar.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.pooleview.co.uk/localhistory.htm&usg=__lL2knXdNRWxmTMPKMvyJuvhCY3U=&h=150&w=200&sz=8&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=5YX_NrkCZynFmM:&tbnh=78&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522poole%2Band%2BDorset%2BHerald%2522%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1).
I did a stint with the Poole & Dorset Herald. The museum has 150 years of back issues.

[r.e.]

Struan, I've been intrigued by the thought of going to Lyme Regis since the day I read The French Lieutenant's Woman.

jb7, lots of Irish influence in Newfoundland, but this particular area is Church of England turf. There's a small Catholic church, built of wood, where services are still held in the summer when tourists are about, but there are only two parishioners at this point, sisters in their 80s. The Church has some architectural significance and was the subject of a good deal of restoration work a couple of years ago. The Anglican churches are also wood, but quite a bit larger and all in the Gothic revival style that the Church of England adopted in the 1800s as expressive of "the particular genius of English culture".

Christopher, bingo! I'll spend a couple of days there first, to get my bearings and a little lost in the history, before doing the photographs.

[Bugleone]

I think you're in for a rough ride,.....although Lyme Regis is a nice little place.

Poole harbour is one of th elargest natural harbours in the world with a reduced tide so the level only between high and low tides is only 5 feet. Much of the areas to the land side of the harbour is marshy and was cheap so industries of various types were able to get established and that is the cause of the prosperity.

There is military presence at the Amphibious Warfare School at Hamworthy, which is also the main base for the SBS. At one time you could see, watch and indeed photograph the SBS during their training, but not any more.

[Struan Gray]

Struan, I've been intrigued by the thought of going to Lyme Regis since the day I read The French Lieutenant's Woman.

I see from Google maps that they've created a barrier strip and a new sea wall since my day. The houses by the river mouth used to have end-walls entirely covered in tar to protect them from winter storms. On good days (for small boys, not property owners :-) green water would sweep the car park and we would dare each other to run into the milk bar in the end house between waves. The surges up the mouth of the river probably still occur - the noise and spray were terrific.

The coast between Lyme and Portland isn't as famous as the Jurassic Coast to the east, but still has plenty to offer, especially if you are interested in human-land interactions. Some of the smaller towns seem stuck in random earlier epochs, and the present hasn't overwritten the past quite as comprehensively as in Lyme, Weymouth, Poole etc. Although Poole dominated the fish trade towards its end, most of the West Country ports were involved in the early stages, including Dartmouth and Plymouth further west, and the ports on the N. Devon coast.

Off the top of my head I can't think of specific examples, but one other option for you would be to go hunting for memorials in the local cathedrals, minsters and parish churches. Architectural and antiquarian gazetteers are increasingly available online if you google hard enough, but serendipity will get you pretty far. The currently-popular version of the National myth tends to hop directly from the Armada to WWII, and tourist materials are mostly useless for the C17th and C18th, but there are plenty of facts on the ground.

If you're sailing west, the race at Portland Bill is, um, interesting :-)

[cjbroadbent]

I did the course at Hamworthy (Royal Marines). All there was to see was landing-craft and dories swanning around. Using dories goes right back to cod fishing.
I've even flown from the harbour to Malta in a Sunderland and seen the Saunders Roe Princess flying boat flying take off.

[Noeyedear]

Traffic, traffic, traffic, if you are there in the summer and want to move around during the day by car it's very very slow. I have often abandoned attempts to get somewhere and opted for the nearest place on the map. Weymouth has a charm about it, although I have been told it gets a bit rough at nighttime.
A nice area but so slow in the summer.

Kevin.

[r.e.]

If you're sailing west, the race at Portland Bill is, um, interesting :-)

So I'm told. Sailing from St. Malo to Cowes via the Channel Islands (there are some serious tidal streams in there), across the shipping lanes and through the Needles was excitement enough for me :)

[r.e.]

Does anyone know if I can get large format developed somewhere between Portsmouth and Poole? If not, who is good in London?

I've identified two photo stores in Southampton that process 120 (Parkers Photographic and City Photographic) and one in Poole (Ashley Colour Imaging). Any comments on these?

Does Jessops still develop 120, or do they only deal with digital at this point? Do they do a competent job?

Thanks.

[Bugleone]

Mr Broadbent, you go constantly upwards in my estimation.....

...Did you by any chance do RN (commando) Photo Course at Hamworthy?

[jb7]

Christopher, me too.

Going to have to remember to be more polite to you in future-

[cjbroadbent]

...Did you by any chance do RN (commando) Photo Course at Hamworthy?
No such thing as photography then there. RM, not RN, so I did a lot of damage to an LCT. We are talking about 1955.

[adrian tyler]

Mental lint. Many threads converge in that area.

Two teenage years in Lyme Regis, and later weekend trips from Hampshire to climb on the cliffs between Swanage and Kimmeridge. One week's leaping in and out of landing craft and two-man kayaks in Poole Harbour. An early infatuation with Thomas Hardy. An amateur interest in the history of the Baltic timber and Norwegian codfish trades, and the decline of the Hanse. A C16th historian for a wife. A personal epiphany while pondering on why penguins are called penguins. A whole bunch of maiden aunts and grannies in love with Bournemouth and Studland. Too many hours spent gawping at the Robert White website....

nice ...

[r.e.]

The great advice here got me well started.

Poole led me to Dorchester, where the Dorset records are kept and where the county museum has some paintings that I wanted to see, then Exeter, where the Devon records are kept, then Dartmouth. On the night that an awful lot of people got stranded for hours on the roads around Exeter I finally decided that I had had enough of the weather, and the next morning told a travel agent to get me immediately the hell out of the UK for a week :) This led to a flight to Morocco, where I went to Rabat/Salé, an important port for the Corsairs that preyed on merchant shipping during the era on which I'm working. Meanwhile, while in the bookshop at Exeter Cathedral, I picked up a superb book by a local academic named N.A.M Rodgers on the history of the Royal Navy that has led me in some new directions.

This was a great overview trip and I'll be back in May with a more focused research and photographic agenda. Glad that I took a Mamiya 7 as a sketching camera instead of a 4x5. One thing that I learned is that I'm going to need a serious wide angle lens when I go back. The clearance for photographs of a number of the buildings that I'm interested in, especially in the old part of Poole, is very tight.

Again, thanks all. Joseph, got your e-mail. We were in Yarmouth the same day. My crowd went for a long walk, got thoroughly soaked and dried out in front of a fire, over several beer, at The Bugle :)

[jb7]

Glad it worked out well-

I must have a tremendous lack of imagination,
the idea of going to Morocco from there never occurred to me...

I was in the Bugle on New Year's Eve-
from about 2.30 until about 4, had some Beer Battered Cod, as well as several pints of fizzy pop,
then back to the mainland on a big black RIB as the sun went down...