History
During the latter part of the 19th Century Poole was an expanding commercial and residential area with the port in particular. The town was extending eastwards with the parish church of St Peters in Ashley Cross being established. Lilliput had a commercial presence with a busy pier and dock at Salterns to serve the large pottery which had been established in Whitecliff (now where the Conifer Park estate is located) complete with a railway link both to Lilliput and Parkstone station. There was a farm along Shore Road, Flag Farm, and a handful of large houses which had been built but the area by no means developed. Holy Angels church was built in 1873 to cater for the expanding needs of the Lilliput population. Bournemouth was developing rapidly by the latter part of the century. Canford Cliffs was however completely undeveloped–basically open heathland.
This all changed when around 1880 a consortium of businessmen acquired the land on which the Canford Cliffs Estate was to be built. This was a very extensive undertaking: nowadays they would be referred to as “Developers” and such was the case here. It is a mistake to think that the estate evolved over the years. It was a fully formed plan. The owners firstly laid out all the infrastructure by building the estate roads as we know them today and installing all the necessary utilities. Having completed this vast operation the individual plots were then offered for sale, either individually or in tranches. A series of public sales took place with special trains being laid on from Waterloo with carriages to pick people up from Bournemouth West station and then take them to Canford Cliffs. A marquee was set up and lunch was provided. It seems to have been a great success with most of the plots being bought over a fairly short period. Houses then began to be built but the process spanned several years. Within 20 years the village as we know it today had become well established with a parade of shops in Haven Road catering for all local needs. There was a hotel in what is now the land adjacent to The Cliff (lost to bombing in WW2) and one or two further hotels. The area continued to thrive. The Land Society transferred the ownership of the majority of the roads and the cliff top areas, known then as “Pleasure Grounds”, to Poole Council. The trees which we now take for granted were not indigenous and have grown up over the years. The chines were established and preserved and at some point the promenade was built: the section roughly from below the library towards Branksome Chine as late as the 1970’s. Over the years things have evolved to meet changing needs. Several blocks of flats have replaced large old houses and more recently we have seen a number of more modern houses replacing older ones. Despite this, the inherent pleasant and desirable character of the area has been maintained.
The Land Society was formed in 1925 to manage the Estate and to preserve the covenants. We continue to take an active part in our community. Canford Cliffs is simply a lovely place to live! Our admiration goes out to those original “Developers” and the far-sighted commitment which they clearly had in 1883.