Boscombe Pier Beach (Bournemouth) Photo

Walking on the pier, Boscombe

Walkers head along the pier on a beautiful spring day, while I look through one of the arches to Hengistbury Head. The original Boscombe Pier was built in 1888 by a private company, but was sold to the Bournemouth Corporation in 1903. The pier head was added in 1926. It was requisitioned in 1940 and as a precaution against use by invading forces, a section was demolished. By the mid 1950s it was a rusting skeleton. The new pier was opened on 6 June 1962. A council survey in 2003 showed overwhelming support for the pier’s regeneration, and Grade II listing ensured that its character was kept intact. Heath, woodland, marsh and meadow are packed into the mile long Hengistbury Head, a wild and windswept promontory curling like a finger around Christchurch Harbour. It is a tiny world in itself, with a history of human activity spanning 11,000 years. The 118 ft summit of Warren Hill forms a broad plateau ending in sand-cliffs plunging to the sea. A constant wind from the sea keeps the clumps of ling, heather and gorse low-growing, and the turf is thin and patchy. But in the lee of the hill are woodlands, scrub and marshes bordering the harbour.

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