Boscombe Plan 1872

 Latest acquisition funded by DAT (reference: D-3340)

This rather attractive coloured plan of Boscombe in 1872 was purchased by DAT at a local auction house along with several other framed items.  The plan shows a  Boscombe  very unlike the place we know today with very little development (the first pier was constructed in 1889) and almost no sign of habitation except for the large property known as Boscombe Manor.  The latter began life in 1801 as Boscombe Cottage latterly being purchased by Sir Percy Florence Shelley (son of Mary Shelley) who enlarged and improved the property and built a 200-seat theatre.  The property is known locally as ‘Shelley Manor’ to this day.  Boscombe formed part of Hampshire until 1974 when along with Bournemouth and Christchurch it was incorporated into Dorset.  This small, but attractive piece of local history shows how the place looked in the decades before large-scale development took place and mass tourism changed Boscombe forever. 

DHC’s conservator had to extract the plan from its frame where it had been attached with copious amounts of Sellotape (not loved by conservators!) but fortunately this was successfully achieved and the plan is now safely stored in DHC’s environmentally controlled strongrooms.