Adventure and adventurers > Black's guide to the counties of Dorset, Devon, & Cornwall

FROM POOLE To LYME REGIS.
Route 1.
an assault upon the Custom House, and succeeded in carrying
away 4200 pounds of tobacco (a.d. 1747). So evil a repute did
the town acquire, that the following rhyme became popular
through all the countryside :—
“ If Poole was a fish-pool, and the men of Poole fish,
There’d be a pool for the devil, and fish for his dish.”
St. James’ Church was rebuilt in 1820, at a cost of £\2,000 ;
the material employed was Purbeck stone. The altar piece is of
carved mahogany. St. Paul’s was built 1833. The Customs
House was rebuilt in 1822 ; the old Wool-house, near the quay,
dates from 1572. A Museum connected with the Poole Literary
1 xstitute has a good collection of fossils, shells, stuffed specimens
of aquatic wild fowl, etc.
Poole returns one member to Parliament, and is controlled
by a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors. About 120 sailing
vessels belong to the port, and the customs average about £9000
per annum.
[Hints fob Rambles.—Though, as we have hinted, the town in itself possesses
but little to interest the general tourist, it is, nevertheless, a good .central point for
an exploration of south-eastern Dorsetshire. At Parkstone, 3 miles east, the
pedestrian will be rewarded with some noble views of sea and land, full of bold con¬
trasts of colour. Wimborne Minster, with its beautiful church, is about 9 miles
north. A sail to Wareham, 7 miles west, is much to be commended, and the
tourist should not fail to visit the historic ruins of Corfe Castle, crossing by boat
tffWvcH Passage (7 miles for 3s. to 5s.), and thence walking about 3 miles. From
Poole to Bournemouth, across the hills, is a pleasant stroll (5 miles east)].
On rounding the south-west extremity of Poole harbour, the
voyager finds himself in the shadow of lofty cliffs—the abrupt,
precipitous, and “grewsome” sea-wall of Studland Bay—formed
of the upper chalk, which here emerges from beneath the eocene
strata at a very low angle, and throws out, at the Foreland, some
semi-isolated masses resembling the Needles. HandfaSt Point
(or the Foreland) is 350 feet above the sea-level.
STUDLAND (population, 295) gives its name to this bay ; -
and is a charming little elm-shaded village, with a pretty Norman
church built upon the sand, which, just beyond, gives way to
the chalk. It is as wild and “romancy” as any lover of the
picturesque can desire. A little to the south rise the bold ridges
of Ballard Down (584 feet high), continued towards Corfe
Castle by Nine-burrow Down, 642 feet high, and commanding