History & Culture in Poole

A port that traded with Newfoundland, a pottery that made its name worldwide and a quay the town grew out of.

Poole's history is written into the streets behind the Quay, and the Cockle Trail is the cheapest way to read it.

A port, then a fortune

Poole grew as a harbour town from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, as nearby Wareham's access to the sea silted up. Its wealth arrived later: from the seventeenth century Poole merchants worked the Newfoundland cod fisheries, a long triangular trade that made several families very rich and paid for the Georgian houses in the Old Town.

The buildings

Scaplen's Court is a late medieval merchant's house. The Guildhall is the Georgian civic statement. Between them run the merchant streets, and the Quay they all faced.

Poole Pottery

For much of the twentieth century Poole Pottery carried the town's name internationally, and its work is collected still.

Seeing it

Poole Museum holds the objects, including the Iron Age Poole Logboat. The Cockle Trail covers the streets. Brownsea Island adds a different thread: Baden-Powell's 1907 camp, treated as the start of Scouting.

See the history of Poole for the longer story.

Common questions

Frequently asked questions

What is Poole famous for historically?

Its harbour and its trade. Poole was a significant medieval port, and in the eighteenth century grew wealthy on the Newfoundland cod fisheries, which paid for many of the Georgian merchant houses still standing in the Old Town. Poole Pottery later carried the town's name internationally.

How old is Poole?

Poole developed as a port from around the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, taking over from nearby Wareham as the harbour silted. The Iron Age Poole Logboat in the museum shows the harbour was in use far earlier.

What was the Newfoundland trade?

From the seventeenth century Poole merchants ran a triangular trade to the Newfoundland cod fisheries, carrying supplies out and salt cod to Mediterranean and other markets. It made considerable fortunes and shaped the Old Town.

What is the Cockle Trail?

A free, self-guided walking route through Poole Old Town, marked on the ground, linking the Quay, the Guildhall, Scaplen's Court and the merchant streets with the stories attached to them.

Planning your visit?

Where to stay in Poole

Sandbanks hotels, harbourside flats a street back from the Quay and the quieter beds out at Hamworthy and Broadstone, with the areas each one suits.

Where to stay →