Views of Bournemouth – new exhibition celebrating the town’s bicentenary opens 21 May 2010
Views of Bournemouth, 21 May – 31 October 2010
A new exhibition celebrating Bournemouth’s Bicentenary opens at Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum on 21 May. The exhibition, which promises a visual excursion through the town’s history, is a partnership with Bournemouth Arts Club.
The exhibition offers the chance to buy original artworks and meshes historic objects, images and paintings from the Russell-Cotes’ varied collections with specially-created contemporary works by Bournemouth Arts Club. The result is a riot of colour and styles exploring different views of Bournemouth from different perspectives. The exhibition takes place from 21 May to 31 October at Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, East Cliff Promenade, Bournemouth BH1 3AA, 01202 451823, www.russell-cotes.bournemouth.gov.uk
Over the past 200 years Bournemouth has evolved from heathland to a bustling centre of tourism and business. It was in 1810 that Captain Lewis Tregonwell, and his wife, Henrietta, fell in love with the wild beauty of Poole Heath, or ‘Westover’, (now Bournemouth). At the time it was a land of gypsies and smugglers and provided the local gentry with a small hunting estate, which has become the Pleasure Gardens of Bournemouth.
Bournemouth grew with unprecedented speed during the Victorian period, and a number of large villas survive from this period in its history. It was "the place to be seen", frequented by many celebrities, including Aubrey Beardsley, J.R.R.Tolkien and D.H.Lawrence, Oscar Wilde, Lily Langtree and Sir Henry Irving. The town’s architectural character is particularly defined by the buildings of the town centre, which were especially designed to suit the land sloping down either side of the valley towards the Bourne Stream. The townscape includes several significant department stores from the 1920s and ‘30s which replaced earlier Victorian cottages.
It was the ambition of the landowner, Sir George Tapps-Gervis, to promote Bournemouth as a fashionable marine resort for the upper-classes. In 1836, he employed the architect, Benjamin Ferrey, to draw up plans for an estate with grand villas, gardens and a hotel overlooking the sea. This was the beginning of Bournemouth.
In 1841, Dr Augustus Granville published The Spas of England. He encouraged people to visit the new resort for extended periods to improve their wellbeing. He praised Bournemouth’s natural beauty, aromatic pine air and mild climate. Merton Russell-Cotes was one of many who came here to recover from illness.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
Views of Bournemouth opens on 21 May and runs until 31 October 2010 at Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, East Cliff Promenade, Bournemouth BH1 3AA, T. 01202 451858, www.russell-cotes.bournemouth.gov.uk. All works by Bournemouth Arts Club are available to purchase.
2. A programme of gallery talks associated with the exhibition will take place:
Saturday 22 May, 2.30pm Views of Bournemouth Talk, by Bournemouth Arts Club
Saturday 19 June, 2.30pm Beside the Sea: the development of Bournemouth as a seaside resort, by Peter Kazmierczak
Sunday 20 June, 2.30pm Portrait Master Class for Father’s Day
Saturday 3 July, 2.30pm Bournemouth’s Buildings, by Michael Stead
Saturday 11 September, 2.30pm Getting Here: aspects of Bournemouth’s transport history, by Peter Kazmierczak
Saturday 23 October, 2.30pm Bournemouth: An Urban Historian’s View, by Dr. John Soane
3. Bournemouth Arts Club: From its inception in 1920, the Bournemouth Arts Club (BAC) has provided a focus of excellence for the visual arts by bringing together those who practise with those maintaining a lively interest in current developments. It is a fusion of proud tradition with evolution which brings BAC into the 21st Century. www.bournemouthartsclub.co.uk
4. Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum was the home of Sir Merton Russell-Cotes (1835-1921) and Lady Russell-Cotes (1835-1920). The wealthy couple used their home to display the interesting objects that they collected during their world travels.
5. MILESTONES IN BOURNEMOUTH HISTORY
1801 Population of Parish of Holdenhurst – 489. The parish is now totally in Bournemouth. Rest of area largely unpopulated heathland.
1802 Christchurch Inclosure Act – land divided, allotted and enclosed. Various portions sold by Lord of Manor of Westover, Sir George Ivison-Tapps
1809 Tapps Arms – the first building in Bournemouth
1810 Tregonwell purchased 8 ½ acres of land for £179-11s and built Exeter House (later the Royal Exeter Hotel)
1838 Bath Hotel opened
1839 First Post Office in Tregonwell Arms (formerly Tapps Arms)
1841 Bournemouth – 26 buildings including church, hotel, boarding house and library
1851 Population - 695
Mary Shelley buried in St Peter’s Churchyard
1856 Wooden jetty built
Bournemouth Improvement Act – formation of Bournemouth Improvement Commissioners Board. Bournemouth - area within the circle of radius of 1 mile from front door of Belle Vue Hotel
1861 Wooden pier opened
Population – 1707
1863 Gas supply to Bournemouth commenced
1870 Bournemouth East station opened
1875/6 Winter Gardens erected
1876 Boscombe and Springbourne incorporated into Bournemouth
1880 Iron pier opened
1881 Population 16,859
1882 Theatre Royal opened
1884 Robert Louis Stevenson came to Bournemouth (until 1887)
1888 First electricity in Bournemouth
1890 Charter of Incorporation – town became a Municipal Borough. Town Council of 60 members.
Population – 37,000
1893 Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra formed by Dan Godfrey
1895 First public library at 6 Cumnor Terrace
1900 Bournemouth School opened
c. 1900 First motor car in Bournemouth
1901 Borough extended to include Winton & Moordown, Pokesdown and Southbourne
1902 Tramways introduced
1907 First section of Undercliff Drive –Bournemouth Pier to Boscombe opened
1908 Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum presented to town
1910 Bournemouth Centenary Fetes – International Aviation Meeting
1914-18 First World War
1918 Representation of People Act made Bournemouth a Parliamentary Borough
1929 Pavilion opened
1931 Kinson and Holdenhurst added to Borough
1933 Trolleybuses introduced
1937 Pier Approach Baths opened
1939-45 Second World War - bomb damage and rebuilding
1947 Winter Gardens re-opened as modern concert hall
1954 Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra became the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
1967 Rail link with London electrified
1969 Bournemouth-Hurn Airport purchased by Bournemouth Council and Dorset County Council
1972 Official opening of the first section of the Wessex Way
1973 Part of Town Centre pedestrianised. Pier Approach pedestrianisation completed
1974 Local Government Reorganisation – Bournemouth became part of Dorset
1984 Bournemouth International Centre opened
1986 Chase Manhattan opened
1989 Littledown Centre opened
1992 Bournemouth University inaugaurated
Royal Bournemouth Hospital opened
1997 Bournemouth became Unitary Authority
2002 Imax opened
New Bournemouth Library opened
2003 Castlepoint Retail Centre opened
2006 Winter Gardens demolished
For information and images:
Contact Kerry Curtis, 01202 451 823, kerry.curtis@bournemouth.gov.uk
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