Pitts Farm Kinson

Between Durdells and Kinson came Pitts Farm. Its thatched farmhouse and buildings, once owned by Gulliver, stood alongside the main road, and its lands extended west to the present Durdells Avenue and ran south to meet Poole Lane. One of the fields was called Scull Pit. In 1927 Paleolithic implements were found in the area - was a skull unearthed at an earlier date? Pitts was farmed in 1840 by Mary Rodwell, in mid-century by Thomas Witheridge who also ran a butcher’s shop from the farm and at the end of the century by Uriah Cole. It was demolished around 1932.

Cudnell Farm, farmed from 1816 to 1956 by members of the Elliott family. They farmed not only here but elsewhere in the neighborhood and later entered the pottery business. The red-brick Cudnell farmhouse built by M. E. Elliott and occupied by a member of the family until 1917 was set in a lovely garden with views across the meadows to Longham. The farmlands extended to Millhams Lane and are now either built upon or remain open land. The first local bomb fell in Broomy Ground (field name) killing two cows. The farmhouse, with the very old barns and out-buildings which pre-dated the house, was pulled down in 1958.

The  Abbotts  farmed  here  over  a  large  number of years on the land known as  Durdells. The house, built of brick and of simple  design, was long and low, with a bakehouse at the side and a large three-bay barn before  it. It was demolished in 1970. An old map shows Mary Durdells meadow between here  and  Longham;  perhaps  she  was  the  original  owner  of  the  farm. 

Between  Durdells  and  Kinson came  Pitts Farm. Its thatched farmhouse and buildings, once owned by Gulliver,  stood alongside the main road, and its lands extended west to the present Durdells Avenue  and  ran  south  to  meet  Poole  Lane.  One  of  the  fields  was  called  Scull  Pit.  In  1927  Paleolithic implements were found in the area - was a skull unearthed at an earlier date?  Pitts was farmed in 1840 by Mary Rodwell, in mid-century by Thomas Witheridge who  also ran a butcher’s shop from the farm and at the end of the century by Uriah Cole. It was  demolished around 1932. 

Christ the King School is a Catholic Primary School Academy – servicing the parish of Holy Family (Christ the King, Kinson & St. Bernadette’s, Ensbury Park) and St. Anthony’s, West Moors. The school is in the Diocese of Plymouth and is part of the Catholic & Anglican Schools Trust (CAST) The school is set behind the Church of Christ the King and benefits from extensive grounds – with Pre-School & Reception play areas, 2 playgrounds and a large field.

Christ the King Church in Bournemouth, Dorset part of Holy Family Parish (Diocese of Plymouth). Part of the Catholic  The village of Kinson has, in the last fifty years, been swallowed up by the suburban expansion of Bournemouth. In the nineteenth century Catholics in the area attended Mass at Holy Cross Abbey, Stapehill. In 1895 the mission of St Joseph’s, Branksome was formed from St Mary’s, Poole but this was still some four miles distant from Kinson. From 1938 Mass at Kinson was said first in an upstairs room of the Dolphin Inn on Wimborne Road and subsequently in a hut in Truman Road, a hall, and a temporary church until, in 1950, St Theresa’s church was built in Truman Road and the parish of Kinson established. In 1959 a school was built in Durdells Avenue and the church of Christ the King followed, seven years later, largely owing to the generosity of Mrs Margaret Wells. The church was built to seat 300. According to the Catholic Building Review (1965, p.192) it was ‘the first local church designed and built where the altar is situated so that Mass can be served facing the people’. 

 The history of the land now known as Butchers Coppice can be traced back over 800 years. The site was originally part of the Canford Estate, held in trust for the Realm and controlled by the Lord of the Manor at Canford Manor, now known as Canford School.  

The district takes its name from the Old English noun 'howe', usually defined as denoting a ridge of elevated ground.[1] Certainly, there is a ridge of high land in this part of Bournemouth, and it was along this ridge that the hamlets of High Howe, West Howe and East Howe were established.  The area was mainly farmland until the early years of the twentieth century, when E. A. Elliot moved his pottery works here from Bear Cross further north. The clay was superior to that at Bear Cross and from 1912, roofing tiles and terra cotta ware were manufactured here in addition to bricks that were being used in the course of Bournemouth's urban expansion. By 1927, bricks for domestic fireplaces were also being manufactured here along with drainage pipes, this continuing until 1966 when the potteries were closed.

There were few properties in West Howe until the late 1940s, when Bournemouth Borough Council began developing estates in the wake of the post-war housing crisis. However, a few pre-war properties did exist. On the western boundary of the area stood the Shoulder of Mutton pub and next to this, a house built by Mr. Sherry, a baker from Winton in Bournemouth, who had become mentally unstable and had retired from the bakery; periodically, he was said to ride on a white horse through Winton, announcing himself as the new Messiah.  Life on the post-war estates at West Howe was hardly idyllic; Stillmore Road, in particular, acquired the nickname "Slag Alley", on account of the black dust that billowed into houses from the roof-high mounds of slag on nearby industrial land. Several types of slag could be found lurking in West Howe properties.[4] A deputation of tenants raised the matter with Bournemouth Borough Council in 1958. The council solved the problem by putting the slag company in touch with a local firm that made breeze blocks out of clinker slag; this appears to have abated the nuisance

HOWE CROFT COMMUNITY CENTRE

1 TURNBULL LANE, BOURNEMOUTH, BH11 9BG, UNITED KINGDOM

01202 581918 / 07975533606

Previously a foundation school administered by Bournemouth Borough Council, in December 2012 Oakmead College of Technology converted to academy status and was renamed Oak Academy. The school is now sponsored by the Ambitions Academies Trust due to a legacy of low expectations and low exam outcomes for students. The current OFSTED rating is "Requires Improvement."

The school previously operated a sixth Form provision, but it was suspended in July 2018 due to low pupil numbers.

In September 2012 the school was the temporary location of the new LeAF Studio before the studio school was relocated to its own building in September 2013

The school is divided into blocks A and B (the original girl's and boy's schools).

A Block contains the following curriculum areas: English and Science, French & Spanish, Health & Social Care, Business and a media classroom. It also contains an assembly hall (hall A), a playground, the sports hall, one IT room, eight science labs, the library and two modern foreign language rooms.

B Block contains other curriculum areas: Geography, History, ICT & Computer Science, Drama, Music and Design & Technology, Sociology and Psychology. There are 5 Design & Technology rooms — one Food Technology room, one Resistant Materials room, one Graphics room, one Art room and one Electronics room. This section of the school also contains four ICT rooms, one Music room, another assembly hall (hall B), a playground, the canteen, the Inclusion Support Centre, and the main administrative offices.

A recently refurbished block now houses all of the Maths lessons delivered at the Academy