Author Archives: Leigh Hatts

Sunday 15 December is the 150th anniversary of the Highcliff Hotel’s opening 1874. The large building had been completed a year earlier as a terrace of four houses called Highcliffe Mansions but was soon adapted to form 50-bedroom hotel called … Continue reading →

The new two pence coin issued for the reign of King Charles III features a red squirrel as found on Brownsea Island and the Isle of Wight. There is a uniting conservation of the natural world theme for all the … Continue reading →

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has been up and down the coast path on Bournemouth’s West Cliff over the weekend during the Liberal Democrat Conference at the BIC. On Monday he was at the bottom of the East Cliff … Continue reading →

Today Bournemouth’s Royal Exeter Hotel could be flying the Empress of Austria’s standard. In 1888 she gave the hotel permission to do so on Sundays. Sunday 10 September is the 125th anniversary of Empress Elisabeth’s assassination. In 1888 Empress Elisabeth, … Continue reading →

Saturday 2 September will be the 50th anniversary of JRR Tolkien’s death in Bournemouth where he loved the coast. The author of author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and his wife Edith were closely associated with … Continue reading →

Friday August 4 is the Duchess of Sussex’s birthday. Once it was a much more important Royal birthday. When the Queen Mother was alive the Royal Family could not get away to Balmoral for the holidays until after 4 August … Continue reading →

The annual commemoration at Barton on Sea’s Indian Soldiers’ Memorial took place on Monday. Civic leaders present included the Mayors of Bournemouth and Christchurch. The obelisk, near the clifftop, was erected on 10 July 1917 to remember the volunteer Indian … Continue reading →

Fisherman’s Walk, the quarter of a mile inland path from the cliff, between Boscombe and Southbourne, was a direct route for the scattered village of Pokesdown. It is claimed that smugglers took the path to go on to Holdenhurst and … Continue reading →

This week 213 years ago Lewis and Henrietta Tregonwell set out by carriage from Mudeford to visit Bourne Mouth where two years later they built a house. The house completed in 1812 is now the Royal Exeter Hotel. But what … Continue reading →