Private Detective
Bournemouth

The region around the mouth of the River Bourne was part of the Hundred of Holdenhurst in the 12th century. When it was extended to include the settlements of North Ashley, Muscliff, Muccleshell, Throop, Iford, Pokesdown, Tuckton and Wick, and incorporated into the Manor of Christchurch, the hundred later became the Liberty of Westover in Dorset.

Westover was a remote and barren heathland before 1800, although the Dorset and Hampshire region surrounding it had been the location of human settlement for thousands of years. Bournemouth University and Arts University Bournemouth are the two universities of Bournemouth which are located across the boundary in neighbouring Poole in Dorset.

At Dean Court near Boscombe in Kings' Park, 2 miles (3 km) east of the town centre, is where the AFC Bournemouth play. Bournemouth railway station in Dorset and Pokesdown railway station to the east are the two stations in the town. The town's coastal rowing club is the Bournemouth Rowing Club.

Boscombe, Kinson, Southbourne, Springbourne, Throop, Westbourne and Winton are areas within Bournemouth. Competing in the National League Division Two South and has its address at the Bournemouth Sports Club next to Bournemouth Airport where it hosts an annual Rugby sevens tournament and festival, is the Bournemouth Rugby Club.

Between 1965 and 1972, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution stationed an inshore lifeboat at Bournemouth . Address of the Bournemouth International Centre or BIC and a financial sector that is worth more than £1,000 million in gross value added, the town is also a regional centre of business in Dorset.

In 1969, the discovery of Iron Age pottery on the East Cliff and the Bronze Age burials near Moordown suggest that there may have been settlements there during that period. A local landmark that is one of three Grade 1 listed churches in the borough is the 202-foot (62 m) spire of St Peter's Church, a notable Victorian architecture in the town centre.