Christchurch Harbour - History

History

The harbour was formed around 7000 years ago when the sea level rose at the end of the last Ice Age. Previously the area which was many miles from the open sea was inhabited by Stone Age hunters. Archaeological finds dating from 12,500 year BP have been made on Hengistbury Head and Flints dating as much as 250,000 years BP have been found in the Bournemouth area. The Bluestones used at Stonehenge may have been transported via the harbour and the River Avon (2550 BCE). It is suggested that there may have been an ancient causeway usable at low water running from Double Dykes on the south shore to Tuttons Well located on the north shore near Stanpit village.

The Harbour became a major trading port around 100BCE, exports included copper, gold, silver and iron and importing luxury goods including wine and glass from which jewellery was manufactured. It is likely that slaves were also exported through the harbour. The boats used at this time were shallow draft, oak-planked with square leather sails for propulsion. It would have been a twelve hour passage across the channel to Cherbourg and without any modern compasses or much weather forecasting. Despite this there was considerable two way trade with both British and Foreign Ports, it then declined as a result of the Roman invasion of France in 56 BCE. The remains of a Roman ship were discovered in the harbour in 1910. Trade continued until the Roman Invasion of Britain in AD43. During Saxon times the harbour again became one of the most important in Britain as it was easily reached from the continent and boats could enter the harbour and travel up the river Avon all the way to Salisbury, and along the Stour to Wimborne and Blandford Forum.

In 1664 The River Avon Navigation act was passed to again enable vessels to travel as far as Salisbury and reestablish it as a port as in Medieval times.Traffic used the river from 1684 to 1720 with a break whilst repairs were made from 1695 to 1700. The route was finally abandoned in 1730. In 1695 Lord Clarendon made a new entrance in Mudeford Sandbank using the iron stone from Hengistbury to form a training bank, these rocks now called Clarendon Rocks are still in existence, but the new entrance silted up and the channel returned to its original course. During this period and up until the middle of the 19th Century, smuggling was rife in the Harbour (see the Battle of Mudeford).

There were numerous Harbour Improvement schemes proposed in the next three centuries, particularly the Railway and Docks Scheme of 1885. This would have seen major dredging of the harbour, training banks within the harbour and a railway terminus on the south side. In 1965 there were a plans to construct a marina at Wick Hams. This and the other schemes were never proceeded with. In the 1930s there were three "tea boats" providing refreshments to holidaymakers and at least another five houseboats in the harbour these were all abandoned and then wrecked during World War II. The River was dredged in 1937 and again in the 1950s using a Suction Dredger, in the late 1980s Wessex Water carried out substantial dredging in the River Stour from Iford bridge as far as Christchurch Quay, this was part of a Flood Alleviation Plan. The channel has been marked since at least 1884 first by Christchurch Sailing Club and since 1963 by the Harbour Improvements Association now renamed Christchurch Harbour Association. Since 1963 the Mudeford inshore lifeboat has been stationed on the quay at Mudeford.