Kinson

Nearby is Kinson Common, a Local Nature Reserve[5] and Site of Special Scientific Interest,[6] and the historic St Andrew's Church, a grade B listed building[7] and the resting place of Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby.[8]

Kinson Common is a relatively small site of 16ha (40 acres) owned by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, and despite its small size it provides a rich and varied habitat. The Friends of Kinson Common work as Countryside Volunteers and help with the management of the site. An 1843 tythe map, held at the Dorset County Records Office, shows that the land then formed part of Howe Farm. Since 1933 the local authority purchased a number of parcels of land (mostly from Viscount Wimborne) for the purposes of a cemetery and as public open space. In 1988 Kinson Common was designated as an SSSI, becoming an LNR in 1995.

St. Andrew's Church

Kinson Parish, within the Manor of Canford Magna, is centred on the site of a Saxon church. The parish boundaries extend far beyond Kinson Village, taking in various hamlets, Cudnell (or Bear Cross), High Howe, West Howe, Howe, East Howe, and Ensbury. These hamlets gave rise to the names of several 20th century housing estates, although the origins of their names is debatable. The 'howe' form appears to be an old English word for a mound.[9] This could either be a topographical feature, as the gravel terraces along the south of the River Stour have been carved into rounded promontories by small rills and streams; but 'howe' could also refer to the various burial mounds which formerly covered the slopes.

The area was historically used by the smuggler Isaac Gulliver whose men would carry the contraband up from The Chines in Poole Bay and take it across Cranborne Chase to be distributed to patrons all over Southern England. Gulliver had several properties in the area; however, all of the contraband were stored in the tower of St Andrew's Church (the marks of the ropes used to haul it up can still be seen in the soft sandstone walls of the tower) and in several stone graves in the churchyard which were constructed for this purpose and never saw a coffin. A tunnel was also reputed to exist to allow smugglers to escape to the local river under cover (this has never been proved, however).

Also in the churchyard is the grave of one Robert Trotman, who was killed when trying to land contraband on the shore near Poole. Smugglers at the time were regarded by some as folk heroes, as they circumvented high government taxes on goods such as alcohol, tobacco, etc. The presence of this grave openly in the churchyard, with its rhyming elegy to the deceased, is an interesting comment on the social status at the time of people who were technically criminals.

Near this church is a bridge over Millham's Splash, a small offshoot of the River Stour. In the early years of the twentieth century this was a ford, and while travelling by carriage from Canford House to Highcliffe Castle the future Kaiser of Germany became bogged in the water and had to be rescued by the locals. They had cause to regret this act before very long with the outbreak of World War I.

Some descendants of Isaac Gulliver remained in Kinson and brought it a further notable connection. Isaac's grandson Isaac Fryer lived at Kinson House, which passed to his daughter Ada Russell. Ada's sister-in-law Isabella Russell was the grandmother of Agnes Sybil Thorndike, the actress, who spent several childhood holidays at Kinson. In the hamlet of Ensbury the Rev. John Hiley Austen lived in the ancient Ensbury Manor. He was an antiquarian, collector of fossils, and the author of 'A Guide to the Geology of the Isle of Purbeck and the South-West Coast of Hampshire'.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kinson.

• Pictures of Kinson Common
• Kinson Smugglers (BBC)