Parkstone

including the Parishes of St Peter, St Osmund & St Luke and Lilliput

Parkstone is an area of Poole in Dorset. It is divided into 'Lower' and 'Upper' Parkstone. Lower Parkstone is centred on Ashley Cross, near to the Parish Church of St. Peter, part of The Parish of Parkstone St.Peter and St.Osmund, with Branksea St.Mary.  Parkstone was originally a tything of the Parish of Canford Magna, but in 1833 the church of St Peter's, Parkstone (left) was built to serve the growing community. By 1865 Parkstone had become a separate ecclesiastical parish. The Church of the Holy Angels in Lilliput Road dates from 1874 when it was established as a chapel-of-ease to St Peter's Church. Lilliput beacame a separate parish in 1962.

At the time the parish had about 1,000 people and stretched down to Sandbanks. By 1870 a decision was made to build a bigger church. The construction was not completed until 1883 and is one of the largest churches in the Diocese of Salisbury, complete with a throne for the bishop. By the turn of the century the people of Parkstone had moved their sights up the hill and decided to rebuild the tin hut at St.Osmund's and replace it with a massive Italian Basilica

St. Osmund's (right) was built in 1913 as the parish church of St. Osmund, Parkstone. It remained so until the late 1990s when its closure was forced by structural unsoundness. In 2005 it changed hands and became the Romanian Orthodox Church's first acquisition in the UK.

Because of the proximity to the shoreline, and the more residential nature of Lower Parkstone, it is the more sought-after district, and originally included Lilliput and the Sandbanks Peninsula (now part of Canford Cliffs) within its official bounds.  Despite the residential reputation, Parkstone was the site of several industrial undertakings, the largest being George Jennings South Western Pottery, a manufacturer of salt-glaze drainage and sanitary pipes. Much of this area was agricultural until the 1920s and 1930s.

 St Osmund, Parkstone
© Mike Russell 2010

St Luke, Parkstone
© Mike Russell 2010

The Parish of St Luke's was formed in 1903 following a review of local parish boundaries. The foundaton stone for the new church was laid in 1907 by Cornelia, Lady Wimborne. Construction was completed in 1908 but the church was not fully consecrated until 1914. In the 1901 census the new parish only had 10 houses, the school and 70 people. However, even by 1905 development work in the local area was significant. This continued, despite World War One, especially in the North of the parish and by the time of the 1921 census, the population had risen to 1,293.

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