Buildings in the Throop and Muccleshell Area

The River Stour

Throop Mill Cottage

The Stour at Throop Mill

The main occupation of the Throop peasantry was farming, although there was also the ancient flour mill where Spanish and Portuguese coins were found in the stream, indicating the international trade based at Throop, where biscuits were made for use on ships bound for Newfoundland. Fish were caught in the Stour, rushes were gathered from its banks, and smuggling supplemented many a meagre income.

The Pig Shoot beside Throop Mill

After killing William Rufus, Sir Walter Tyrell crossed the Avon at 'Avon Tyrell' and fled along lanes into Hurn, where he hid in an ancient oak tree (Tyrell's Oak); he later descended, forded the Leaden Stour and then crossed the Stour at Throop by the Pigshoot, to the east of Throop House. In Victorian times, when medieval romances were highly popular, Boscombe holiday-makers would often make a special excursion to Throop to hear the story of Tyrell crossing the Pigshoot, and to see the numerous ducks there. The building of Hurn Airport frightened off the ducks and caused Tyrell's Oak to be felled.

The Chapel

A Congregational Chapel was built at the junction of Muscliff and Broadway Lane in 1828. A manse was also built next door. Opposite this once stood Throop Villa, which lent its name to the chapel, now Throop Congregational Church, and eventually led to the confusion in the early 1970's, with Muccleshell being designated as the Throop conservation area, and part of Throop being grouped with Holdenhurst.

Vine Cottage - built c.1800

A simple vernacular, gable ended building, with the side extension having a deferentially lower roof. The roof is a typical contruction of clay tiles finished off with a couple of lower courses of locally cut stone.

The Manse - built c.1830

The Manse was built to serve the adjacent Congregational Chapel. This is a more formal building, showing the typical proportions of a small Georgian house, in the symmetrical arrangement of the windows, and in their subdivision into panes, or "lights"; the windows of the formal reception rooms on the ground floor being four lights tall, the windows of the private bedrooms or "chambers" being only three lights tall.

Muccleshell Cottages Nos. 1 & 2 - build 1873

These cottages were built on the site of older buildings. The influence of Bournemouth's Victorian architects on village styles is obvious in the departure from Georgian formality and the wavy bargeboards which decorate the gables.

Hicks Farm Cottage - built c.1727

Although this cottage dates back to 1727, the present Farm buildings date back to 1800. These properties would have been built by local craftsmen in a time before the Health Acts, which required such works to be regulates; there would have been no plans drawn up for these buildings, however their layout can be gauged from local 18th Century wills, which included an inventory of every room, in order of importance. One such will listed the following:

Hall; Chamber below stairs; Kitchen; Two Butteries; Little Room next to Hall; Inner Chamber above stairs; Outer Chamber above stairs; Chamber over buttery; Shop.

Throop House - built 1807

This house was the dower house of Sylvia, Countess of Malmesbury.

Muccleshell Farmhouse

Originally known as Muccleshell Hall, this builging is situated in the now nameless "Bury Lane" which was the original link between Muccleshell and Muscliff, until Farmer West contructed Muscliff Lane as a shorter, drier route c.1805. The hamlet of Muccleshell too has recently lost its importance, now more usually ebing called Throop; but this building demonstrates its historical pedigree: parts date back to 1587, making it the oldest complete structure in Bournemouth; it has a Queen Anne front and a timbered back; one bedroom has a secret hiding space below the floor boards and local legend has it that Charled II hid here in 1651. The thatched roof was replaced by slate in 1729 and recent investigations have uncovered a huge fireplace comprising a floor hearth, bread oven and bacon room.

Muccleshell Tythings map

Despite its name, the conservation area mainly comprises the hamlet of Muccleshell, centred on a small hill in the Stour flood plain, with a tumulus at its crown. The hamlet was the focus of one of the tythings for the area, a feudal equivalent of the wards into which Bournemouth is divided. Muccleshellwas situtated to the west of Throop Mill, at the junction of Broadway Lane and Throop Road, this tythe commutions map dating from c. 1840 showing the patchwork of surrounding fields - now covered by housing estates, was drawn with North towards the bottom.

Throop Road

This view is looking towards the semi-detached Little Mead and Meadow View Cottages, built c.1800. Throop Road curves off to Broadway Lane in the distance, but the trees along its ancient continuation, "Bury Lane", can be seen in the lower land beyond.

Stourview Cottage.