Our part of Kinson has proved extremely rich in archaeological evidence of Prehistoric man. Palaeoliths from the Old Stone Age were found on site in 1927 and many rolled palaeoliths and Levallois flakes were discovered between 1927 and 1934. These were placed in the Calkin Collection in the British Museum. Other discoveries of palaeoliths from Kinson were placed in the Rothesay Museum, Bournemouth and in the County Museum at Dorchester.Smaller flint implements from the Neolithic and Bronze Age have been found on the surface of our Common in the recent past. Members of the Friends have also found implements and fossils on the site. Two Bronze Age Barrows survive in fair condition on Two Barrow Heath. The western one is a Saucer barrow and the eastern one a Bowl barrow. Both are particularly important as they are the only ones left intact throughout the area covering Kinson to the nearby Turbary Common.

A photograph of one of the Lower Paleolithic flint handaxes found at Kinson
Common, collected by J.B. Calkin, who sold it to the British Museum in
1940.The axe dates from the lower Palaeolithic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Paleolithic) and  is 11.6 cm long, 7.0cm wide, 2.8cm thick, and weighs 255 grammes. 
.


© The Trustees of the British Museum 

EARLY HISTORY

Prior to the Norman Conquest, Canford ( including Kinson) was held by Ulwen, a Saxon thane. William the Conquerer bestowed the manor on Walter de Eureux, whose family later became Earls of Shaftesbury. In 1611, Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, sold Canford to John Webb of Salisbury, who was created a Baronet and the estate remained in family hands for two centuries. John Potter, a local smuggler, farmed a considerable area of the Common during the time when Isaac Gulliver owned property and land in Kinson. During the 19th century, Charles Spencer and Thomas Williams, of the Dolphin Inn, Kinson, farmed most of Kinson Common as tenants of the Canford estate. In 1844, the Canford estate was sold to Sir Josiah John Guest, a South Wales iron-master. All the land we now call Kinson Common remained in the ownership of the Guest family until gifted to or purchased by the Borough of Bournemouth. Gravel has been extracted from the Common and the outline of an old farm building may be found near the eastern end of Two Barrow Heath. In 2002, there were 22 ancient earth boundaries still surviving reasonably intact.

RECENT HISTORY

1931

Under the Bournemouth Corporation Act, Kinson was included within the County Borough of Bournemouth.

1933

County Borough of Bournemouth purchased 23.5 acres of land from Rt Hon.Viscount Wimborne for Cemetery purposes.

County Borough of Bournemouth received 9.9 acres of land as a gift from Viscount Wimborne for Public Open Space.

1951
557 sq yards of Cemetery land was exchanged with Mr.E.H.Pitts for 3,449 sq yards of land for Public Open Space.

1961
Two small areas of land at rear of properties in Kinson Road were purchased from Mr.G.T.White for Public Open Space.
3.08 acres was purchased at northern end for purpose of constructing Kinson by-pass.

1970
Kinson Common officially know as " The Trinacria", meaning "Three Legged".

1978
Borough of Bournemouth purchased 16.25 acres for Public Open Space from Viscount Wimborne under the local Government Act of 1972.

1982
Names were adopted for discrete areas of Kinson Common.

1988
Heathland of Kinson Common was notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest under section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981.

1995
English Nature proposed the designation of local heathland S.S.S.I's as special areas of conservation.
Kinson Common was officially declared as a Local Nature Reserve.

2000
On 22nd of July, part of the Common was named " Gover's Glade" in memory of Doreen Gover, a valued member of the Friends.


2005
On November 18th, four Shetland Cattle were introduced on site for conservation purposes.