This playful stone sculpture depicts two of Bournemouth’s leading figures: Captain Tregonwell, the founder of Bournemouth, and Christopher Crabbe Creeke, the town’s first surveyor.

Back to the beginning

Lewis Dymoke Grosvenor Tregonwell (1758–1832), during a holiday to Mudeford, Christchurch, visited ‘Bourne’. They liked it so much that Tregonwell bought land here and built himself a house on the site in the 1810s, becoming Bournemouth’s first official residents.

Taken with the location and believing that the sea air was beneficial to health, Tregonwell built a series of villas in Bournemouth. Together with land-owner Sir George Ivison Tapps they planted pine trees, which were said to be beneficial to those with lung conditions, such as tuberculosis. It is from this that Bournemouth grew in size and popularity. Here he’s depicted with a bucket and spade.

Christopher Crabbe Creeke (1820 –1886) was an architect and surveyor. It was his vision of Bournemouth as a town with curved roads and large villas that shaped its development. He also had oversight of the design of the town’s sewage and water supply, which has humorously been paid tribute to in this sculpture – you might notice that Creeke is sat on a lavatory!

Jonathan Sells is a Dorset-based award-winning sculptor and stone carver. He’s known for his witty and amusing figurative sculptures, another of which can be found in the Priory Grounds in Christchurch, where he was artist in residence.

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