| Broadstone |
| The village derived its name from the large broad
stones that were laid as a crossing over the Blackwater stream which is
near to Brookdale Farm. It was first recorded as a village in 1765
though a Roman road from Hamworthy lies near to where the present
village is and this was the boundary of the parish of Canford Magna,
though today it is the border between Broadstone and Corfe Mullen. The 'Heathlanders' used to cut turf for fuel and lived in small cottages that were scattered over the heath and relics have been discovered here that date back to about 1500 BC, among them is an arrowhead that was found in Springdale Road, a stirrup from the 17th century from Clarendon Road and was from the Civil War period. There have been a lot of famous and eccentric people living here, and by far the most famous of them was Alfred Russell Wallace, the biologist who along with Charles Darwin discovered the theory of evolution. He came to Broadstone at the age of 78 after exploring the Amazon and the Malay Peninsular. He had a passion for unusual homes and he lived at Old Orchard and today he rests at Broadstone, his grave being marked by a fossilised tree that was brought from South America. The star of the film The Dam Busters, Richard Todd, also lived in the village as well as Jan Fabricus the Dutch playwright who had a home at Caesars Camp which is a house o Broadstone Heights. He was one of Holland's most famous authors and though little was known of him in England he was reputed to have had a pet bird that sat on his desk when he was working. The village was also the family home of the Hibberds. The BBC's first radio announcer was Stuart Hibberd and he was renowned for his cultured voice and one of his most famous announcements was "The Kings life is moving swiftly to a close" referring to George V dying. Although the railway came through here in 1847 it has long gone, the station was opened in 1872 and it was a hundred years after this that Lord Beeching made his dramatic cutbacks to the railways all over the country. Now a large roundabout take the place of where the old line went under a bridge in the middle of the village. Broadstone today is classed as a suburb of Bournemouth and Poole and its slopes look out over Poole Harbour and the Purbecks, and some handsome houses were built here before the start of WWII, and since 1946 large estates have sprung up around the are, making it an elegant suburb. There is a large shopping centre along the main road and both the old and new parts of the village live well together.
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