OLD INNS OF \VIM BORNE. 43 



once the most famous coaching inn of the town. A casual 

 glance is sufficient to show that the " Albion," the bookseller's 

 shop (Riley), and Gush's well-known pastry-cook's and confect- 

 ioner's premises, are all part of a single large building of red 

 brick covered with painted stucco, with a fine roof and 

 chimney-stack. The inside premises of each and all of the 

 three parts are worth inspection, especially for the fine stair- 

 case and attics in the "Albion," and the fine old panelled 

 room on the first floor of the confectioner's ; but particularly 

 interesting is the view from the back, obtained by passing 

 under the arch to the stable regions. Here the fine colour of 

 the old red brick in its many angles and projections, the heavy 

 roof and quaint windows, and the unmistakable unity of the 

 whole building is seen to the best advantage. 



Robert Higden, a well-known benefactor to the Minster and 

 parish of Wimborne, in his will of 1681, bequeathes " All that 



messuage and tenements and bowling green called and 



knowne by the name of the New Inn " to his son of the same 



name. The name suggests a possibility of a previous inn of 



another name on the same spot, and also gives the approximate 



date of the present building. Until the middle of the 18th 



Century the room on the first floor was the principal meeting 



place in the town, although the new Friendly Societies' Hall 



in the Corn Market was then in existence. Here the Magistrates 



held their sittings ; and on June 1st, 1756, the first meeting of 



the Poole Turnpike Trustees took place to administer the Act, 



with Humphrey Sturt in the chair, and such familiar names as 



Hanham, Bankes, Churchill, Erie Drax, Dugdale, Pitt, Pickard, 



Portman, Trenchard and Templeman among the original 



trustees. For the next 100 years the meetings of the trustees 



took place alternately here or at the " Antelope Inn," Poole. 



In 1850-51 the room was used as a school, while the present 



school was being re-built. In the large room now used as 



printing offices was held the weekly corn market. In January, 



1838, the body of Lord Eldon of Corfe was brought on a 



hearse by stages from London, and lay in state in the room 



now a branch Post Office. The late W. Symmonds, who 



