Redhill Park is a recreation ground in Northbourne, on the northern edge of Bournemouth, immediately next to the heathland of Redhill Common. The two sites share a single origin: both were once part of the old Turbary Common, land protected from building by the 1802 Christchurch Inclosure Act. In 1937, the developed portion, tennis courts, a playground and a bowls green, was formally renamed Redhill Park, while the wilder remainder kept the Redhill Common name.
From common land to recreation ground
The bowls pavilion opened in 1938, and Redhill Park Bowling Club played its home matches on the green for 80 years, until falling membership and rising maintenance costs forced its closure in 2017. During the Second World War, air raid wardens used the park as a first aid post and sank a water tank into the ground; after the war, that tank became a children's paddling pool, and two football pitches and a second playground were added through the 1950s.
Play area, pitches and a café today
Today's Redhill Park centres on its play area, a paddling pool, multiplay climbing frame, swings, a seesaw, a ball court and a small skate zone, alongside football pitches, open playing fields and a café run by The Parks Foundation. Entry is free and the park is open daily, with car parking on site.
Redhill Park is one of Bournemouth's Five Parks charitable trust sites (registered charity 299740), together with neighbouring Redhill Common, Kings, Queens and Meyrick parks and Seafield Gardens. For more green spaces and family days out around the bay, see our guide to things to do in Bournemouth.
