A doctor’s surgery is the unlikely setting for a Victorian theatre, but that is exactly what can be found at the Shelley Manor Medical Centre on Beechwood Avenue, Boscombe, Dorset. Built in 1866 by Sir Percy Florence Shelley, it received grade II heritage listing in August 1999. Having lain derelict for several years, it is now being restored and will be used for a community arts venue once completed.
Sir Percy Shelley Builds a Theatre in his Boscombe Garden
Around 1851, Sir Percy Florence Shelley, son of the poet Sir Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his Frankenstein creating wife, Mary, moved into a large house near Bournemouth called Boscombe Lodge. Sir Percy and his wife, Lady Jane, were keen amateur dramatists and within a year of moving in had built a detached theatre on the grounds of their new home.
In their little private theatre, the literary pair put on plays to entertain their rich and wealthy friends. One such performance, late in December 1852, was strangely prophetic. Sir Percy and his friends were acting out a play called The Wreck at Sea during a heavy gale and, as they were saying their lines, two ships came to a watery end just off the coast from Boscombe.
The maritime casualties that night, according to the Hampshire Telegraph of January 1, 1853, were a barque named William Glen Anderson which had moored up in Studland Bay on business, and a French brig named Frederick which had sought shelter from the storm in the same area. The force of the wind and sea caused them to both break free of their moorings. Whilst only one seaman lost his life that night, both ships were wrecked.
Shelley’s New Theatre at Boscombe Manor Opened in 1866
By 1866, Sir Percy had built a new theatre attached to the house itself (which he renamed Boscombe Manor). The Morning Post newspaper of April 9, 1866, gives an interesting account of how it was opened for the first time to the general public. The plays staged on that opening night were “a lively little farce” called Good For Nothing by Buckstone and a drama entitled Lord Bateman at Home written by Shelley himself.
The list of notables in the audience was quite impressive and included the Earl and Countess of Suffolk, the Earl and Countess of Malmesbury, Sir Henry Drummond Wolff and the Welsh industrialist, Sir Ivor Guest. Other worthies known to have visited the theatre include Sir Henry Irving and Robert Louis Stevenson.
After the deaths of Sir Percy (1889) and Lady Jane (1899) Boscombe Manor passed onto Lord Abinger who sold the property at some point before 1916 when it became home to Grovely Manor School. The buildings were sold to Bournemouth Council in 1937 and were used by the local Air Raid Precautions team during WWII.
Shelley’s Manor Finally Sold to Become a Medical Centre
After the war, it became part of Bournemouth and Poole College of Art up until 1998. A year later, the theatre element of the building received its grade II listing from English Heritage and three years later, ownership reverted to Bournemouth Borough Council. It was about this time that it became known as Shelley Manor locally. The building was then left to slowly rot for several years before finally being sold to the Charles Higgins Partnership (CHP).
It was CHP that formally adopted the name Shelley Manor and redeveloped part of the old manor as a medical centre with a late night pharmacy, doctor’s surgery, physiotherapy and other treatment rooms for both National Health Service and private patients. CHP also developed a block of exclusive flats on part of the land to pay for the costs of that redevelopment.
It is also CHP that is now starting the careful restoration of Sir Percy’s little theatre along with the development of a small café to the side of the theatre. The company is hopeful that all will be completed by 2012 and the Shelley Manor theatre will once more be used to entertain local people.
Other sources:
- All links accessed July 2011
- Bournemouth 1810-1910, Mate and Riddle, 1910
Elaine Findlay - An expert cook, Findlay's passion for food is evidenced by the size of her kitchen and her library of old recipe books
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