Pokesdown

Pokesdown, Bournemouth
settlement
parish:
county:
coords:
Bournemouth
Dorset
SZ1292
refce: HANTSLOC.t
old map: 25inch County Series map -- Hants LXXXVI.10
Pokesdown
otherwise: Pokesdoune, 1300
refce: Coates 1989
POKESDOWN, suburb of Bournemouth, now in Dorset
Middle English 'goblin's hill'; unless the Middle English derivative of Old English 'puca' is here a surname. It survives in this capacity as 'Pook'. Young (1957: 186) wonders whether the dialect word for 'haycock' (cf Cope under 'pook, puck') is involved; but the 13th century with a medial '-s-' speaks against this.
   Old Hampshire Gazetteer - JandMN: 2001