Poole is a large English coastal town, Borough, port and tourist destination, situated on the shores of the English Channel, in the ceremonial county of Dorset. The town has a population of 141,128 and is part of the South East Dorset conurbation. Poole is famed for its large natural harbour, claimed to be the second largest in the world. Maritime trade has a long history within the town, reaching its apex when the town was granted exclusive rights to fish off Newfoundland by Queen Victoria in the 19th century. During the Second World War the town was one of the central departing points for the D-Day landings of the Normandy Invasions. The town is one of the principal centres of sailing and yachting in the United Kingdom. Poole is home to the headquarters of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and the luxury yacht manufacturer Sunseeker. The Special Boat Service (SBS) also operate out of the harbour. During the summer months the town serves a large number of tourists who visit the waterfront, the town centre and the nearby Sandbanks beach and Brownsea Island. Other prominent employers in Poole include Barclays Bank, Hamworthy Engineering, Poole Packaging, Penske Cars, Ryvita, cosmetics company Lush, and the clothing company, Animal. Poole is also home to other famous institutions like Bournemouth University, The Arts Institute at Bournemouth and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (it is often misconceived that these are Bournemouth landmarks because of their names but this is not the case).
The Poole Harbour area has been inhabited for well over 2,500 years.[6] The local tribe were the Celtic Durotriges who lived in Dorset in the Iron Age, particularly around Wareham, five miles to the west. The earliest significant archaeological find in the harbour itself is the Poole Logboat, a 10 metre boat made from a single oak tree and dating to 295 BC. At the time the harbour was probably shallower and any settlement would now be under water. During the last few centuries before the Roman invasion the Celtic people were moving from the hilltop settlements, such as Maiden Castle and Badbury Rings on the chalk downs to the north, and onto the lower vales and heathland around the River Frome and Poole Harbour. It may be this marshy area which gave the local tribe of the area, the Durotriges, "water dwellers", their name. The Durotriges probably engaged in cross-channel trading at Poole with the Veneti, a seafaring tribe from Brittany. In the Roman invasion of Britain in the 1st century, Poole was one of a number of harbouring sites along the south coast where the Romans landed. The Romans founded Hamworthy, an area just west of the modern town centre, and continued to use the harbour during the occupation. The town's name derives from the Old English pol which was given to people who lived near a small body of water such as a pool or pond. Variants include Pool, Pole, Poles, Poll, Polle, Polman, and Poolman. More on Poole. 

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