A NEGLECTED area with a “unique” name is starting to gets its identity back with help from a £22,000 Lottery grant.

Pokesdown in Bournemouth is squeezed between the more famous names of Boscombe and Southbourne. Even the railway station was recently renamed “Pokesdown for Boscombe”.

Pam Ruthvan from Pokesdown South Residents Association, which won the grant, said: “Now we want to give it back the identity it’s lost over the years.”

The association recently put on an exhibition of photos at the Tattoo Parlour Cafe and member Robert Sanders, 72, a retired civil servant, said: “Everyone is fascinated by the history because they never knew it existed.”

Pam said the area’s first building was a farm in 1580 and the census of 1842 showed a village of 14 houses with 72 inhabitants.

The name Pokesdown is believed to be unique and comes from the Celtic word for a mischievous hobgoblin, she said – there are “Pookas” in Ireland, “Poakes” in Worcestershire and “Pwccas” in Wales.

The £22,000 grant’s most prominent purchase will be a 14ft-high welcome sign featuring a photo of village life from around 1900.

The money will also go on a plaque showing the area in 1700, two new benches, two solar lamps, and four oaks.

And it will fund new shrubs to close up gaps between the green and Seabournes pub, bird and insect boxes, and a general refurbishment of the grass and vegetation.

The area has also benefitted from council spending that paid for a new lamppost, work on the vegetation and a fingerpost outside Seabourne’s Pub.

Pokesdown used to be part of the famous run of antique shops between Bournemouth and Christchurch.

The Daily Echo has reported how Caroline Read from the Tattoo Parlour and the area’s traders are trying to bring this back with a modern twist, by opening vintage fashion and furniture shops.