on Tuesday 26 November 1878 Bournemouth F.C. participated in one of the first floodlit matches, when they played under experimental electric lights at Dean Park for "a grand exhibition of the new electric light". In 1888 the club moved to Dean Park and changed their name to Bournemouth Dean Park.
Following changes to county borders that transferred Bournemouth from Hampshire to Dorset, Dorset County Cricket Club between using the ground in the 1980s, although Hampshire also continued to use the ground until 1992. From 1994 to 2015 it was the main ground for Dorset.[1] The ground was also used by Bournemouth University, who took on the lease of the ground in 1995.[3][4]