The area was once an isolated rural hamlet called Bure.[2] A place called "Beora" is recorded early in the 12th century as being granted to Christchurch Priory.[2] An estate map of 1796 depicts the hamlet of Bure as comprising two clusters of houses on either bank of Bure Brook and facing on to a village green.[2] In the 19th century, the land to the west was enclosed for the creation of a country house and its associated grounds known as Bure Homage, whereas to the east lay Bure Farm.[2] The settlement of Friars Cliff was developed from fields in the first half of the 20th century.[2]
