Lady Wimborne Bridge

This railway bridge was built over the then main driveway to Canford House, now Canford School, to convey the Southampton and Dorchester Railway, which opened on the 1 June 1847.
The Dorset Central Railway, from Bath, which later became the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, joined the line at a junction by the southern end of this bridge, opening on the 1 November 1860.
The last scheduled passenger train from Wimborne was on the 2 May 1964, although freight trains continued to use the line until final closure on the 3 May 1977.
The bridge is one of the most ornately carved railway bridges in the country. It is faced with Ham stone from a quarry near Yeovil, with local brick used for the underside of the arch. There are five shields carved on both sides of the bridge and pinnacles at the ends of the parapets.
The central crest on the bridge was that adopted by Sir John and Lady Charlotte Guest who bought the Canford Estate in 1846. Sir John Guest (who was one of the greatest iron founders of the time, his ironworks being situated in Dowlais, South Wales) would only allow the railway to cross his drive if the bridge were constructed to the design of his architect, Sir Charles Barry. Their son, Ivor, was created Lord Wimborne in 1880. It is due to his wife Cornelia that the distinctive estate cottages, seen in the area around Poole, have become known as "Lady Wimborne Cottages". Like her mother-in-law Lady Charlotte, Lady Wimborne was a philanthropist who cared deeply for the welfare of the estate workers. The house was sold in 1923 to become what is now Canford School.