Listed Building record MDO27370 - Lady Wimborne's Bridge, Oakley Hill, Poole

A railway bridge built in 1853, to a design by Sir Charles Barry for Welsh ironmaster Sir Josiah John Guest (known as John) (1785-1852) of Canford Manor and the Southampton and Dorset Railway. Limestone ashlar with brick flanking walls; the vault of the bridge and flanking retaining walls are built of Upton brick with stone coping. The design of the bridge is elaborate, in Canford Estate style also seen on houses commissioned by Sir John and his wife Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Guest (née Bertie) (1812 –1895); this project was continued by Charlotte and their daughter-in-law Cornelia.

Their son, Ivor Bertie Guest (1835-1914) married Cornelia Spencer-Churchill (1847-1927) in 1868 and became Baron Wimborne of Canford Magna in 1880. Their philanthropic projects included building of estate cottages and they sponsored a number of schools in the area. It is likely that the name of the bridge refers to Cornelia but it is not known when this name started to be used; the bridge is not named on 1:25-inch scale Ordnance Survey maps published in 1901, 1928 and 1936.

GREENBACK List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Scheduling record). SDO19706.

Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch 2, Dorset XXXV.9 Revised: 1900, Published: 1901 (Map). SDO11594.

Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch 3, Dorset XXXV.9 Revised: 1926, Published: 1928 (Map). SDO11595.

Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch 4, Dorset XXXV.9 Revised: 1934, Published: 1936 (Map). SDO11596.

Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 3 Nov 1860 (Serial). SWX6825.

... the train left the Wimborne Station, and passing over the railway arch, which was constructed from designs by the late Sir Charles Barry...'

Divall, Colin, 2022, Canford Manor’s “splendid archway under the South-Western Railway”, ca 1844–55 (Monograph). SDO21476.

Record last edited

Nov 5 2025 2:20PM