Poole Bridge (also known as Poole Lifting Bridge and Hamworthy Bridge) is a

bascule bridge A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- o ...

in Poole,

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

, England. Constructed in 1927, the bridge provides a road link across a busy boating channel. In February 2012 a second bridge was completed intending to operate in conjunction with the existing bridge

Location

Poole Bridge is situated on the western end of

Poole Quay Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurc ...

and spans across a narrow channel between

Poole Harbour Poole Harbour is a large natural harbour in Dorset, southern England, with the town of Poole on its shores. The harbour is a drowned valley (ria) formed at the end of the last ice age and is the estuary of several rivers, the largest being t ...

and

Holes Bay A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in many fields of en ...

, a tidal inland lake which lies to the north of the harbour. The bridge provides a road link as part of the

A350 road The A350 is a north–south primary route in southern England, that runs from the M4 motorway in Wiltshire to Poole in Dorset. Route Starting at junction 17 of the M4 motorway north of Chippenham, Wiltshire, Chippenham, the first three miles ar ...

between Poole's town centre and the suburb of

Hamworthy Hamworthy is a village, parish, peninsula and suburb of Poole in Dorset, England. It is sited on a peninsula of approximately that is bordered by the town of Upton to the north, Poole Harbour to the south, Lytchett Bay to the west and Holes B ...

, avoiding a journey of around Holes Bay.

History

The existing bridge is the third to be located on the site. William Ponsonby, a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Poole, was responsible for building the first bridge in 1834. Ponsonby promoted his own

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

to build the wooden

toll bridge A toll bridge is a bridge where a monetary charge (or '' toll'') is required to pass over. Generally the private or public owner, builder and maintainer of the bridge uses the toll to recoup their investment, in much the same way as a toll road ...

at a cost of £9,612. However, the bridge had a steep gradient that caused problems for horses and in 1885 it was replaced by an iron

swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span (turning span) can then pi ...

with gentler approach gradients. It was privately owned and collected tolls up until 1926, when it was purchased by the Borough of Poole and replaced with the third and present bridge which opened in on 11 March 1927. The opening ceremony included a blue ribbon cut by the Mayor, as well as a visit from "Father Neptune". It has seven time-tabled lifts a day and another ten unscheduled lifts for commercial boats and it is estimated to lift over 6,000 times a year. Poole Borough Council marked the bridge as worn out with cracks appearing in the concrete, closing it for repairs costing £4.2 million for nine months from September 2016. Both sides of the bridge will be demolished and rebuilt, it will be expected to last a further 120 years after the repairs. The bridge reopened in January 2018 after many months delays and a sixteen month closure. On 15 December 2022, the bridge closed to vehicles for emergency repairs.

References

External links

Poole Bridge - YouTube
{{coord, 50.712473, N, 1.992543, W, display=title Bridges in Dorset Buildings and structures in Poole Bascule bridges Former toll bridges in England Poole Harbour