IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Yarmouth Road, POOLE, BH12 1HD

Newly-built, on Bourne Valley Road; http://www.bsbcharteredarchitects.co.uk/branksome-business-park.htm

This large postbox has been repositioned (or, more likely, been provided as a replacement for the old box) in the last couple of years. Wroxham Road is the turning just behind us, and on its next junction up there were a couple of shops on a corner which had become vacant – the postbox was outside those shops. The shops have recently been demolished and housing built in their place; they did include a post office for a short time – from 1932 until the Second World War. This box is currently missing its collection-times plate – or perhaps it is still awaiting one – although there are the words 'IN USE' scrawled on the white panel.

- Pillbox (type FW3/22): DoB ID: e11751 One's imagination is required here, but trust me, there really is a pillbox under that mantle of ivy immediately behind the lamp post. It's apparently a type 22 located close to the Bourne Valley viaduct over Gordon Road. It would have witnessed the devastating raid on 27 March 1941 by a lone enemy aircraft that was almost certainly aiming for the viaducts. All three bombs released missed their target, and instead scored a direct hit on the nearby Bourne Valley Gas Works canteen. It was lunchtime, and full of workers, 33 were killed, and 23 more injured, many seriously. It was the single most serious loss of life to date, and one of the worst in the districts of Bournemouth and Poole during the whole of WWII, second only to the raid on the Metropole Hotel in Bournemouth in May 1943 that killed 131. Image

Surrey Road passes under two viaducts in quick succession, though only one now carries track. The near viaduct used to provide rail access to the old Bournemouth West station, which is now a train maintenance depot. The depot is accessed only via the southern 'arm' of the triangle (see map), meaning that this particular viaduct is redundant. The far viaduct carries the mainline between Weymouth and London Waterloo.

View eastwards towards Bournemouth Central: ex-LSW London - Southampton etc. - Weymouth/Bournemouth West main line. The locomotive is ex-LSW Drummond T9 4-4-0 No. 30285 (built 1/1900, withdrawn 6/58). The headcode is for a Bournemouth Central - Dorchester goods train.

- Anti-tank Blocks: DoB ID: e41546 Two anti-tank blocks under an arch of the disused viaduct on the N side of Surrey Road. Image

Surrey Road passes beneath two railway viaduct in quick succession. The viaduct in the foreground is disused. It used to carry trains into Bournemouth West station, which closed in 1965. The viaduct in the background carries the main line between London and Weymouth.

The lefthand one carries the main railway line. The righthand one is derelict.

As seen from Gordon Road. In the foreground, the now dismantled line which once led to Bournemouth West station; in the background, the current mainline from Bournemouth to Poole. The viaducts were built in 1884. Local historians say that during construction of the viaducts, a horse and cart carrying bricks fell into the then hollow structure, could not be retrieved, and had to be covered with infill. For a diagram showing what the original layout was, see http://www.sdjr.net/locations/branksome.html