Lower Bockhampton Bridge
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1425920
- Date first listed:
- 30-Jun-2015
- List Entry Name:
- Lower Bockhampton Bridge
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Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1425920
- Date first listed:
- 30-Jun-2015
- List Entry Name:
- Lower Bockhampton Bridge
- Location Description:
- Stinsford, West Dorset, Dorset. Located at SY72060 90706.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Dorset (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Stinsford
- National Grid Reference:
- SY7205990705
Summary
Lower Bockhampton Bridge, a triple-arched road bridge dating from the early C19.
Reasons for Designation
Lower Bockhampton Bridge is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Design interest: as a small triple arched road bridge, with a subsidiary arch crossing a drain from the water meadows, dating from the early C19 and little altered; the construction combines brick and stone in a considered manner, with the parapets curving gracefully outwards towards the ends of the bridge;
* Historical interest: the C19 plaques warning against misuse of the bridge add to its interest, as does the association with Thomas Hardy, who was born at Higher Bockhampton, and mentions the bridge in his fiction.
History
Situated at Lower Bockhampton, at the south-western extremity of the village of Stinsford, the bridge, which was probably constructed in the early C19, the bridge crosses the River Frome, with a subsidiary arch traversing a drain carrying water from the water meadows lying to the south.
Two C19 cast-iron plaques fixed to the inner face of the south parapet warn against misuse of this county bridge: one notes that the bridge is unsuitable for ‘weights beyond the ordinary traffic of the district’, whilst the other is an example of a ‘Transportation’ plate commonly fixed to bridges in Dorset during the reign of George IV, which threatened transportation for life for anyone found guilty of wilfully damaging the bridge.
Higher Bockhampton, Stinsford, was the birthplace of the novelist Thomas Hardy, who re-named Stinsford as ‘Mellstock’ in his fiction. The bridge makes an appearance in the novel ‘Under the Greenwood Tree’ (1872).
Details
Road bridge, probably constructed in the early C19.
MATERIALS: red brick, with keystones and piers in Portland stone.
DESCRIPTION: triple-arched hump-backed bridge of three unequal spans, each having a round-headed arch. The central arch has a span of 14 feet, whilst the side spans are 10 feet wide. The Portland stone bases to the piers are raised to a point on the outer faces. The parapets, topped by rounded brick coping, curve outwards at either end. The upper eight brick courses of the parapet are slightly set back. The road continues a short distance southwards, raised on rubblestone walling, to the subsidiary bridge, which has a brick arch.
Sources
Books and journals
Wallis, A J, Dorset Bridges A History and Guide, (1974), 64
McFetrich, D, Parsons, J, Discover Dorset Bridges, (1998), 52-3
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 09-Jun-2026 at 23:20:26.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.