Another river, another bridge

The Corfe River

One of Purbeck's shorter and smaller rivers. It rises in the Corfe Valley, with its relatively large water catchment area, travels eastwards to Corfe Castle, and then turns north towards Poole Harbour. It can turn from a clear trickle into a muddy torrent within an hour.

This photo is of the bridge carrying road traffic westwards, adjacent to Ollie Vye's Lane and the castle mound. (The river is flowing away from the viewer.) A lovely spot: you walk up the lane with sheep grazing on the steep slope to your left, and this river immediately to your right; the lane starts gently enough but has become fairly steep by the time you emerge in the very centre of the village.

The Corfe river occasionally floods. The invariable cause is vegetation floating downstream and impeding the flow of water under the next road bridge, a couple of hundred yards downstream. Then at times the road from Wareham to Swanage can be blocked.

This photo was taken during substantial clearance works to the banks upstream of this bridge, to lessen the flood risk.