The existing bridge is the third to be located on the site.
William Ponsonby, a
Member of Parliament for Poole, was responsible for building the first bridge in 1834. Ponsonby promoted his own
act of Parliament, the '''''' (
4 & 5 Will. 4. c. xlvi), to build the wooden
toll bridge 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 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. 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 assessed 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==