Last week I had the pleasure of giving a talk at the public library.

One of the questions asked concerned how long the present bridge carrying the line across Castle Street has been in existence, in view of the fact that the bridge over the Avon nearby bears a plaque to the effect that it was the bridge that at one time carried the railway.

I should imagine that the Castle Street bridge was placed there between 1856 and 1859.

The first railway line at Salisbury was 22 mile branch line from Bishopstoke, near Eastleigh to Salisbury.

It was opened on January 27th 1847, and it terminated at Milford. The carriages were hauled by a double framed 0-6-0 “Rhinoceros.”

The second line covered the 19 miles from Warminster.

This was a single line, opened in June 1856 and ran to the GWR station which was off Fisherton Street.

In 1857 came the line from Salisbury to Andover, and a fourth line, from Salisbury to Gillingham, was opened in May, 1859.

The new Fisherton Street Station for the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) was opened on May 2, 1859, so it would appear that the Castle Street Bridge was built about then.

Later there was a proposal to get the directors of the LSWR to sanction the making of a footpath by the side of their line with a footbridge across the river to the station in Fisherton but it fell through because of the expense.

By this time Mr Thomas Scamell had constructed his bridge and road from St Paul’s to Castle Road.

It was a toll road with a gateway and turnstile at the junction of Nelson Road and Scamell’s Road.

Milford station as a passenger station was closed when the Fisherton project was completed in 1859 and the GWR station closed to passengers in September 1932.