Canford Magna is a village in the

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Dorset, England. It was created in 2019 and covers much of the area of the South Ea ...

district, in the ceremonial county of

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, England. The village is situated just south of the River Stour and lies between the towns of

Wimborne Minster Wimborne Minster (often referred to as Wimborne, ) is a market town in Dorset in South West England, and the name of the Church of England church in that town. It lies at the confluence of the River Stour and the River Allen, north of Pool ...

and

Poole Poole () is a coastal town and seaport on the south coast of England in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area in Dorset, England. The town is east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east ...

. The village was significantly developed by the Guest family of Canford Manor, featuring a mixture of

thatch Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, Phragmites, water reed, Cyperaceae, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), Juncus, rushes, Calluna, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away fr ...

and brick buildings, now mostly serving as residences for teaching staff. The western edge of the village merges with the residential suburb of

Merley Merley is a large housing estate in Poole, a mile (2 km) south of Wimborne Minster. Originally called Myrle, Merley was a manor in the tithing of Great Canford (or Canford Magna). The village merges with that of Oakley, and the housing ...

and the village community of Oakley. The village school was built in 1866 and now serves as the youth club for Canford and Merley.

History

Development under the Guests

The new buildings were started in 1866, beginning with a school and mortuary chapel.

Lady Charlotte Guest Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Guest (née Bertie; 19 May 1812 – 15 January 1895), later Lady Charlotte Schreiber, was an English aristocrat who is best known as the first publisher in modern print format of the ''Mabinogion'', the earliest prose li ...

, of Canford Manor, had become heavily involved in the estate and had commissioned the construction of three blocks of terraced cottages. These were built between 1870 and 1872, embellished with

gables Gables may refer to: * Gable, a portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches * Gables, Nebraska, an unincorporated community in the United States * Gables, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia * Ken Gables (1919-19 ...

, ornamental chimneys, lattice windows, and large ornamental door hinges. These became widely known as

Lady Wimborne Cottages The Lady Wimborne Cottages (also known as the Canford Estate Cottages) are 111 cottages built by the Guest family of Canford School, Canford Manor, between 1867 and 1904 to improve the living standards of workers on the estate. They are named aft ...

. Cornelia Guest, Daughter-in-law of Lady Charlotte, also shared an interest in the estate cottages, constructing more across the estate in

Ashington Ashington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, with a population of 27,864 at the 2011 Census. It was once a centre of the coal mining industry. The town is north of Newcastle upon Tyne, west of the A189 and bordered to the ...

and

. She also commissioned the thatcher, John Hicks, to add rustic porches of oak branches and twigs to the existing terraced cottages. Hick's work and the architecture of Canford Village were captured in a series of drawings by the artist Barbara Jones which appeared in an article of

The Architectural Review ''The Architectural Review'' is a monthly international architectural magazine. It has been published in London since 1896. Its articles cover the built environment – which includes landscape, building design, interior design and urbanism � ...

in 1944. Under the First Lord Wimborne, and his wife Cornelia who inherited the manor in 1880, the work to convert Canford Magna into a model village was completed. The finished village had created such a stir that sightseers from

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

travelled by horse drawn charabancs to view it. They arrived to trumpet

fanfare A fanfare (or fanfarade or flourish) is a short musical flourish which is typically played by trumpets (including fanfare trumpets), French horns or other brass instruments, often accompanied by percussion. It is a "brief improvised introdu ...

and were taken around by guide well versed in the benefits of the model village. The favoured season for this tours was

Autumn Autumn, also known as fall (especially in US & Canada), is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southern Hemisphe ...

when the gables of the cottages were covered in scarlet

Virginia creeper ''Parthenocissus quinquefolia'', commonly known as Virginia creeper, woodbine, five-leaved ivy, or five-finger, is a species of flowering vine in the grape family Vitaceae. The species is native to eastern and central North America, with its r ...

and the great

chestnuts The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Description C ...

that lined the streets were in colour.

Later history

In 1931 the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

had a population of 2985. On 1 April 1933 the parish was abolished and merged with Poole and Pamphill. It is now in the

unparished area In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish (the lowest level of local government, not to be confused with an ecclesiastical parish). Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparis ...

of Poole. In 2025, a new incinerator is planned to be built in Canford Magna. It was approved by Dorset Council. Local MP

Vikki Slade Vikki Slade (born 17 December 1972) is a British Liberal Democrat politician who has served as the Member of Parliament for Mid Dorset and North Poole since 2024. She unsuccessfully contested the same seat in 2015, 2017 and 2019. Political car ...

raised the issue in parliament at

Prime Minister's Questions Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs, officially known as Questions to the Prime Minister, while colloquially known as Prime Minister's Question Time) is a constitutional convention (political custom), constitutional convention in the United Kingd ...

Church.

Canford Magna Parish Church The Canford Magna Parish Church in Canford Magna, Dorset, England – possibly dedicated to St Augustine – is a mixture of Saxon architecture, Saxon, Norman architecture, Norman and Gothic architecture, Mid Gothic architecture. English Herita ...

is within the village, the oldest part of which is nearly a thousand years old. During late Saxon times, a small cruciform chapel was built, which is now the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

. The church was much expanded during the Norman period in the

perpendicular gothic Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-ce ...

style, using dark local stone, with the North tower being added circa 1180.

Canford School

Canford School Canford School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18). Situated in 300 acres of parkland near to the market town of Wimborne Minster in Dorset, south west England, it is one of the largest ...

, a co-educational private boarding school is located in the village. The school was previously the mansion and estate of

Lord Wimborne Viscount Wimborne, of Canford Magna in the County of Dorset, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. History The title was created in 1918 for Ivor Guest, 1st Viscount Wimborne, Ivor Guest, 2nd Baron Wimborne. The Guest family descend ...

, yet was sold to form the school in 1923. A golf club lies on the edge of the village and the school.Canford Magna Golf Club
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References

{{authority control Villages in Dorset Former civil parishes in Dorset Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Conservation areas in Dorset