B3082

The B3082 is a B-road connecting the town centres of Wimborne Minster and Blandford Forum. The road also acts as a connection to the A31 from northern Dorset, although traffic is advised to use the primary A350 instead.

Avenue of Beeches

The exact layout of the three B-roads in Wimborne Minster town centre is somewhat confusing. Most mapping shows the B3082 springing from the B3078 along Victoria Road and St Margaret's Hill, whereas the signage on the ground has it running from the B3073 along Lewens Lane and Harnham Road, then multiplexing with the B3078 along West Borough and Stone Lane (in fact unclassified). From here, the road passes through Pamphill and heads towards Kingston Lacy manor house, owned by the Banks family who previously inhabited Corfe Castle.

As we head towards Blandford we pass through a long tunnel of trees. To the right is the Iron-Age and Roman fortified settlement Badbury Rings. The road heads through the village of Tarrant Keyneston and through the Dorset countryside, meeting the A354 at a roundabout and descending into Blandford.

In its original classification the B3082 continued in a straight line onto East Street terminating on the A354 at the marketplace. (The 1922 road list has Park Road and Damory Court Lane as B3083; this was presumably removed in 1935.) In the early 1970s a one-way system for the A354 and A350 was installed in the town centre, and the B3082 was cut back to the end of Wimborne Road. With the Blandford bypass of 1982 it inherited the entire one-way system – signs in Blandford now give no route number to avoid confusion – and the old route of the A350 for a further mile. It now ends at an oblique T-junction with the A350 bypass midway between Blandford and Durweston.