Bridgwater, a seaport of
more than 15,000 inhabitants, on the tidal part of the Parrett. It
has a station on the G.W.R. main line to Exeter, and is the terminus
of the S. & D. branch from Glastonbury.
The general aspect of the town is uninviting, and its immediate surroundings
are almost as uninspiring as its buildings. The river, which ministers
largely to its prosperity, adds little to its attractions. It, however,
furnishes the town twice a day with a mild sensation in the shape of
a bore, which at the turn of the tide rolls up the river-bed like a
miniature breaker. Though the name, Bridgwater, hardly savours
of antiquity it really conceals quite a venerable origin. The not uncommon
combination of a bridge and water has nothing to do with the nomenclature.
The name appears to be a corruption of Burgh Walter, from Walter
of Douay, one of the followers of William the Conqueror. In the Great
Rebellion the place proved to the Royal cause in the West a kind of
Metz.
Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, Somerset
The castle was supposed to be impregnable, and was held
in force for the king by Colonel Wyndham, but on the destruction of
the suburb of Eastover by Fairfax, the royal colours were, much to the
chagrin of Charles, unexpectedly hauled down from the stronghold, and
the garrison, 1000 strong, tamely walked out. The Parliamentary commander
made a huge "bag" by
the capture. It was, however, in connection with Monmouth's ill-starred
enterprise that Bridgwater attained its chief historical notoriety,
for it was here that the Duke had his headquarters before the fatal
engagement on Sedgemoor. Of the castle—founded by a De Briwere,
who is said to have been the bearer of Richard I.'s ransom—hardly
a vestige remains. King's Square now occupies its place, and a few fragments
of its walls and portions of the water-gate are incorporated in some
of the cellars which border the quay.
In the centre of the town is the
parish church of St Mary, a spacious building with a low W. tower of
red sandstone crowned by a tall and graceful spire. It is chiefly Perp.,
with an ugly and inharmonious modern clerestory; but there are some
remains of the Dec. period in the N. porch. Over the altar hangs a picture
of the "Descent from the Cross," said to have been found in
the hold of a captured privateer. The noteworthy features are (1) black
oak screens and pulpit, (2) the blocked squints, in the porches, (3)
stoup and geometric rose window in N. porch, (4) mural monument to Sir
Francis Kingsmill and two sons. In the churchyard are two timeworn,
recumbent figures recessed into the N. wall of N. transept, and an altar-tomb
to Oldmixon, mentioned in Pope's "Dunciad." In front of the
town-hall is a good statue of Blake, the famous Cromwellian admiral,
whose birthplace, much modernised, will be found in Blake Street. An
arched doorway in Silver Street is said to have been the gateway of
a college of Grey Friars. A house E. of the churchyard has a fine panelled
ceiling.
The modern church of St John in the suburb of Eastover
(for the name, cp. Northover at Ilchester and Southover at Wells) stands
upon the site of a former hospital of the Knights of St John, founded
by William de Briwere in the 13th cent. Besides
its shipping trade, Bridgwater does a large business in bricks and tiles,
and possesses a unique industry in the manufacture of Bath bricks—presumably
so called from their resemblance to Bath stone. Beds of mingled mud
and sand are left by the tide in recesses excavated in the river-banks.
The deposit is dug out, moulded into bricks, and dried, and then exported
for cleaning metals.
Bridgwater is the major business centre for the Quantocks. It's a busy town, once a river port, but now an industrial centre.
In mediaeval times ships reached the Mediterranean with Somerset products and returned from the western Atlantic with fish. The town was once the centre of the brick and tile industry as can be witnessed from the walls and roofs in the streets.
Bridgwater and Taunton Canal |
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