History Trails around Bridwater

Town Trail

From Lower Lakes it is just a 5 minute drive to Bridgwater, straight across the traffic lights at Chilton Trinity School and then continuing along Chilton Street, turn left into Russell Place, cross over the docks, and then turn right at the traffic lights into Northgate. On the left Angel Place Car Park is a good place to park (2hrs parking for £1 in 2009) and take a circular town walk. You can see a lot in two hours, or take longer if you wish (for a small extra charge!)

1. Turn left into the High Street, and you’ll see a statue depicting the “Spirit of Carnival” at the Cornhill. Bridgwater was one of many towns in England to celebrate the saving of monarch and parliament from the first major terrorist attack in 1605 with bonfires and firework displays, but for some reason this tradition of celebrating Guy Fawkes Night developed into what has become the world’s largest night-time carnival.

2. The “Squibber”, which was unveiled in 2005, marks the spot where the High Cross, built around 1367, roughly stood at the centre of the market place. One of the pillars bore the inscription 'Mind Your Own Business'. Here important proclamations and address were made and later in its life a water tank was erected upon the top, to supply the townspeople with water. The cross was pulled down in the early 1800s.

3. The Cornhill was the site of the medieval market place. Here a hexagonal covered market cross stood in the 18th century. The existing Cornhill Building was built in 1826. Notice the decorative pineapple at the top of the dome.

4. At the end of Fore Street is a bronze statue of Admiral Robert Blake, Oliver Cromwell’s “General at Sea”. The plaques mounted on the granite pedestal illustrate his victories at sea and the return of his body to Plymouth in 1657.

5. South of Cornhill are several fine four-storey buildings dating from the first half of the 19th century in “Renaissance” style with elaborate window mouldings and quoins (corner stones).

6. The Royal Clarence House (now SpecSavers) is a Regency style building dating from 1825 and was once the town’s top hotel. The plaque over the portico is a casting based on the old seal of the Borough of Bridgwater taken from the first iron bridge over the River Parrett (1795), which was demolished and replaced by the present bridge in 1883.

7. Passing northwards along the narrow road beside the National Westminster Bank we walk along what was once the town entrance into the Castle.

8. To the right are several 19th century buildings. Notice the dental surgery has iron railings incorporating foot scrapers and gates, and notice also the black lions’ heads on the guttering at the roof level.

9. We come to King Square, which once would have been within the Castle precincts. Two sides are of early 19th century buildings, while the third is of much more recent construction (1976), built to fit in with the other facades. The older buildings have much finer architectural details with railings and balconies. The War Memorial in the centre of the square represents Civilisation and was sculptured by the artist John Angel.

10. Turning right we enter Castle Street, one of the finest Georgian streets in the south-west, built under the auspices of James Brydges, first Duke of Chandos, from 1723, especially to attract the merchants of the town. He bought the castle site and the ruined Keep of the castle was still standing at the western end of the street when the project was started in 1720.

11. Looking to our right southwards along Queen Street, following the outside curve of the street, there is a stone wall, believed to have been part of the castle, and the round part thought to be a curing chamber.

12. More obvious is a very unusual building, Castle House, a folly constructed in 1851 by a local businessman. It was way ahead of its time in using a variety of shapes and textures including moulded precast concrete to produce the gargoyles, arches and all the decorative features.

13. Opposite is the Courthouse, built in the early 19th century with a classical façade constructed of Bath stone.

14. Queen Street leads to Court Street where a slope shows where once people passed from the high castle ground, over the site of the moat and into the town.

15. We arrive at West Quay and turn right upstream beside the River Parrett. The wall, steps and railings retain the character of a quayside.

16. The Fountain Inn at No 2 West Quay is a late 18th century building with a high gable in Dutch style. It was about here that the original stone bridge crossed the River Parrett with its three Gothic arches, a clever impediment to merchant ships that originally sailed further upstream to the ports of Taunton and Langport.

17. Next door the Britannia Building Society was formerly the Punch Bowl Inn erected in 1795. Two inns side by side were not unusual in Bridgwater, which once boasted well over 100 inns.

18. The long tall red wall to the right was part of the outer wall of the castle. The river once lapped the wall which would have had battlements at the top.

19. Down a little alley is the Watergate of the old castle, one of the oldest structures in Bridgwater. It has three Norman (rounded) arches above and a recess to the right, where the customs official would have sat and watched goods come into the castle. All goods coming into the town from the sea would have had to have passed through here.

20. The Town Bridge was opened in 1883 and cost £3,214 to construct. It replaced the iron bridge which had been built in 1795, which itself replaced the stone bridge that had been too narrow to accommodate the increasing traffic. The lanterns are replicas of the original Town Bridge lanterns installed in commemoration of its centenary in 1983.

21. At this end of Fore Street is a replica of the single-shafted cross which used to stand in the pig market in Penel Orlieu.

22. The line of Fore Street with its narrowness dates back to the commercial activities of medieval times. The buildings are mostly 19th century. Notice Nos 4-6 on the right hand side have an Edwardian façade with two shades of terracotta blocks and unusual chimneys ornamented with snake heads.

23. On the far side of the river, in Eastover, the Hospital of St John once stood, possibly near the Cobblestones Inn at the far end. It was constructed by William Briewier during the reign of King John and cared for pilgrims and sick people, but turned away pregnant women, lepers and lunatics. It was destroyed around 1536 when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries of England.

24. Continuing upstream along Binford Place, Nos 8 & 9 are examples of two fine early 19th century town houses. Notice the Lion Mask door knocker on No 9, and the iron balconies fronting the first floor windows.

25. Looking across the river to Salmon Parade, notice the early 19th century cottages and the Bridgwater Hospital, parts of which date back to 1820.

26. Following the road round into Chapel Street, the Bridgwater Library was built in 1905.

27. In the gardens behind the library is a bandstand erected in honour of the ascension of Edward VII in 1902.

28. At the end of Chapel Street is the former Wesleyan Chapel built in 1816, which had a columned portico extension added in 1860.

29. Continuing into Dampiet Street (Damyet Street in medieval times), the buildings on the south side are simple 19th century town houses.

30. The street to the right, George Street, is named after the George Inn, the main inn of Bridgwater from the 17th to 19th centuries. To the left is a car park. Looking diagonally across this you will see the remaining part of a medieval dwelling, a gable with a window.

31. On the left Blake Street leads us to the building, known traditionally as the birthplace of Robert Blake in 1598, and now the town museum. The roof timbers suggest the building dates back to 1500.

32. At the end of the street, Durleigh Brook, visible in a deep culvert, marks the line of the old Town Ditch. The building through which it flows is an old mill used for grinding corn for the castle in the 17th century, and perhaps the same mill mentioned in the Domesday Book.

33. Continuing along Dampiet Street we pass the Unitarian Chapel, the oldest nonconformist church in the town built in 1688. Inside are the original boxed pews, and here Samuel Coleridge the poet preached in 1797 and 1798.

34. At the roundabout, the South Gate once stood across the street, one of the four stone built gates on the four roads to the town, from the north, south, east and west. Each had a gatekeeper; whose job was to close the gates at night. Otherwise the town's defences comprised the town ditch, the stone walls of the houses, and the Durleigh Brook.

35. Turning right into St. Mary Street, the Rose and Crown Hotel was originally a medieval house dating back to the 14th century.

36. The Tudor Café next door is not as old as its name suggests, but built in Victorian times. The façade is only imitation half timbering, but the original house does date back to about 1600. Inside original panelling, plaster friezes and fireplaces can be seen.

37. On the right, the lane by the estate agents marks the old entrance to the George Inn

38. No 39, now part of the Carnival Inn, is reputed to be where Judge Jeffries lodged during the “Bloody Assizes” following the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685. Also known as the Marycourt, with parts from medieval times, it is stone walled on the ground floor and timber framed above, much like the building John Chubb recorded on the Cornhill, although the current timbers were added in the late nineteenth century.

39. No 41, Waterloo House, is a fine early 18th century building in a style similar to those in Castle Street.

40. The nearby Baptist Church with its Ionic columns, set back behind an open forecourt, was built in 1837 to replace an earlier place of worship.

41. The Old Vicarage Restaurant was the medieval vicarage for the Parish Church. 15th century in origin, with some original walls and roof timbers, and on the left side of the entrance to the hotel courtyard can be seen some of the original wattle and daub walls, where you build a lattice of wood and fling a mixture of clay, dung and straw substance over it to make a wall.

42. St Mary’s Church, the Parish Church of Bridgwater, dates back to the 13th century with a spire built later in 1367. The tower is 60 feet, while the spire is 114 feet, so the weathercock stands 175 foot off the ground. The spire was used to guide ships up river. It suffered in a thunderstorm in 1813 and the top of the spire was considerably darker for several years. The Victorian era saw much rebuilding of the church. Only the tower, the spire and some walling on the northern flank are what externally remains of the medieval design. Inside there is a fine Jacobean screen to the pews occupied by the former Borough Mayor and Councillors. Behind the altar is a fine painting by an unknown artist, unusual in portraying Christ as beardless.

43. Continuing westwards along St Mary Street, on the left is The Priory, originally an 18th century town house.

44. On the left is Silver St. and on the right side is a door with a mirror within. This door is thought to have been robbed from the old 13th century Franciscan Friary, along with much of the stonework of this building. The friary is associated with Fr. John Somer, mathematician and court astronomer, who was a friar here in the second half of the fourteenth century. The Friary was dissolved in 1538 when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries. The Broadway and Friarn Lawn occupy the present day site in which the Friary was believed to have stood. Continuing along St Mary St. we can see several stone walls on the right, of what was once Friary stone.

45. Penel Orlieu is the combining of two medieval streets Penel Street and Orlue Street. If we cross the road to stand by the pillar box, we stand where the Pig Cross once stood. Crosses were erected to symbolize and proclaim a place of peace and fair trading, and these were erected where markets were held. The original cross stood outside the West Gate, but was moved here by 1689. The Pig cross was replaced in 1769 by St Mary's cross and this was pulled down in the late 1820s. A replica of the latter can be seen by the river on Fore St.  The West Gate, the most elaborate of Bridgwater's four gates, used to stand roughly about the middle of the busy crossroads with Broadway.

46. The Cinema was built in 1936 on the site of the old cattle market.

47. At the end of High Street is a block of mid-19th century properties with an elegantly curved end known locally as The Round House.

48. Across the road is Remedies Bar, previously named the Market House Inn because of its proximity to the old pig and cattle markets. Notice the 1583 date stone over the door. This was taken from the Valiant Soldier Inn, which stood on the same site.
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49. Just past the Engine Room and the shop next to it, you will see an odd piece of masonry. This, like you may have seen on the Carnival Inn, is a side support to a half timber medieval building. The ground here has been raised by about a metre over the years.

50. Continuing eastwards along High Street notice the sign of a horse on the facades flanking a pedestrianised area to the left. This was the trademark of the Starkey, Knight and Ford Brewery which once operated this building as a public house.

51. The Town Hall is a very large three-storey building with a stucco (a rendering of lime, sand and water) front in late Georgian style built in 1865.

52. Arriving back at Angel Place Shopping Centre, the buildings either side of the entrance were once pubs. This wider part of the High Street was originally cut in two by a central island of narrow buildings known as The Shambles, believed to have been demolished in 1856. Notice the sign above No 25 in gold leaf on green behind glass: “E.H. Hooper, Cash Drapers, Silk Mercer, Millinery and Mantles”, established in 1875.

53. As a finale, just past the Angel Crescent shopping centre go down the little alleyway into Clare Street, passing Angel Crescent, which was once guarded at the far end by the North Gate. Clare Street. was once the home of Isolda Parewastel. In 1362 while on a pilgrimage to the Holy land, she was captured by the Saracens, held in captivity, stripped and hung upside down on a wheel, but managed to escape. When she returned from pilgrimage, she went to see the Pope in Avignon, and he gave Isolda permission to build a chapel in St Mary's Church.