Secret Somerset: Bridgwater

The main event in Bridgwater's year has to be the carnival, but that only takes place on one day and then you have to hope it doesn't rain. For history enthusiasts the primary attraction will be the story of the Monmouth Rebellion. If you are really keen you can follow Monmouth's story in other West Country towns such as Taunton and Lyme Regis.

Quick Tips:

Find out as much as you can about the history before getting here. Some of the local historians are very enthusiastic, and the museum staff are helpful, but everything in Somerset is seriously under-funded. This won't be like going to, say, the Tower of London, where the facilities are excellent and everything is laid on for you. You will get more out of the visit if you do a bit of work for yourself beforehand.

Best Way To Get Around:

Bridgwater is a small town, and most of the places I have mentioned are accessible on foot. However, the public transport is very poor, so if you want to get outside the town at all you will need a car. There is a branch of Enterprise Car Hire in the town.

Most towns in Britain have a local museum. Bridgwater's is better hidden than most, but there is a good reason for its obscure location. The building was the family home of the Blake family, of whom Robert the admiral was the most famous son. The building dates from around 1500 so the museum is itself an interesting piece of history. One room even has a sketch of a sailing ship scratched into the plaster. This is a great favourite with local schoolboys who like to believe that it is the work of the famous admiral when he was a boy. "But mum, Robert Blake drew on the wall of his house, why can't I?"

Naturally the museum's primary attractions relate to the Monmouth Rebellion and Blake himself. Two of its rooms are devoted to these subjects, and extensive historical information is available. Sadly there is not a lot of material available from earlier in the town's history. Bridgwater once boasted a splendid castle, but it was so badly damaged by Cromwell during the civil war that it was abandoned and cannibalised for stone by local people. Legend also has it that while the castle was besieged the local nobility, the Whyndham family, had the surrounding shops and houses burned down so as not to give any cover to Cromwell's troops. Consequently, little of pre-Civil War Bridgwater remains.

The museum does have a fair amount of material from later in the town's history, in particular focusing on the town's status as a thriving port. The reasons for this commercial success can be found in the section on the Brick & Tile Museum.

Adjacent to the museum is Blake Gardens, the town's largest park. The town library also adjoins the park, and is another potential source of information on local history.

Entry to the museum is free, and the various pamphlets that it sells are reasonably priced. Several books about the history of the town are also available for sale. The museum is closed on Sundays and Mondays.

The River Parrett is possibly one of the ugliest rivers in the world. Its waters are full of suspended particles of fine alluvial clay, giving them a permanent brown colouration. The riverbanks too are deep in banks of brown clay. It is all very unpicturesque. Yet this dirty river was the main source of prosperity for Bridgwater for around 200 years, for good quality clay is an essential ingredient of bricks and roofing tiles.

During the 18th and 19th Centuries, as Britain became more prosperous and more densely populated, so the demand for housing grew. The industrial towns of the north needed cheap homes quickly, and the rich southerners wanted smart dwellings without the expense of hiring a stone mason. Bridgwater answered both needs. Clay from the local area was transformed into everything from plain bricks to ornamental roofing tiles. The town became a major port. Tons of coal came in each day from South Wales to fire the kilns, and finished product left by ship and river barge to be delivered around the country.

Sadly this prosperity did not last. The arrival of the railways killed Bridgwater's status as a port. And the rise of concrete and cement as building materials, combined with a local reluctance to embrace mechanisation, put an end to the brick and tile industry. A small museum now occupies the only remaining brickworks in the area.

The Brick and Tile Museum was once part of the Barnham Brothers Brickworks. All that remains now is one long room lined with displays, plus a single kiln which you can look around. Local people sometimes give demonstrations of brick making. As museums go it is pretty small. You can look round the lot in 20 minutes. But if it wasn't for places like this, traditions like Bridgwater's brick making would be irrevocably lost.

Entrance to the museum is free.

You can tell a lot about the history of a town in England simply by taking a quick look at the churches. The classic example is Wells (about 15 miles from Bridgwater), which is a tiny little place yet has a massive and exceptionally beautiful cathedral. Bridgwater's church is nowhere near that impressive, but St. Mary's is large, and it is blessed with a very splendid spire, which is unusual. Clearly the town was wealthy in times past.

Although the town dates from Saxon times (Athelney, where King Alfred accepted the surrender of the Danes, is not far away), the current church dates only from about 1200 when the then lord, William Briwere, decided on a complete rebuild. The north side of the nave dates from this period, but substantial additional work also took place in the 14th and 15th centuries so most of the church looks rather more modern.

From the outside the oldest part of the church looks to be the tower. It is early 13th century and is made from local sandstone, which contrasts markedly with the rest of the building. It is this tower that Monmouth climbed to spy out the royal army before deciding on his fatal assault. I happened to be around on the anniversary of the battle and the church had opened the tower to the public. Don't try to ascend this yourselves, unless you are very fit. The old mediaeval spiral staircase is narrow, steep and goes up 60 feet. Going up isn't so bad. Going down those steep steps is murder. My upper thighs ached for 3 days afterwards.

The interior is very impressive, including lots of ornamental woodwork. The font dates from 1460 and was used to baptise Robert Blake in 1598. Pride of place, however, goes to the magnificent painting over the altar. The artist is unknown - the picture is believed to have been captured from a French or Spanish ship and the British seamen responsible presumably didn't bother to ask for details. It was presented to the church in 1775 by the local MP, a Mr. Poulett. He was christened Anne, in honour of the Queen who was his godmother. It seems that there have always been parents with little sense.

Bridgwater's third link with the 17th century commemorates an event from 1605. Every British schoolchild knows that on November 5th of that year one Guido Fawkes failed in his attempt to blow up Parliament, and the then King, the Protestant James I, with it. Few of them remember that this was actually a plot by hard line Catholic extremists, and not an early attempt at Republicanism. It isn't exactly clear whether Bridgwater celebrates Fawkes' failure, or the boldness of his attempt, but it is clear that the local festivities are spectacular.

There are larger carnivals in the world that come to mind. Rio, New Orleans and Notting Hill in London are all famous for their street festivals. The Gay Pride parades of San Francisco and Sydney are a riot of colour and fun. But all of these events are intended to be primarily daylight events. The Bridgwater Carnival takes place in the evening, and consequently every float is floodlit. It is, apparently, the largest illuminated carnival in the world.

Traditionally the Carnival takes place on the nearest Thursday evening to November 5th (Guy Fawkes Day). However, recently the Town Council has tried to cash in more on the popularity of the event which now attracts around 130,000 people. The Council is seeking to move to a hopefully more lucrative weekend date. The 2002 event will take place on Friday 9th November. Local traditionalists are outraged, but if it brings in more money the date change will doubtless stay. More information, and some photographs, can be found at the carnival web site.

Although the actual carnival takes place on only one day, there is a lot more to it than that. Smaller carnivals featuring most of the main floats take place in nearby towns on days close to the Bridgwater date. Earlier in the year, the various clubs that build the floats put on concerts to help raise money. Competition for the various prizes is fierce and the local people spend far more money on their floats than they ever take in. Most of the clubs are based around local pubs - the regulars at each pub making up the core members.

Once the procession is finished the town centre is given over to a large firework display. This is done mainly with so-called "squibs" - large roman candles fixed on the end of long poles which the "squibbers" wave about their head like crazed, firey drum majorettes. The current safety scare over fireworks has had a dampening effect on this part of the event, but it should still be worth seeing.

This is not one of those destinations that IgoUgo will ever have on a "most desirable" list. Most people in Britain have never heard of Bridgwater. I probably would not have heard of it if I had not been born here. But it is in an interesting part of the world. Glastonbury, home of King Arthur and pop festivals, and Cheddar, home of cheese, are only a few miles away. And though it may look insignificant now, in the 17th Century Bridgwater was at the centre of national political events.

You can find Bridgwater in Somerset, a part of South-West England once known as The Summer Country because its low-lying peat moors were flooded every winter. The land only existed in summer. Thousands of years ago, the people living here built houses on stilts to avoid the winter floods. Then, as time went by, irrigation tamed the land and it became a rich farming region. Bridgwater was probably built because it was an island of high ground within the marshes, and because it was a good place for bridging the River Parrett.

Nowadays the town is just one more settlement that people pass on their way down the M5 to the seaside holiday towns of Devon and Cornwall. But much of this journal will take you back in time to a dark period of British history. Nowadays the war between Catholics and Protestants is fought mainly in the streets of Northern Ireland, but in the 17th Century religious affiliation was a matter of life and death throughout England.

July is a good month for rebellions. America celebrates on the 4th, and France on the 14th. England had a July rebellion in 1685, but there were two significant differences. Firstly the reason for the revolt was religious, not political; and second it was a disastrous failure.

Earlier in the century, England had fought a bloody civil war. It resulted in the Catholic King, Charles I, being beheaded. In his place came Oliver Cromwell, a Protestant and at least nominal republican. However, Cromwell and his cronies took a rather hard line on non-religious activities, such as drinking and dancing, and the people of England soon decided that having a King wasn't so bad after all. Charles II, the son of the old King, was invited back from exile.

Charles II was a fun-loving fellow, legendary for his mistresses, and hugely popular in consequence. He was also very careful not to get too serious about religion, and to be fairly tolerant of all his subjects' beliefs, except when they conspired against him. However, when he died the throne passed to his brother, James II, who took a much more hard line view of life. James was a devout Catholic and he set about persecuting Protestants wherever he could find them. Some fled to the New World, but others plotted rebellion. Their attention focused on one James, Duke of Monmouth, reputedly one of Charles II's bastard sons.

Monmouth was already in exile for being involved in Protestant plots when Charles II died on February 6th 1865. However, he was persuaded back by offers of money and support. On June 11th he landed at Lyme Regis on the south coast of England with a small group of soldiers and supporters. Monmouth then marched north through towns such as Illminster, Taunton and Bridgwater. He received such warm support from the people of the South-West that he confidently proclaimed himself King.

By this time a Royal army under Lord Feversham was in the area, and the two forces spent the next few weeks marching around Somerset trying to outwit each other. Monmouth was also waiting for the military support he had been promised, but it did not appear and he fell back on Bridgwater. On July 6th Monmouth received word that Feversham was camped at Westonzoyland, a small village outside Bridgwater. From the tower of St. Mary's Church Monmouth spied out the enemy dispositions and decided on a daring night attack. He believed, quite rightly, that his army, largely peasant volunteers, would be cut to pieces in a normal engagement.

Surprisingly things went very well for quite a long time. But shortly before the attack was due to begin someone in Monmouth's army let off a musket. To this day no one knows whether this was treachery, or just some poor guy falling into one of the many irrigation ditches ("rhines", as they are called locally) that crossed the battlefield. Whatever the reason, the Royal army was alerted, and a rout ensued.

Some 1400 of Monmouth's followers died in the battle and the subsequent pursuit. Monmouth himself was captured on July 8th and taken to London where he was executed at the Tower. James II then set about taking revenge.

The Royal inquiry into the revolt was headed by Judge Jefferies. He set up court in Taunton, presiding over what later became known as the Bloody Assizes. It later transpired that Jefferies was in considerable pain from a kidney stone throughout the trial, which partly excused his bad temper. However, it should not excuse his announcing that anyone who had the cheek to plead innocent would be immediately found guilty of treason, and that the only hope local people had was to plead guilty and implicate as many of their friends as possible. A total of 333 people were executed, and a further 814 transported, mainly to the West Indies. By the time Jefferies had finished, the adult male population of Somerset had been decimated.

The Blake Museum has one room devoted to the rebellion, complete with sample uniforms, a diorama of the battle and so on. This year on the anniversary of the battle they had some local people dressed up as Monmouth and his men. St. Mary's joined in the celebrations, opening up the church tower to allow visitors to scan the horizon, just as Monmouth did all those years ago.

There is a small monument on the battlefield itself, but nothing much else worth seeing except the local cows. This seems rather a shame, the Battle of Sedgemoor, as it became known, was the last battle fought on English soil and ought to be better commemorated.

The Monmouth Rebellion is the most notable thing ever to have happened in Bridgwater, but the town should also be famous as the birthplace of one Britain's most capable admirals, Robert Blake.

Blake was a Protestant, and during the Civil War he fought in Cromwell's army, attaining the rank of Colonel. Once the war was over, Cromwell turned his attention to maritime threats and appointed Blake to the post of "General-at-Sea". The immediate danger was a Royalist fleet under the command of Prince Rupert that was preying on British shipping. Blake hunted them down and destroyed them in battle at Cartagena in November 1650. He then set about consolidating Cromwell's hold on Britain's more far flung territories such as the Isles of Scilly and the Channel Islands. In the process he pioneered techniques for naval blockades and amphibious landings.

In 1652 war broke out between Britain and Holland. Blake again led the British fleets to victory. He was then given a commission to make a nuisance of himself in and around the Mediterranean. He did this with some flair, including a successful attack on Tunis. Later he destroyed Spain's New World Fleet at a battle off Tenerife in April 1657, without losing a single ship himself. That was his finest victory, and also his last battle. Suffering from several wounds, Blake died before the fleet could reach home.

There seems little doubt that Blake was an extremely talented admiral. Nelson, who knew his naval history, was a great admirer of Blake's achievements. Blake was even given a state funeral and buried in Westminster Abbey. However, when Charles II became King he ordered that all of Cromwell's henchmen buried in the Abbey be disinterred and buried elsewhere. With the restoration of the Monarchy, the period of Cromwell's rule became an unfashionable part of British history. Every British schoolboy knows of the exploits of famous sea commanders such as Drake and Nelson, but Blake has been forgotten.

A statue of Blake exists in Bridgwater town centre. You can also learn more about him in the town museum, which is situated in Blake's family home.