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bridgwater |
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Sedate BRIDGWATER has seen little excitement since it was embroiled
in the Civil War and its aftermath, in particular the events surrounding
the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685. Having landed from his base in Holland,
the Protestant Duke of Monmouth, an illegitimate son of Charles II, was
enthusiastically proclaimed king at Taunton, and was only prevented from
taking Bristol by the encampment of the Catholic James II's army there.
Monmouth turned round and attempted to surprise the king's forces on
Sedgemoor , three miles outside Bridgwater. The disorganized rebel army
was mown down by the royal artillery, Monmouth himself was captured and
later beheaded, and a period of repression was unleashed under the
infamous Judge Jeffreys, whose Bloody Assizes created a folk-memory in
Somerset of gibbets and gutted carcasses displayed around the county.
The town was once one of Somerset's major ports and still has some
handsome red-brick buildings around its centre. The thirteenth- to
fourteenth-century St Mary's church (Mon-Wed & Sat 10.30am-noon, Thurs
10.30am-noon & 2-3.30pm), immediately identifiable by its polygonal,
acutely angled steeple that soars over the town centre, has an oak
pulpit and a seventeenth-century Italian altarpiece. By the River
Parrett on Blake Street, and just round the corner from the red-brick
Christ Church, where Coleridge preached in 1797 and 1798, Bridgwater's
Blake Museum (Tues-Sat 10am-4pm; free) shows relics, models and a video-documentary
relating to the Battle of Sedgemoor. The sixteenth-century building is
reputedly the birthplace of local hero Robert Blake, admiral under
Oliver Cromwell, whose swashbuckling career against Royalists, Dutch and
Spanish is also chronicled and illustrated here.
Bridgwater's tourist office is on the High Street (March-Oct Mon-Fri
10am-5pm Sat 10am-4.30pm; Nov-Feb Mon, Wed & Fri 10am-1pm & 1.45-4pm;
tel 01278/427652). If you're looking for accommodation hereabouts, try
Acorns , 61 Taunton Rd (tel 01278/445577; under £40), on the banks of
the Bridgwater-Taunton Canal, or, more centrally, the atmospheric Old
Vicarage , right opposite St Mary's Church (tel 01278/458891,
oldvicaragehotel@aol.com ; £60-70), which calls itself one of
Bridgwater's oldest buildings. For snacks head for the Nutmeg House in
Angel Crescent, behind the shopping centre off the High Street, where
good pastas, soups, salads and a breakfast menu are offered (closed
Sun).
A good time to be in Bridgwater would be for the carnival celebrations,
which usually take place on the nearest Thursday or Friday to Guy Fawkes
Night (one of the Catholic conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot hailed
from nearby Nether Stowey). Grandly festooned floats belonging to the
local Carnival Clubs roll through town, before heading off to do the
same in various other Somerset towns and villages, including North
Petherton, Glastonbury, Wells and Shepton Mallet.
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