Bridgwater

Somerset’s Romantic Poets

Posted February 29th, 2012
by Richard Savage

This part of Somerset is an ideal area for exploring the footsteps of some of the most famous romantic poets in English literature. In the last posting we mentioned something about William Wordsworth, and the countryside between Nether Stowey and Lynton was an area enjoyed by Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Not far from Lower Lakes we can explore localities where Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, Robert Southey, Percy Bysshe Shelley and William Blake lived or roamed. Some of these places have still retained the atmosphere where they were inspired to write their poems

The Unitarian Chapel in Bridgwater attended by Coleridge

 In Bridgwater itself is the original Unitarian Chapel which Coleridge attended, while in Mary Street, Taunton, is another Unitarian Chapel to which Coleridge would walk to and fro along the Quantocks to preach on Sundays. At Nether Stowey is the cottage at 35 Lime Streetwhere Coleridge lived from 1797-1799 with his wife Sara and son Hartley. This is now a National Trust Museum, displaying some of his personal memoirs, and it was here from 1797-1798  that Coleridge wrote the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Frost at Midnight, This Lime Tree Bower my Prison, and Kubla Khan. Across the road from the cottage the “Ancient Mariner Inn” is named after one of Coleridge’s most famous works. In 1798 Coleridge was visited by William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy, and they were so enthralled by his company that they immediately rented Alfoxden Hall near Holford, 3 miles west of Nether Stowey.

Coleridge's Cottage with the Inn of the Ancient Mariner opposite

Continue westwards on the A39 we pass the “Castle of Comfort”, dating from the 16th century or even earlier. During the 17th century it was a coaching inn, after which it became a coffee house and then a cider house when copper mining took place in the area. Miners collected their wages from the Counting House just to the east and came down to the Castle of Comfort for refreshment. On one occasion at least in 1798, William and Dorothy Wordsworth along with Coleridge refreshed themselves at the Castle of Comfort on a walk to Lynton, referred to by Dorothy in her journal.

Alfoxden Park House is reached by turning left in Kilve along Pardlestone Road. The building dates back to 1710, and the Wordsworths stayed here from July 1797 to June 1798. Here Wordsworth and Coleridge wrote their “Lyrical Ballads” and Dorothy began her journals in which she recorded walks, visits, conversations, and the world of nature through the winter of 1797. These beautiful word pictures were an important source of stimulation for her brother and also Coleridge. They were completed when the couple moved to the Lake District. and posthumously published as The Alfoxden Journal, 1798 and The Grasmere Journals, 1800-1803. During this period the main poems Worsworth produced were Ruth, The Thorn and The Whirlwind from Behind the Hill.

Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner was planned and partly composed during a walking tour with the Wordsworths. Setting out from Alfoxden, they agreed that a poem should be published to cover the cost of their journey. They felt that the Monthly Magazine would pay £5 for a ballad based on the supernatural, a popular theme at the time. The main theme came from a dream about a ghost ship which  Coleridge’s friend, John Cruikshank, had. Wordsworth added the idea of the crime of shooting the albatross from reading Captain Shelvocke’s “A Voyage round the World by way of the Great South Sea” (1726), and another seafaring volume by William Bettagh, about the life of a sailor, Simon Hatley, who is said to have shot down “a black albatross” while on board a ship called the Speedwell.  Hatley sailed to the Pacific on two of the most dangerous voyages of the early 18th century and by an amazing coincidence was at one time on the same ship not only with Alexander Selkirk, the marooned sailor whose story inspired Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, but also with William Dampier, an adventurer and writer whose work inspired Jonathan Swift to write Gulliver’s Travels.

The first night of the walk was spent at Watchet and the first few lines of the poem were reputedly written at the “Bell Inn”. Watchet harbour undoubtedly provided inspiration for the harbour from which the mariner set sail, then turning westwards along the Bristol Channel and then south into the wide Atlantic Ocean.

The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,
Merrily did we drop
Below the kirk, below the hill,
Below the lighthouse top.

The sun came up upon the left,
Out of the sea came he!
And he shone bright, and on the right
Went down into the sea.

And then when he returned at the end of the voyage, with the sites reappearing in the reverse order:

Oh! dream of joy! is this indeed
The lighthouse top I see?
Is this the hill? is this the kirk?
Is this mine own country?

We drifted o’er the harbour-bar,
And I with sobs did pray -
O let me be awake, my God!
Or let me sleep alway.

In the harbour is a sculpture of the Ancient Mariner with the albatross hung around his neck.

Continuing along the A39 to Porlock, “The Ship Inn”, one of the oldest inns on Exmoor, is where some of the Ancient Mariner was composed, and which also has a fireside nook known as Southey’s Corner. In 1799, Robert and Edith Southey set off from Bristolfor a tour of the Exmoorcoast, arranging to return via Nether Stowey to stay with Samuel Coleridge. Edith became ill at Minehead, suffering from “extreme debility, pain in back and bowels, lack of appetite” and other complaints. Southey stayed with her for a fortnight, exploring the surrounding area. On 8th August, Edith being better but not fit for walking, Southey set off alone. He was driven to Porlock by Coleridge’s Nether Stowey friend and neighbour, John Cruickshank, in “a sort of sledge is used by the country people resting upon two poles like cart shafts.” Later he wrote to his brother: “Tom, you have talked of Somersetshire and its beauties but you have never seen the finest part. The neighbourhood of Stowey, Minehead and Porlock exceed anything I have seen in England before. . . .”

That evening he stayed here at the Ship Inn: “the bedroom reminded me of Spain, two long old dark tables with benches and an old chest composed its furniture: but there was an oval looking-glass, a decent pot de chambre and no fleas.” The next day was chilly and wet and he stayed by the inn fire in a nook now known as Southey’s Corner and composed his sonnet ‘To Porlock’ which includes the lines:

Here by the summer rain confined;
But often shall hereafter call to mind
How here, a patient prisoner `twas my lot
To wear the lonely, lingering close of day,
Making my sonnet by the ale house fire,
Whilst Idleness and Solitude inspire
Dull rhymes to pass the duller hours away.

A week later the ‘Morning Post’ sent him a guinea for his efforts.

Coleridge introduced the Wordsworths to the woodland path from Porlock Weir to Culbone where he had been the previous month and composed Kubla Khan. Culbone is said to have been inspiration for the hermit’s woodland home in The Ancient Mariner.

This Hermit good lives in that wood
Which slopes down to the sea.
How loudly his sweet voice he rears!
He loves to talk with marineers
That come from a far country.

He kneels at morn, and noon, and eve -
He hath a cushion plump:
It is the moss that wholly hides
The rotted old oak-stump.

The  walk to Culbone and back takes a good hour, but is worth the effort. Here we pass some of the remains of Ashley Combe, the mansion built in 1799 and improved in 1835 by Lord William King (later created the First Earl of Lovelace).  Ashley Combe was designed as a romantic country home for his wife Ada Byron (daughter of Lord Byron, yet another romantic poet) with exotic terraced gardens in the Italian style. It subsequently fell into disrepute and ruin, and was pulled down. There are still tunnels, passageways and archways to be seen beside the Culbone path. Ada Lovelace was also a close friend of Charles Babbage, inventor of the first computer or “analytical machine” andAdais credited with being the first computer software programmer. In 1979 the US Department of Defence named a secret software programme “ADA” in her honour.

The Wordsworths and Coleridge continued their coastal walk to Broomstreet Farm and Yenworthy, and by dusk reached Lynmouth. The next morning they walked up to the Valleyof Rocks, which they proposed to use for the setting of a prose tale The Wanderings of Cain, a story of murder and remorse. It was decided that Wordsworth should write the first canto of the story and Coleridge the second which he finished ‘at full finger-speed‘ only to find Wordsworth with a nearly blank sheet of paper and a look of ‘humorous despondency’ on his face. The story was never finished and later attempts at writing things together also failed, due to clashes of personality.

Coleridge and the Wordsworths were greatly enamoured with the Lynton area and even thought of moving there. Coleridge wrote to a friend: “We will go on a roam to Linton and Linmouth, which if thou camest in May will be in all their pride of woods and waterfalls, not to speak of the august cliffs, and the green ocean, and the Vast Valley of Stones all of which live disdainful of the seasons or accept new honours only from the winter’s snow.”

The impression made by the scenery around Lynton and the Valley of Rocks is reflected in his poem Reflections on Leaving a Place of Retirement, although not specifically named.

                                           But the time, when first
From that low Dell, steep up the stony Mount
I climb’d with perilous toil and reach’d the top,
Oh ! what a goodly scene ! Here the bleak mount,
The bare bleak mountain speckled thin with sheep ;
Grey clouds, that shadowing spot the sunny fields ;
And river, now with bushy rocks o’er-brow’d,
Now winding bright and full, with naked banks ;
And seats, and lawns, the Abbey and the wood,
And cots, and hamlets, and faint city-spire ;
The Channel there, the Islands and white sails,
Dim coasts, and cloud-like hills, and shoreless Ocean–
It seem’d like Omnipresence ! God, methought,
Had build him there a Temple : the whole World
Seem’d imag’d in its vast circumference :
No wish profan’d my overwhelméd heart.
Blest hour ! It was a luxury,–to be !

It is not clear whether they returned to the Valley of  Rocks as Wordsworth had intended and it is certain only that they passed through Dulverton. They returned after a week, during which time they dropped the idea of publishing the poem in a magazine and proposed to publish jointly a book of their poems, which came out a year later as Lyrical Ballads, the work which is said to have inspired the English Romantic movement. Besides The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, it included one of Wordsworth’s most famous poems, Tintern Abbey. The second edition, published in 1800, had a preface in which Wordsworth discusses what he sees as the elements of a new type of romantic poetry, one based on the “real language of men“. Here, he also gives his famous definition of poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings from emotions recollected in tranquility.”

In Lynmouth is  ”Shelley’s Hotel”, where Percy Bysshe Shelley honeymooned during the Summer of 1812, having eloped with the 16-year-old daughter of a former London inn keeper, named Harriet Westbrook. Two years later Shelley abandoned her for the love of his life Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, the authoress whose most well-known novel “Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus” may have been inspired by attending the lectures given by Andrew Crosse in 1814 in which he explained his attempts to create living organisms by means of atmospheric electricity in his laboratory at Fyne Court, Broomfield.

Not far from Lower Lakes in the opposite direction, on the Mendips around Glastonburyand Charterhouse, we can trace some of the things which stimulated William Blake to write “Jerusalem”. He also was acquainted with Mary Shelley and something of an eccentric non-conformist visionary mystic, although rejected as a madman by 18^th century society.  When Blake died in 1827, William Wordsworth said, “There was no doubt that this poor man was mad, but there is something in the madness of this man which interests me more than the sanity of Lord Byron and Walter Scott.”

Blake hated the effects of the Industrial Revolution inEnglandand looked forward to the establishment of a New Jerusalem “in England’s green and pleasant land.” He was inspired by the legend that Jesus as a boy accompanied his uncle Joseph of Arimathea to our island and visited Glastonbury. The term “dark Satanic Mills”, which entered the English language from this poem, is interpreted as referring to the early Industrial Revolution and its destruction of nature and human relationships. Around Charterhouse we can see the remains of the lead furnaces where the ore was refined and many small boys died in Victorian times from the effects of having to clean out the furnaces.

Further afield beside the A39 between Ashcott and Street is the “Pipers Inn.”  In 1841, two years before he succeeded Southey as Poet Laureate, Wordsworth returned to Somerset on a nostalgic trip to visit his youthful haunts. He and his wife Mary stayed at a friend’s house in Bath, and attended the wedding of their daughter, Dora, to Mr. Edward Quillinan at St James’s Church. One day the wedding party drove out to Ashcott to have breakfast at Pipers Inn and afterwards they all went to Alfoxden to reminisce over their past. The Pipers Inn certainly dates from 1723 and  stands on the site where there has been an inn for over 400 years, and one called “The Castle” was built here, possibly in the late 17th century. About 200 years ago an imposing house was added to the side of the existing building to form the present day frontage with contrasting architectural styles.

It is not only romantic poets who get carried away by their emotions. I will stop here!

Spring is here at Lower Lakes

Posted February 27th, 2012
by Richard Savage

After a glorious sunny weekend, we feel that spring is definitely with us at Lower Lakes. The fine weather has brought out the daffodils, primroses and the blackthorn into flower.

Daffodils and Primroses in flower on 26th February beside Iris Lake

The interesting things about the blackthorn is that the white flowers blossom even before any green leaves appear.

The first primroses of Spring besides Iris Lake

The interesting things about the blackthorn is that the white flowers blossom even before any green leaves appear.

Blackthorn in flower beside Lodge Lake

It is generally recommended that the sloes should be picked after the first frost, on the premise that they are less bitter then. However, I have been finding that over the past 5 years the sloes have been ripening earlier and earlier, so that last year they were ready for picking in early October instead of late November.

What a joy it is to see the yellow daffodils beside our lakes, “tossing their heads in sprightly dance” as Wordsworth wrote in his famous poem, inspired by a walk he took with his sister Dorothy aroundGlencoyneBay, Ullswater in theLake District in the spring of 1802. After their stay at Alfoxton House to be near their friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his wife in Nether Stowey from 1797-1798, and their move to Germany (his lease of Alfoxton House being terminated because their landlady believed a rumour that Coleridge and Wordsworth were French spies), Wordsworth was homesick for England and they returned to the Lake District. “Daffodils” was among the first poems that Wordsworth wrote after publishing “Lyrical Ballads” with Coleridge in 1798.

In her Grasmere Journal, Dorothy wrote on Thursday 15^th April:

“When we were in the woods beyond Gowbarrow Park, we saw a few daffodils close to the water side. We fancied that the lake had floated the seed ashore and that the little colony had so sprung up. But as we went along there were more and more and at last under the boughs of the trees, we saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore, about the breadth of a country turnpike road.

I never saw daffodils so beautiful they grew among the mossy stones about and about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness and the rest tossed and reeled and danced and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the lake, they looked so gay ever dancing ever changing.”

Like her brother, Dorothy had a gift of personifying nature, and in the poem there is a reversal of characters. The daffodils are likened to joyful human beings, while the poet views himself like a lonely cloud. Many of his poems around this time had themes of death, sorrow, and separation, so perhaps the vision of the daffodils brought him the comfort he expresses in the last verse. Written in 1804 and published in 1807 in “Poems in Two Volumes”, it was amazingly not at that time appreciated by Coleridge and even scorned by Lord Byron. It was originally just three stanzas:

I wandered lonely as a Cloud
That floats on high o’er Vales and Hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd
A host of dancing Daffodils;
Along the Lake, beneath the trees,
Ten thousand dancing in the breeze.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee: –
A poet could not but be gay
In such a laughing company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude,
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the Daffodils.

Gradually it gained popular acclaim and in 1815 Wordsworth produced the revised version with an extra second stanza which is the most well-known today (I have put the changes in bold type):

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
and twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
in such a jocund company:
I gazed – and gazed – but little thought
what wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Personally I find it a beautiful poem in which Wordsworth invites us to share his innermost thoughts and feelings, the emotional ups and downs of a romantic poet, and the comfort he received from the beauty of nature.

Another Notable Bridgwater Naval Man

Posted February 15th, 2012
by Richard Savage

This afternoon I went in search of another notable Bridgwater naval man, one who fought in the American Civil War from 1861 to1865 for the abolition of slavery, William Jolley Nicholls (1843-1921).  He emigrated to America in 1853 when he was 11 years old and was one of the early pioneers.

He served with the Union forces in the American Civil War, fighting for the abolition of negro slavery.  He served in the Union navy on board the USS North Carolina and the Potomac from 1861-1865, including the famous battle of Mobile Bay in August 1864 when William was a seaman on the Stockdale under Admiral David Glasgow Farragut. The ships had to run the gauntlet between two shore batteries on Fort Gaines and Fort Morgan at the entrance to the bay, and the USS Tecumseh hit a mine and sank immediately. On the order from Farragut “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” (torpedoes was the name given to mines then) the fleet broke through into the bay, and attacked the forts for 3 weeks until they surrendered.

He subsequently joined the army of the Republic, and on retirement became a stonemason.

Around 1911 he returned to the “Old Country” and lived in Devonshire, before moving to Bridgwater for the last two years of his life.  His home was 151 St. John Street and he was buried in August 1921 in the Bristol Road cemetery.  His daughter was the headmistress of the village school in Chedzoy.

William Nicholls' grave in Bristol Road cemetery

If you want to see his grave, it is to the left hand side of the tarmacked road leading northwards from the car park, four plots along on the north side of the grass track between Sections 3 and 4.  Sadly it is quite broken down.  But the inscription can be clearly read: “Veteran of the American Civil War for the Abolition of Slavery 1861-1865.”

William Jolley Nicholls' grave

Tribute to a Civil War Veteran

Another connection between Bridgwater and the naval battles of the American Civil War can be seen in the Blake Museum, the name plate of the CSS Alabama, which was sunk off  Cherbourg.  You can read about this in http://www.experiencesomerset.co.uk/the-bridgwater-connection-with-the-css-alabama

How many bridges are there in Bridgwater?

Posted February 13th, 2012
by Richard Savage

Most people, in Somerset at least, know that there isn’t a Bridge in Bridgwater. That is, the only “e” in Bridgwater is in the water. The way to remember is by referring to its ancient origin, the Saxon settlement of Brycge, which means a jetty or gang-plank for unloading ships.  It was only after the Norman conquest that the Baron Walscin, known to the Normans as Walter of Douai, replaced the Saxon thane Merlswain, and Brugie-Walter gradually became reduced to Bridgwater in Medieval times.

It wasn’t until around 1200 that the first Town Bridge was built across the River Parrett by William Brewere, with stone piers and a timber roadway. Around 1400  John Trivet provided funds to complete the Town Bridge with stone arches. The whole central arch of the bridge was replaced by a drawbridge during the Civil Wars in the 1640s, and the arch rebuilt after the war. The stone bridge was removed in 1795 when a new iron bridge was constructed, the forerunner of the bridge of today, built in 1883 a few yards further upstream. It proved difficult to remove the old stone piers and they remained as convenient moorings for ships for a number of years.

Town Bridge, Bridgwater, looking downstream

In later years three bridges have been built further downstream from Town Bridge.

The last bridge over the Parrett is the Drove Bridge, constructed in 1992 as part of the Bridgwater Northern Distributor road scheme.

Drove Bridge viewed from the south

The next road bridge upstream is Chandos Bridge built in 1988 to convey road traffic from The Clink to the north side of Bridgwater. It runs to the south of the Black Bridge, the pedestrian and cycle steel bridge which is the remnant of the telescopic railway bridge built by Francis Fox in 1871. It carried the railway, originally broad-gauge and then narrow gauge, over the river to the docks until 1953.

In March 1958 a new reinforced concrete road bridge, the Blake Bridge, was opened as part of a bypass to take the A38 and A39 traffic away from the centre of Bridgwater.

Further upstream, the Somerset Bridge on the southern edge of Bridgwater close to Huntworth is a railway bridge built from 1838-1841 by Isambard Kingdom Brunel to carry the Bristol and Exeter Railway across the River Parrett.  Brunel left the central scaffold in place as the foundations were still settling but had to remove it in 1843 to reopen the river for navigation.  Brunel demolished the brick arch and had replaced it with a timber arch within six months without interrupting the traffic on the railway. In 1904 it was replaced by a steel girder bridge.

Slightly further upstream is the modern concrete motorway bridge started in 1971 and opened in 1973 which carries the M5 motorway over the river and the railway line, and the canal.

So there we are.  There are currently 7 bridges across the River Parrett in and around Bridgwater.

More living “bricks” of Bridgwater – Naval Heroes

Posted February 4th, 2012
by Richard Savage

Robert Blake was not the only naval hero from Bridgwater.

Two other “bricks” served under Nelson. Sir Davidge Gould (1758-1847) was born in Bridgwater, although his father came from Sharpham Park near Glastonbury. He joined the navy at the age of 13 and served as a midshipman in the Mediterranean until being promoted to Lieutenant in 1779. In 1782 he took part in the last sea battle of the American War of Independence under the command of Sir George Rodney against a French fleet. In 1795, as Captain of the Bedford, he took part in various skirmishes at the Battle of Genoa and the Battle of Hyeres under Vice Admiral Hotham, and then in 1798 he captained the Audacious as part of the fleet under Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson pursuing the French fleet to Aboukir Bay near Alexandria, and then taking part in naval history’s most overwhelming victory, against superior gun power – the Battle of the Nile, for which Davidge Gould received a medal for valour. He was awarded the KCB in 1815, became Full Admiral in 1825, was awarded the GCB in 1833, and retired from the navy in 1840 at the age of 82.

Better known is the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, when another son of Bridgwater, George Lewis Browne (1784-1856) played a significant role as Lieutenant alongside Admiral Lord Nelson on the upper deck of HMS Victory. He attended the local grammar school in Bridgwater from the age of 7, and is reported to have climbed the masts of ships along the quays to escape being bullied. In 1797, he joined the navy and became a midshipman on board the Royal George and rose quickly to Lieutenant at the age of 20. His exemplary conduct, his assiduous studying of his profession in his spare time, his instruction of juniors, and his total abstinence from alcohol won the admiration of first Sir Thomas Hardy and then Admiral Lord Nelson. He received his Lieutenant’s commission on the quarter deck of the Victory on 1^st August 1804, the anniversary of the Battle of theNile.

His role on board the Victory was as assistant signal officer, and therefore along in raising the final signals “England confides that every man will do his duty” followed by “Close Action.” He remained on the upper deck when Nelson was carried mortally wounded below. After the Victory was decommissioned he served as Flag-Lieutenant on the Ocean under Admiral Lord Collingwood, who promoted him to Commander, just 2 days before Collingwood died, so Browne had the responsibility of bringing his admiral’s body home to England.  He then retired and bought a small farm on Knowle Hill. Farming was not stimulating enough for him, so he went to London to study law. In 1836 he returned to Bridgwater where he became a magistrate and also branch manager for the West of England Bank. He was also an active member of the Unitarian Chapel. His remains and those of his wife, Ann, are now together in a family vault in the cemetery on the Wembdon Road.

Another naval hero was Commander Trevor Crick, OBE, DSC (1901-1997), who after retiring from the Royal Navy settled in Spaxton, and was a founder member and Commanding officer of the local Sea Cadet unit. His education included 5 terms on the Training Ship Conway, a Merchant Navy training establishment, and then 3 terms at Dartmouth. In 1917-18 he served on board the battleship HMS Colossus with the 4^th Battle Squadron on the Grand Fleet, and then as Midshipman on the battlecruiser HMS Lion. The Admiralty then sent him to Cambridge University, where he captained the First XV at rugby, playing many times at Twickenham, and but for an injury could have won an England cap. He also represented the navy as a light heavyweight boxer and climbed Ben Nevis in record time.

In 1930 he trained at HMS Vernon, the torpedo and mining school, and won an award from the Admiralty for developing a new device for sweeping mines and countering the detection systems of magnetic mines, just before World War II broke out. He was strafed, bombed and wounded in the foot at the evacuation from Dunkirk while waiting to evacuate troops in a Dutch barge, and had to be evacuated himself. In 1941, while commanding the corvette Freesia, he led 8 minesweepers in advance of the amphibious invasion of Madagascar in May 1942 and was awarded the DSC  “for bravery and enterprise while serving.”

While on convoy escort duty off the coast of Spain, he was able to add a bar to his DSC through depth charging the Italian submarine Leonardo da Vinci which two months earlier had torpedoed the troopship Empress of Canada, on which his brother Group Captain Kenneth Crick was senior officer.

Those of us who have never personally been in actual combat conditions may throw up out hands in horror and indignation when we hear of our own soldiers and sailors being killed by “friendly fire”, especially when it is British troops being attacked by Americans, but the fact is that in the heat of battle mistakes can happen in one’s zeal to engage the enemy and timing is critical when it is “them or us” and orders must be obeyed. Trevor Crick won his OBE for the courage he showed when in August 1944, after being mentioned twice in despatches for his part in the D-day landings, as Senior Officer of the First Minesweeping Flotilla off the Normandy coast on board the Jason, his flotilla of minesweepers was attacked by 16 RAF Typhoons with rockets, mistaking them for enemy vessels. Two sweepers were sunk, the Britomart and Hussar, while the Salamandar had her stern blown away; 117 men lost their lives and 153 were wounded. With the Salamandar drifting within range of shore batteries, Trevor Crick took the Jason to her rescue, laying a two-mile smoke screen, and towed her to safety.

Once again, I am indebted to Roger Evans for researching out most of these details which are grippingly written in “Forgotten Heroes of Bridgwater” (ISBN 0 9525674 1 5).

The living “bricks” of Bridgwater – Outstanding Soldiers

Posted February 3rd, 2012
by Richard Savage

Reminiscing about the Bridgwater brick works must have been the reason why I woke up with the expression “You’re a brick!” in my mind, and wondering where that came from.

It refers, of course, to a good, solid, substantial, dependable person. The expression is said to have originated with King Lycurgus of Sparta (ca. 800-730 BC), who was reputed to be responsible for establishing the Spartan virtues of equality (among citizens), military fitness, and austerity. When questioned about the absence of defensive walls around his city. “There are the walls of Sparta”, he replied, pointing at his soldiers, “and every man is a brick.’” [From the "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997)].

It is strange how words come to mean something different from what they originally meant. Think of today’s use of the word “wicked”. When I was a boy, wicked meant only one thing, and a person who was wicked was bad and evil. Today, it is a compliment when your children say “You’re wicked, Dad!”

Oddly, the word brick seems to have come from the Old French briche which is akin to the Germanic/Middle Dutch word bricke, meaning a tile, or broken piece, with the same root as break. Even today in computer language something that is “bricked” is non-functional and beyond repair.

So, we have to admit there was some sense in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice through the Looking Glass” when the pompous Humpty Dumpty said to Alice:

‘There’s glory for you!’

‘I don’t know what you mean by “glory”,’ Alice said.

Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. ‘Of course you don’t — till I tell you. I meant “there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!”‘

‘But “glory” doesn’t mean “a nice knock-down argument”,’ Alice objected.

‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’

‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’

Obviously, people can, and do. And there is also some sense in the strange conversation that Alice had at the Mad Hatter’s tea party in “Alice in Wonderland”, when the Mad Hatter asked:

`Why is a raven like a writing-desk?’

`Come, we shall have some fun now!’ thought Alice. `I’m glad they’ve begun asking riddles.–I believe I can guess that,’ she added aloud.

`Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?’ said the March Hare.

`Exactly so,’ said Alice.

`Then you should say what you mean,’ the March Hare went on.

`I do,’ Alice hastily replied; `at least–at least I mean what I say–that’s the same thing, you know.’

`Not the same thing a bit!’ said the Hatter.

I think that very often we need to say what we mean, as well as meaning what we say, in order to communicate with one another in a way that each person understands what the other is saying.

But let’s get back to the point of this article. What has all this to do with Bridgwater? Now I am thinking of those men and women who we could say have been living “bricks” of Bridgwater, people we can honour and be proud of.

We have written about Robert Blake, and there is no doubt that he was a brick.

But then there are the “Forgotten Heroes of Bridgwater” whom Roger Evans has written about in his book of the same name (ISBN 0 9525674 1 5) and makes fascinating reading. There you can read about military heroes like

Denis Heron (1829-1895), Troop Sergeant-Major and  Sergeant-Instructor in the West Somerset Yeomanry Cavalry, but who had been a member of the Queen’s Own Hussars, the 4^th Light Dragoons and one of the survivors of the gallant six hundred who had ridden in the fateful Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854. The whole saga is told grippingly by Roger Evans in his book.  Irish by birth,  Denis Heron spent most of his life in Bridgwater, living in Salmon Parade, and after his death from bronchitis, often fatal in those days before antibiotics,  he was buried with full military honours in the top right corner of the cemetery in Bristol Road. Another memorial to those days is the cannon in the middle of the roundabout at the junction of the Bristol and Bath Roads. It was originally a Russian cannon captured in the Crimean War, presented to the town in 1857, and placed in Salmon Parade about 40 yards from the Town Bridge, right outside of  Denis’s front door.  In 1886 it was moved to the present locality, but sadly removed for scrap metal during the war. The present cannon is a replica.

Replica of cannon from the Crimea

Grave of Denis Heron in Bristol Road Cemetery

Denis Heron was loved and esteemed throughout the whole regiment for his upright and kind manner, and the courtesy he showed to every person who met him during the 25 years of his faithful and devoted service.

An equally gripping story recounted by Roger Evans is that of  Edwin “Harry” Murrant -also spelt Morant (1864-1901) whose parents were master and matron of the Bridgwater workhouse at Northgate. His father died during the pregnancy, and his mother was subsequently described as disrespectful, violent and defiant. She lost her job and moved to 2 Bradford Villas in Wembdon. His elder sister Annie became a professor of music and lived in Hamp Crescent. Around 1884 Harry emigrated to Australia, and changed his name to Harry Harbord Morant. There he worked with droving and breaking horses, earning a reputation throughout much of south and east Australia for his audacity and adventurous life-style, and also for his poetry which he published under the pen name “The Breaker.” In 1900 he enlisted with the South Australian Mounted Rifles and fought in the Boer War, becoming a Lieutenant in the Bushveldt Carbineers. By all accounts something of a “dirty” war had developed between the British and the Boers, with atrocities on both sides. Harry Morant was court-marshalled and executed by firing squad for “war crimes” in what has become one of the most controversial wartime trials. The evidence for both sides, as well as the disappearance of vital legal documents from the court hearings, is presented extensively in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaker_Morant

On one side he is regarded as a daring and loyal soldier who carried out orders from the British High Command, and was made a scapegoat to cover up vagueness of those orders to “take no prisoners” and also to appease the German Kaiser for the murder of a German missionary. His trial and sentence is seen as a gross travesty of justice for which the British High Command should be held responsible. From the official army reports he is seen as a ruthless, vengeful killer of helpless prisoners-of-war. From Morant’s own viewpoint, he did not deny shooting the Boers, but saw it as carrying out orders and justified reprisals for the killing and mutilation of colleagues.

Was Morant wicked or wicked? True either way,  according to the meaning you give to “wicked”. As with the story of Sarah Biffin under “Outstanding Bridgwater Women”, all will be revealed on the Great Judgment Day, when the secrets of men’s hearts will be revealed, as well as their works, and everyone will receive a just recompense for how they lived and died.

Two other “bricks” who survived the ordeal of being Japanese prisoners-of-war were Ron Authers (1917-1990) and Ernie Hobbs, both of whom worked for British Cellophane after leaving the army. Again, you must read the whole story in Roger Evans’ book. Suffice to say that Ron survived the Fall of Singapore, the Railway of Death and the Bridge over the River Kwai, the perils of Japanese cruelty and disease, being torpedoed while being transferred to Japan to work in the Mitsubishi factory, and then witnessing the atomic bombing of Hishoshima and Nagasaki.

Then there are naval heroes, commandos and marines from Bridgwater whose names and exploits should be remembered.

The beginning and end of the Bridgwater Brick and Tile Industry

Posted February 1st, 2012
by Richard Savage

Sunrise over Lower Lakes is a lovely scene. Every morning is different, as you can see from these photos, but each marks the beginning of a new day.

Sunrise over Lodge Lake

Sunrise over Lower Lakes on 1st Feb 2012

This morning, after my visit to the Brick and Tile Museum yesterday, I mused about the beginning and the end of that industrial era in Bridgwater. Probably local people had fired their own bricks from clay for centuries, but records show that from 1683 bricks and tiles were ordered to build and repair public property such as the almshouses, and in 1699 two thousand tiles were ordered for building work at Hestercombe, and probably came from Hamp. In the 18^th century Bridgwater supplied thousands of bricks to South Wales. In 1769, Samuel Glover’s brickyard at Hamp supplied bricks at 16 shillings per 1000 and pantiles at 40 shillings. He had his own ships, which not only exported the bricks but also imported anthracite coal dust fromWales to fire the kilns.

The industry flourished during the 19^th century. Typical Bridgwater bricks became standardized at 8½ inches by 4 inches by 2 and 5/8 inches thick with 20 holes in 3 rows of 7-6-7 holes, which made them lighter and easier to handle, and also provided a key for the mortar.  During the 20^th century there were 18 works and factories alongside the River Parrett from Dunwear to Chilton Trinity

There is an account of the end of the end of the Brick and Tile industry in the excellent “History of Bridgwater” compiled by J.F. Lawrence, and completed by his son Dr. Chris Lawrence, which makes very interesting reading. Much of what I write now is taken from this book.

Chilton Trinity brickworks in the 19th century (by kind permission of the Somerset Brick and Tile Museum)

Chilton Brickworks in 2011

In the 1920s the  London Brick Company who owned enormous sources of clay in Bedfordshire and had mass production methods giving a uniformity of product that Bridgwater did not have, started to get the monopoly over brick production. Bath Brick manufacture was also declining, being superseded by more gentle abrasive powders. Bridgwater could also not meet the challenge of cheap machine-made tiles imported from France for use in council housing schemes in 1929, although hand-made pantiles were still in demand, being more attractive and no more expensive. However, after the Second World War the introduction of concrete tiles and cheaper concrete blocks led to the eventual demise of the Bridgwater Brick and Tile Industry, plus the fact that much of the best clay was exhausted. One by one the last operating companies closed down, until the last one, Barham Bros., stopped production in 1964, a sad day for the local economy.

Mechanical excavation of the clay from the pits

The remnants of the wharf at East Quay, where Barham Bros. used to be

As the sun sets over Lower Lakes, and the flooded clay pits conceal what was once a flourishing source of income for the town, we must look forward to a new day and see what the hard-working people of Bridgwater can do next for the welfare and prosperity of our ancient town and community. May what we can learn from the past help to inspire the young people who are our future.It would be very interesting to receive further information from Bridgwater residents who were once involved with the industry, to share their memories of what it was like to work in the Brick and Tile Industry.

Sunset over Lower Lakes

Sunset in the west - with the hope of a new sunrise

The Bridgwater Bath Brick

Posted February 1st, 2012
by Richard Savage

Apart from the manufacture of bricks and tiles, the production of scouring bricks was an important part of the industry.  During the 19^th century the Bath Brick was a popular cleaner throughout Britain, Europe andAmerica for polishing, scouring and cleaning metalwork and cutlery. They were once issued regularly to soldiers in the British army, and hence travelled all over the world, wherever the sun never set over the British Empire.

These blocks were made from the fine alumina and silica particles that were washed down the River Parrett and deposited in specially constructed slime batches built along the river one mile north and one mile south of the Town Bridge, where the slime was known to be of the right consistency, and at Dunball. These consisted of a bed of brick rubble projecting from the river bank with low sides to encourage settlement. When the deposit that had “pitched” in the “batches” was 4 feet thick it would be dug out and deposited on the river bank to allow rain water to wash the salt out. Already by 1896 some 25 batches existed to trap the slime, and bricks were being manufactured under the names of Axford and Sealey. There were ten manufacturers in the 1920s with John Board & Co Ltd being the major producer.

The slime mixture would be taken to a simple horse-worked mixer, shaped in a “pugging mill” and extruded or “obstricked” into 6 inch balls, which would then be pressed into bricks in a mould using a “striker” and turned out onto boards to dry. High temperature firing in kilns would follow a few days later, but only at 500-600 degrees Celsius, the process taking 4-6 days, hence the softer colour compared with normal Bridgwater bricks which would be fired at 930 degrees Celsius for about a week. Finally they would be trimmed with an emery wheel and wrapped in strong paper.

Broken or rejected bricks were ground into a bulk powder.

It was called the “Bath Brick” because of its similarity in colour to Bath Stone. A patent granted in 1827 referred to “a certain composition or substance….. when perfected would resemble in colour the stone called or known by the name of Bath Stone.”

E.H. Burrington wrote a poem “Apostrophe to the Parrett” which included the lines:

 “But thou lowest ever beautifully thick,
Leaving the filthy slime to make Bath brick!”

Bath Bricks were advertised as “the most effective and economical polishing material. It is superior to metal polish and does not contain acid or alcohol injurious to metals.” Sadly, after 1918, alternative cleaning materials that were cheaper gradually put an end to the manufacture of Bath Bricks. Now, when you use Vim or Ajax, remember their predecessor – the Bath Brick!

Assortment of Bath Bricks manufactured in Bridgwater (by kind permission of the Somerset Brick and Tile Museum)

Bridgwater Brick and Tile Industry

Posted February 1st, 2012
by Richard Savage

Situated at East Quay, on the east bank of the River Parrett between Chandos Bridge and the more northerly bridge where Western Way crosses the river, is the museum dedicated to the Somerset Brick and Tile Industry.  It is housed in the buildings adjoining the kiln that once belonged to the brick yard of Barham Brothers, which closed down in 1964.

Inside are displayed the tools, methods and processes involved in making a variety of bricks, tiles, and terracotta plaques, with old photographs of the industry.

The brick industry was already under way in the late 17^th century. In the 1720s the schemes of the Duke of  Chandos boosted the industry, with the construction of the glass cone and the redevelopment of the castle area with the elegant terraces of  Chandos Street and Castle Street intended to attract prosperous tradesmen.  Unfortunately the Duke’s schemes did not realize and prosper as he hoped, although the housing development, in line with Bath, was in vogue with the professions and society, as well as merchants.

The brick industry escalated in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, employing about 1300 men in the 1840s. By 1850 there were many brickworks north and south of the town, and these prospered until the end of the century. You can see the flooded clay pits around Chilton Trinity to the north and between Huntworth and the River in the south. Barham Brothers started manufacturing bricks in 1857. In the 1890s there was a total of 16 brick and tile companies, and 24 million bricks per annum were exported during those ten years. Increased industry led to a dramatic growth in the population of  Bridgwater from around 3000 in 1801 to nearly 15,000 in 1901, accompanied by the construction of large Victorian working class suburbs of increasingly high quality. The most modern tile manufacturer to open with advanced technology was that of John Browne & Co on Square Road in Chilton Trinity, later to become the Somerset Trading Company. It was extended in 1933, employed a hundred men, and there was continuous employment until the outbreak of the Second World War.

It was John Board who commissioned the building of  Castle House in Queen Street, originally named Portland Castle after the Portland cement used in its construction. Although mostly made of brick, John Board also experimented with the use of concrete, reinforcing it with iron rods.

In 1939 the tile market was divided between 93% clay, 3% concrete and 4% other. There was not the hoped for boom in the tile industry at the end of the war. Cheaper materials were used to repair all the bomb damage, and by 1953 89% of tiles purchased were of concrete, 4% clay and 7% other. Although Bridgwater clay is of exceptional quality, the presence of sodium chloride and calcium sulphate washed in with the clay caused holes and discoloration, and a tumultuous storm on the 16^th January 1959 with a deluge of rain followed by severe frost damaged over 5 million tiles.

Firing bricks in the kiln

The brickyards declined in the 1960s and the last one closed in 1964, due to exhaustion of the best clay and availability of cheaper alternatives.

Nevertheless many older buildings around the eastern side of Exmoor are roofed with Bridgwater tiles, and many houses and other buildings around Bridgwater are made from Bridgwater bricks.

A speciality of Bridgwater was the Bath brick, the precursor of modern scouring pads (see separate article).  Reject bricks of this material, i.e. slightly flawed or deformed, are found in houses and buildings in various parts of the town, particularly Rhode Lane to the south of Bridgwater.

You can learn more about the industry by visiting the Somerset Brick and Tile Museum on East Quay. It is currently open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Bridgwater connection with the CSS Alabama

Posted January 30th, 2012
by Richard Savage

On the wall in the Bygones Room of the Blake Museum hangs the nameplate of the Confederate States Ship Alabama, one of the most successful warships of the Southern States during the American Civil War of 1861-1865.

Those not so well acquainted with American history may not have realized that the American Civil War was not only fought on land between the Northern and Southern States, but that naval battles played a significant role in the war, and also changed the face of naval warfare with the introduction of ironclads, submarines, more powerful artillery, naval mines, and torpedo boats with bombs attached to long spars in the bow of low-profile vessels. These innovations were mostly used by the Confederates to counter the superior naval fighting force of theUnion, possessing, in February 1861, 90 vessels against the Confederates 30, of which only half were seaworthy.

The final Confederate surrender, actually 5 months after war had ended, and the end of the Confederate navy took place on November 6, 1865 aboard the CSS Shenandoah in Liverpool, England. The reason for this was that the Shenandoah had been engaged with sinking merchant ships throughout the war, mostly whalers, and the captain and crew risked being treated and executed as pirates by a Union Court, so they disarmed the ship as a man-of-war and fled to England, surrendering to the British, whose ruling was that they had done nothing against the rules of war and had them all unconditionally released.

Unlike the Shenandoah, which had only engaged with and sunk merchant ships, the Alabama fought with Union warships as well, creating havoc among Union shipping and sinking some 67 sailing ships and one steamship.

A collage of pictures and paintings connected with the story of the CSS Alabama, with thanks to Wikipedia Commons for accessing the sources

So how did the nameplate of the Alabama come to Bridgwater? The ship had been built secretly for the Confederates by John Laird & Son of Birkenhead in 1862. James Dunwood Bulloch, the Confederate secret service agent in Europe arranged the contract through a Liverpoolcotton brokerage company that had ties with the Confederacy. Powered by both sail and horizontal steam engines driving a twin-bladed screw, the ship was launched quietly in July 1862 as the Enrica, and sailed to Terceira Island in the Azores. There she was joined by her new captain, Raphael Semmes, who supervised her transformation into a naval cruiser, a commercial raider, with six 32-pound smooth bore broadside cannons and two central more powerful pivotal long-range guns, fore and aft of the main mast. On the bronze of the great double ship’s wheel was engraved the ship’s motto: “Aide-toi et Dieu t’aidera” (God helps those who help themselves), which is actually not a Bible quotation, and can be misunderstood and thought by some to be a contradiction to the doctrine of salvation by faith and grace.

It actually comes from Ancient Greece to encourage initiative. Aeschylus in his play The Persians wrote, “Whenever a man makes haste, God too hastens with him.” Sophocles wrote, “No good e’er comes of leisure purposeless; and heaven ne’er helps the men who will not act.” Euripides wrote “Try first thyself, and after call in God; For to the worker God Himself lends aid.” When Paul writes to the Romans “it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy”, this is in the context of Jacob and Esau. When God says “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated” and “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion” that is according to the laws which He Himself has established and lives by. God shows mercy to those who are merciful, and He gives grace to those who strive to do the good, and pray to Him to help them in their need (Romans 9: 13-16). There is no unrighteousness or partiality with God.  Esau was disobedient to his parents, and went his own rebellious way, whereas Jacob was obedient.  Esau despised his inheritance, whereas Jacob esteemed it highly. God does not approve of swindling, and in other areas He allowed Jacob to be swindled in order to chasten him for his dishonesty. Nevertheless, God loved his attitude, his perseverance, his respect for God, and his hard work, and blessed him, just as He has his descendants today – to the degree that He has been able.

“Trust in God but tie your camel is an Arab proverb with a similar meaning. There is an Arab story that one day Mohammed, noticing a Bedouin leaving his camel without tying it, asked him, “Why don’t you tie down your camel?” The Bedouin answered, “I placed my trust in Allah.” At that, Mohammed said, “Tie your camel and place your trust in Allah. Oliver Cromwell is reported to have said to his men when crossing a river during the invasion ofIreland: “Put your trust in God but mind to keep your powder dry.”

It was actually the Republican politician Algernon Sidney who stated the English rendering of the motto “God helps those who help themselves”. He supported the Republican cause and the execution of Charles I. In 1683, he was condemned to death by Charles II for treason, being implicated in the Rye House Plot to assassinate the king and his half-brother James. The actual sentence was passed by none other than Lord Chief Justice George Jeffreys himself, on flimsy evidence which included taking Sidney’s own writings, his Discourses, out of context, saying that he had said it was permissible to take up arms against the King. Jeffreys ruled: “Scribere est agere” (“to write is to act”) and sentenced him to death. Sidney in defence said that was the same as saying that David said “There is no God” and that the apostles were drunk on the day of Pentecost! On the day of his death Sidney wrote that his life’s work had been to “uphold the Common rights of mankind, the lawes of this land, and the true Protestant religion, against corrupt principles, arbitrary power and Popery… I doe now willingly lay down my life for the same; and having a sure witness within me, that God doth… uphold me… am very littell sollicitous, though man doth condemne me.” Just before being beheaded he declared “We live in an age that makes truth pass for treason.” It was after this that the Duke of Monmouth fled toHolland, returning to Bridgwater in 1685.

Algernon Sidney’s writings had an influence on Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of theUnited States, and he used the quotation in his “Poor Richard’s Almanac” of 1736, from which it received widespread popularity in theUnited States.

Returning to the deck of the Enrica on 24^th August 1862, in international waters outside the island of  Terceira, the British colours were hauled down and Captain Semmes commissioned the ship as CSS Alabama by order of  President Jefferson Davis. An appeal to support the Confederate cause was of no avail, but upon the offer of signing up money, double wages paid in gold, and prize money for every Union ship destroyed, Semmes was able to enlist 83 seamen, many British, to serve under his 24 officers. In her voyage of destruction, which lasted under 2 years, captured ship’s crews and passengers were never harmed, only taken aboard and detained until they were placed ashore or transferred to a neutral ship.

Her successful career ended in June 1864 after sailing into Cherbourg Harbourwith permission to overhaul the ship in dry dock. After months of persistent pursuit, she was followed at a distance by the Union Mohican Class steam-driven sloop-of-war, the USS Kearsarge, which while in port at the Azores the year before had been converted into a partial ironclad, the midsections being reinforced with overlapping rows of chain armour. Arriving outside Cherbourg 3 days later, the captain of the Kearsarge, Captain John Winslow, a descendant of one of the Pilgrim Fathers on board the Mayflower, prepared to blockade the Alabama. During the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848, which followed the annexation of Texas, the two officers served together on the USS Cumberland, Semmes as flag lieutenant and Winslow as a division officer.

On 19^th June 1864 the CSS Alabama left the Port of Cherbourg, prepared to engage in battle with the USS Kearsarge. She was escorted by a French naval vessel to make sure that the battle occurred outside of the French harbour, but in any case the Kearsarge turned to take the battle out of French territorial waters.  The two warships manoeuvered on seven opposite spiraling courses throughout the battle, aiming to inflict a raking broadside on the enemy’s bows. The gunnery of the Kearsarge was reportedly more accurate than of the Confederates, she fired slowly well-aimed shots while Alabama fired rapidly over 370 rounds, of which only 28 hit the enemy. After just an hour Alabama received shot-holes below the waterline from Kearsarge’s powerful 280 mm Dahlgren pivotal cannons. Captain Semmes struck the Confederate colours and threw his sword into the sea, to avoid the humiliation of the customary surrender, but firing from the Kearsarge only stopped when a white flag was hauled and Semmes sent his remaining dinghy to the Kearsarge to ask for aid.

During the battle, over 40  Confederate sailors were killed in action or drowned. Another 70 or so were picked up by Kearsarge.  Semmes himself was wounded in the battle but rescued, along with 40 of his crewmen, including 14 officers, by the British yacht Deerhound.  Instead of handing them over to the Kearsarge, the Deerhound sailed for Southampton. The angry crew of the Kearsarge wanted to open fire on the British yacht, but Captain Winslow refused, and so the Confederate Captain and his men were able to avoid imprisonment and possibly being sentenced to death for piracy. Semmes was taken to England where he recovered. While there, he and his surviving crew mates were hailed as naval heroes, despite the loss of Alabama .

Semmes returned to America, where he was promoted to Rear Admiral in February 1865, and commanded the James River Squadron from his flagship, the heavily armoured ironclad, CSS Virgina II. With the fall ofRichmond,Virginia, to theUnion in April 1865, he supervised the scuttling of all the squadron’s warships, and was then appointed Brigadier General in the Confederate army, and his sailors became an infantry unit, nicknamed the “Naval Brigade”. Some fought with General Lee’s rearguard at  Sayler’s Creek, but most escaped to join Joseph Johnston’s army in North Carolina, finally surrendering to General William Sherman.

Semmes was briefly held as a prisoner after the war; he was tried for treason on December 15, 1865, but released on April 7, 1866, and returned to civilian life as a professor of philosophy and literature at Louisiana State Seminary (now Louisiana State University), a judge, and a newspaper editor.

Winslow was promoted to Commodore for his victory at the Battle of Cherbourg, and subsequently Rear-admiral in command of the Pacific Squadron from 1870-1872. He was always known as a solid, courageous, determined officer, and two ships of the US Navy have been named after him.

And what about the Deerhound? According to the description in the Blake Museum, the survivors and some of the wreckage of the Alabama were taken to Brixham in Devon. In the late 19^th century a member of the Deerhound’s crew moved to Bridgwater, and one of his descendants presented the nameplate to the museum.

But what was the Deerhound and what was it doing at the scene of the battle? Deerhound RYS was a ship of the Royal Yacht Squadron which had been originally founded in 1815 as “The Yacht Club” by 42 gentlemen with an interest in yachting, owning a vessel not under 10 tons. The Prince Regent became a member in 1817, and when he became George IV in 1820 it was renamed the “Royal Yacht Club”. In 1833 William IV renamed it the “Royal Yacht Squadron” and it became associated with the Royal Navy, Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy, Nelson’s Captain at the Battle of Trafalgar, being one of its members. Member yachts can add RYS after their name and are allowed to fly the White Ensign of the British navy.

So next time you visit the Blake Museum, and you see the nameplate of the CSS Alabama on the wall, I hope this will help you to know something of the colourful history behind it and to make it more interesting for you.  What a story could lie behind the two captains who had once been shipmates and were now rivals at war? What moved Captain Winslow to allow his rival to escape to England?

If anyone can supply further information about the Deerhound, its owner and crew, and its capacity to carry 41 survivors of the battle back to England safely, I would be very interested to know. Does anyone also know whether the people of Brixham and Bridgwater had sympathies with the Confederate cause, which is why they received Captain Semmes and his crew so warmly?

Blake Museum, Bridgwater

Posted January 29th, 2012
by Richard Savage

This morning I had the pleasure of spending a couple of hours in the Blake Museum, a “must” for anyone who is interested in the historical heritage of this part of Somerset. What made it a particular pleasure was to talk to some of the enthusiastic band of volunteers who give their time and energy to make the museum interesting and attractive to the general public, and to promote interest in our rich local history.

The Bridgwater Museum at the top of Blake Museum, birthplace of Robert Blake

It is a fact: Bridgwater is full of historical interest, and the museum has exhibits from the Stone Age right through to recent times, so much to see in a very small area. Situated at the top of Blake Streetand believed to be the Blake’s family home and birthplace of Robert Blake himself, since 1926 it has housed a fascinating collection of archaeological and historical artifacts and displays. It is now in the process of refurbishment, so opening times were reduced during the winter months.

Those wishing to visit (and I heartily recommend a visit), please consult the website www.bridgwatermuseum.org.uk . Those who already know something about the local history will see much to illustrate and embellish their existing knowledge. For those who aren’t so familiar, I do recommend reading up a bit beforehand so that you can put the pieces of jigsaw puzzle together in your mind, and see the relevance of the different exhibits.

Let me take you on a virtual tour so that you can be prepared for what you will see. The first surprise you will get after entering the historic building is that admission is free. The aim is that nothing should hinder anyone from getting to see for themselves that history and a museum of past remains and relics is far from dead and boring. We must learn from history, and do our outmost to repent from the attitude which the philosopher Georg Hegel immortalized in his saying: “What experience and history teach is this – that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.” In other words, no one learns from history. That is certainly true from past events, as seen by the mistakes of leaders like Napoleon and Hitler, although perhaps we can be glad that they made such mistakes, otherwise the course of history might have been quite different!

Turn left after you enter the ground floor and you find a room devoted to the life and exploits of Robert Blake, with artifacts illustrating what it would have been like to be a seaman in those days under Cromwell. Of especial interest is a copy of the Geneva Bible, printed inLondonin 1608 by Robert Barker, printer to James I. This is also known as the “Breeches Bible” from the rendering of Genesis 3: 7 – “The sewed fig trees together and made themselves breeches.” This is the version of the Bible which Blake probably used as a boy.

To the right of the entrance is a meeting room where temporary exhibitions are displayed, and beyond that the Bridgwater Room with a collection of fossils and local geology, remains relating to the medieval Friary and St. John’s Hospital, and material on the history of the Borough. A large 17^th century wooden chest once housed the Borough archives. There is also an interesting display on the history of the Bridgwater Borough Police Force, dating back to 1835 when the law was enforced by two constables appointed by the Borough Watch Committee under the Mayor. Later in the 19^th century this was increased to a dozen constables, carrying canes. The police station and town gaol were on the south side of Fore Street until 1845 when they moved to the High Street as part of the Town Hall complex. Then in 1911 they moved to Northgate, close to where the present Police Station was opened in 1966. In 1940 the Borough Force amalgamated with the Somerset County Force, which in 1967 merged with the Bath City Police. Finally in 1974 it merged with the Bristol City Police and part of the Gloucestershire Constabulary to become the Avon and Somerset Constabulary.

Ascending the stairs to the upper floor, at the rear of the house is a gallery with an exhibition to the artist John Chubb, born in 1746, the son of a Bridgwater wine and timber merchant, who became mayor of Bridgwater from 1788-1789, and helped to show us what life was like in 18^th century Bridgwater through his fine drawings and paintings of scenery and local people. In 1785 he helped to draw up the petition requesting parliament to abolish the slave trade.

At the far end of this gallery is a room devoted to the archaeology of the ancient peoples of the area from the Stone Age through to Medieval times.

Returning to the front of the house are three rooms, the Battle Room, the Maritime Room, and the Bygones Room. The Battle Room depicts the history of the Battle of Sedgemoor in 1685 and its aftermath, the “Bloody Assize” when many Bridgwater people were condemned to death or deported to the West Indies. Some of the artifacts have now been moved to another exhibition in Westonzoyland Church, close to the battlefield itself. The Maritime Room displays artifacts, pictures and models illustrating the days when Bridgwater was a flourishing port with wharves and shipyards. The Bygones Room has a collection of artifacts covering the social history of Bridgwater, including horse brasses, and pottery, and exhibits relating to the brick and tile industry, although of these are now exhibited in the Brick and Tile Museum in East Quay. Of particular interest is the nameplate of the Confederate warship Alabama and an original Bath Brick, both of which deserve a story page of their own.

Returning to the ground floor there is a book shop which sells books and souvenirs. I hope that your tour of the museum will give you a taste of the rich historical heritage of Bridgwater, and the purchase of a souvenir or book, or even a donation to the museum would be a worthy thank-you for the hard work the volunteers are doing to make the history of the area interesting for you, and indicate what other places would be worth a visit.

“The Hand that rocks the Cradle rules the World”

Posted January 28th, 2012
by Richard Savage

Thinking about famous Bridgwater women I was reminded of the saying “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world” but not knowing where it came from I looked it up on Google, and found out that it was from a poem written in 1865 by an American poet, William Ross Wallace, to praise motherhood.

Blessings on the hand of women!
Angels guard its strength and grace,
In the palace, cottage, hovel,
Oh, no matter where the place;
Would that never storms assailed it,
Rainbows ever gently curled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.

Infancy’s the tender fountain,
Power may with beauty flow,
Mother’s first to guide the streamlets,
From them souls unresting grow—
Grow on for the good or evil,
Sunshine streamed or evil hurled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.

Woman, how divine your mission
Here upon our natal sod!
Keep, oh, keep the young heart open
Always to the breath of God!
All true trophies of the ages
Are from mother-love impearled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.

Blessings on the hand of women!
Fathers, sons, and daughters cry,
And the sacred song is mingled
With the worship in the sky—
Mingles where no tempest darkens,
Rainbows evermore are hurled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.

He was a personal friend of Edgar Allen Poe, who described him as “one of the very noblest of American poets.” His work has been compared to the Romantic poetry of Shelley and Keats. Of Scottish descent, the son of a Presbyterian minister who died when Wallace was very young, there are strong religious convictions in his writings, and he was also extremely patriotic, eulogizing the American Revolution, the work of George Washington, and inspiring the Union Army in the American Civil War.

Although 100% American, his roots were in Scotlandand one of his less well-known poems, an ode written in 1860 on the birthday of Charles Wesley, conveys some beautiful imagery which fits well for Somerset, as well as other parts of our fair land.

O England, through thy lovely vales
And emerald hills how many now
In memory of the poet-priest
With rapt devotion bow!
Along the city’s sounding street,
In cottage nooks, in lordly halls,
On village spire, and temple dome
A still, sweet influence falls—
For myriads whisper of the birth
That gave another bard to Earth.

Nor only there: from my own Land
Pull many a blessing o’er the wave
Floats like an angel’s wing to gild
His cradle and his grave.
Our Fanes have also felt his soul;
Our forest-temples grand and dim,
Filled with ecstatic worshipers,
Have trembled to his hymn:
Still seem they bowed with praise and prayer.—
The soul of Wesley lingers there!

Well have the nations blessed the bards,
And, gladdened by their ministerings,
Their foreheads bound with holier wreaths
Than ever shone on kings:
Lo! Scio’s old blind Glory crowned;
And Dante diademed with fire
Imperial by the large-eyed Times,
And Byron’s battle-lyre:
No royal flag o’er them unfurled,
Yet they are Emperors of the world!

If thus the Shapes that draw from Earth,
The soul of song, are rulers made,
How should the Heaven-invoking Ones
By continents be arrayed?
Not from Olympian groves their wreath!
Go search Silon’s sacred bowers;
On Zion’s grander mountain walk
And gather stateliest flowers—
These crown the souls that sing of Him
Who wandered there with cherubim.

And such the crown that thou didst wear,
Sweet singer by old Albion’s wave!
And Death himself could not destroy,
But placed it on thy grave.
How glorious its unfaded leaves
Shall on thy pure white forehead bloom,
When, with a hymn upon thy lips,
Thou’lt glitter from the tomb,
And, myriads joining in the lay,
Soar to the choir of Heaven away!

When thinking about the importance of motherhood, and what a mother in the home can contribute to society and the history of the world, we have only to think of Suzannah Wesley, and the impact that her two sons, Charles and John, made. She did not preach from the pulpit, or have any position or title, but through her faithful life in the home, she raised god-fearing children who were able to bring new life to many people in times of need and distress.

We should be very thankful for women with gifts and talents that can serve in administrative positions, and fulfil many tasks better than men. How many of us are eternally grateful for the women who nursed us and taught us, and the midwives who helped us into the world. But can we really honour our mothers adequately for their life of love and sacrifice, day and night, raising children to manhood and womanhood?

It is clear that Bridgwater women like Maud de Braose were instrumental in changing the course of English history, but what about the mother of Robert Blake and all the other “unknown warriors” whose children have been a blessing to society?

If anyone can add to our gallery of local women who have lived and done things worthy of honour and emulation, do let us know.

Pioneering Bridgwater – not “revolting” but “revolutionary”!

Posted January 28th, 2012
by Richard Savage

Reputations are often based on whose side you are. For the oppressed, activists and zealots are seen as “freedom fighters” while to the ruling nation they are seen as “terrorists”.

On a similar note, I have heard that the pretty garden plant, Dianthus barbatus, also known as “Sweet William” was named after William, Duke of Cumberland, who led the British troops to victory over the Scots at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. The Scottish call it “Stinking Willy”.

What fighting and feuds could be avoided if both sides could sit down together and see things from the other side’s point of view. But as long as we think “I am right, and you are wrong” there will be fighting, domestically, politically and internationally. What characterizes a tyrant and dictator is usually that they will not consider anything but their own interests.

The few instances already mentioned under “Revolting Bridgwater” can be balanced by examples when Bridgwater has been innovative and pioneering, in politics, industry, science and the arts.

Bridgwater was the first town in Englandto petition parliament for the abolition of slavery. It is interesting that Daniel Defoe, the author of “Robinson Crusoe”, came down from London to support Monmouth’s rebellion in 1685 but somehow escaped capture and managed to be one of 33 people who received a pardon from the King (perhaps by buying it). Born in London to Presbyterian Dissenters, he chose not to follow his father’s wishes and become a minister, but became a merchant, and well acquainted with the treatment of slaves. Whilst in hiding after the Duke of Monmouth’s execution he noticed the name “Robinson Crusoe” in a churchyard. He remembered the name and it became the title of his most famous hero some 34 years later, heralded by many as the first novel written in English in 1719.

Over 600 Bridgwater men who escaped execution for being incriminated in the Monmouth rebellion were deported in eight ships toBarbadosand became slaves there. They suffered the appalling conditions on board ship that negro slaves suffered, imprisoned below deck, and some died on the quayside while awaiting being auctioned. Some survivors returned home after being pardoned 4 years later, and perhaps it is no concidence that 100 years after having had first-hand experience of its horrors, in 1785 the people of Bridgwater sent a petition to parliament to abolish the African slave trade. Perhaps it is a bit strange that it took 100 years for this to take place. It is sometimes said that this was also influenced by a desire to compete commercially with Bristol, whose trade had increased through the exploitation of slavery, but there was also considerable support from local Quakers. The mayor of Bridgwater, William Tuckett, was approached by the clergyman George White and by John Chubb, the artist, to draw up the petition which was presented to Parliament by Bridgwater’s two MPs, Lord Ann Poulett and Alexander Hood, Lord Bridport. It was considered “unworthy of debate” on the grounds that too many people of wealth stood to lose too much if slavery was abolished, and lead to financial ruin in the West Indies.

However, by 1787 The Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade had been formed by a group of English Evangelical Protestants along with Quakers, led by William Wilberforce, and by 1807 there were a significant number of supporters in the parliament, and the motion to abolish the Atlantic Slave Trade was carried by 283 votes to 16 in the House of Commons. This moving story is vividly portrayed in the film “Amazing Grace”.

Of course, what Bridgwater is most famous for is its night-time carnival, the largest in Europe, to commemorate the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 when Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament with King James I and his government. The king decreed that the day should be celebrated annually with gratitude by the lighting of bonfires across the country. Perhaps because Bridgwater was stoutly Protestant, the occasion was embraced more enthusiastically than other places in Englandwith a huge bonfire in the middle of the town around which people from all around gathered in masks and costumes, throwing effigies of Guy Fawkes and the Pope on the fire, and later adding a firework display with hundreds of home-made squibs. Nowadays, dancers known as masqueraders act in costume on tractor-drawn floats, built by local clubs, with different themes illuminated by thousands of generator-driven electric light bulbs. The evening finishes with a squibbing display that is unique to Bridgwater, when over 140 squibs are let off at arms length along the length of the High Street.

Guy Fawkes discovered - on one of the leading carnival floats

One of the historical floats remembering the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot

We have written about some of the industrial archaeological technology which makes Bridgwater unique in the world, the first reinforced and pre-cast concrete structures of Castle House in Queen Street and the telescopic railway bridge across the River Parrett, the Black Bridge.

We have also written about the pioneering exploits of Robert Blake in the field of naval history.

If you can think of any other examples to discoveries, inventions or pioneering work that Bridgwater should be excited about, please let me know.

Outstanding Bridgwater Women

Posted January 28th, 2012
by Richard Savage

Thinking about the role that Maud de Braose played in shaping the course of English history made me think that there are not so many Bridgwater women who are renowned in one way or another.

Lady Chrystabella Wyndham, the strikingly beautiful wife of the staunchly Anglican Governor of Bridgwater Castle, Edmund Wyndham, achieved fame in 1645 when the Parliamentarians sought to take the town from Royalist control. Following their defeat in July 10^th at the Battle of Langport, many Royalists fled for safety to Bridgwater Castle. The New Model Army under the command of General Sir Thomas Fairfax and Lieutenant-General Oliver Cromwell then advanced to Bridgwater and encircled the town with some 13,000 troops. The Royalists numbered about 2000 men. Roundhead ships also patrolled Bridgwater Bay preventing Royalist ships bringing supplies or reinforcements to the castle.

The story is told that on 12^th July, Fairfax, Cromwell and an aide-de-camp stood on the east side of the River Parrett, close to where the Bus Station stands today, and viewed the castle with its defences. Hearing that the enemy leaders were in view, Lady Wyndham went up to the castle ramparts with a loaded musket and fired at Cromwell, missing him by some 6 feet but killing his aide-de-camp. She is supposed to have sent a message then to Cromwell asking him if he had received her “love token”, as a gentleman he should return it, in other words challenging him to attack the castle.

Whether this is true or not, an appeal to the Governor to surrender was refused, and at 2 a.m. on Monday 21^st July the Roundheads attacked. Portable bridges were thrown over the town ditch on the north side of Eastover, troops poured into the town, taking control of the whole east side of the river with 600 prisoners, seized the East Gate, and lowered the drawbridge on the Town Bridge. A further summons to surrender was refused, and the Royalists set the area around Eastover ablaze with grenades and hot shot fired across the river.

In a further gesture of defiance, when Fairfax’s messenger came to offer terms for the surrender, Lady Wyndham is supposed to have clutched her breasts and thrust them into the face of the messenger, saying “Tell your master that the breasts which gave suck to Prince Charles shall never be at their mercy; we will hold the town to the last.” She had been the wet nurse to Charles II.

Nevertheless, on receiving the message, from 2 – 4 p.m. on Tuesday 22^nd July,Fairfax declared a truce to allow the women and children to leave the castle. Colonel Wyndham received his offer and the women left in safety, including Lady Wyndham. Finally the Governor surrendered the next morning on condition that all lives should be spared.

Wyndham was imprisoned, but subsequently escaped in 1649 to join Charles II inJersey. With the Restoration of the monarchy, he became Member of Parliament. He died with jaundice in 1681, and Lady Christabella married Sir Giles Eyre, politician and judge, in 1690. After he died in 1695, she is purported to have married a Scottish Papist, Lord Clasford, only to separate from him 4 years later, when he became a prisoner in debt, and she pleaded to the King for financial assistance to save her from starvation.

Charles II was infamous for his extra-marital relationships, and the popular story is that these began when he was only 15 at Bridgwater Castle with Lady Christabella, when he was sent there for safety by his father, before fleeing to the Channel Isles and then France.

On a more virtuous note, though even more adventurous, is the story of Isolde Parawastel. She was one of a number of women who made a pilgrimage to Jerusalemin the 14^th-15^th centuries. On 15^th January 1366, she visited the Pope, Urban V, in Avignon, with the story that after 3 years in the Holy Land, visiting Jerusalem, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and other Biblical places, she had been captured by the Muslims, stripped and hung upside down in a rack and beaten half-dead, only to miraculously escape and travel back safely by boat.  Certainly in 1365 the Muslims took reprisals on Christian pilgrims for the un-Christian sack ofAlexandria by Crusaders.

Isolda sought permission to build a chantry shrine or chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Bridgwater for the salvation of her soul and of those of her family, to pay for the priest an annual amount of 36 florins, or about 5 pounds and 8 shillings, and her family was to hold it in jus patronatus [right of patronage in Catholic law] in perpetuity.  Such requests to found a chantry with the right of patronage were almost or completely unknown, permission normally being granted, if requested at all, by the local rector and bishop.

However, instead of building a new church, the pope gave her permission to found and endow an altar in Bridgwater’s existing parish church. He also agreed to a separate petition that whoever came to pray at the altar on appointed feast days, provided that first they had repented, confessed and their sins absolved, would receive a partial indulgence pardoning them the standard period of one year and forty days punishment or penance enjoined for their sins, which would reduce the time to be spent in purgatory after death, but more importantly for this life would have attracted visitors, prayers and additional income for the church!

Clare Street, Bridgwater, formerly the east end of Horlocke Street in medieval times

Two years later, on 10 August 1368, Isolda Parewastel granted away a property in Horloke Streetwhich had been given in 1321 to “John Parewastell and his sister Isolda.” So in 1368 she was apparently unmarried and, at the very least, 47 years old.  Isolda must have known that for over 100 years Bridgwater parish church already possessed a chantry and chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary. There is no trace of it today, but Isolda’s chantry to the Virgin Mary may have been placed at the extreme east end of the chancel, close beside the very interesting and curious piscina (basin for washing communion vessels) and aumbry (cabinet for storing the vessels) on the south side, just eastward of the priest’s door on the south. Perhaps her remains lie under this very spot.

What was the medieval Horlocke Street(or Ordlof  Street) is now Clare Street, to the east of Angel Place, and here the Civic Society have erected a blue plaque to the memory of Isolda Parawastel.

Blue Plaque to the memory of Isolda Parawastel in Clare Street

I am indebted to Roger Evans, one of Bridgwater’s local historians, for telling us about another remarkable Bridgwater woman, Sarah Biffin, the 19^th century painter. You can read the detailed account in his book “Forgotten Heroes of Bridgwater” (2000).

She was born on October 25^th 1784, the third child of a farm labourer and shoemaker from East Quantoxhead, Henry Biffin and his wife Sarah, married in 1772. Their first son had died in infancy, their second son was born 5 years later, and then Sarah was born 6 years later – with the congenital deformity known as phocomelia – without any arms and just vestigial legs. This condition became well-known during the late 1950s as a consequence of mothers taking the drug thalidomide during pregnancy.

When she was 8 years old she wanted to be able to sow, and managed with much practice to thread a needle, tie knots, cut out with scissors and make her own dresses – using her mouth. Then at the age of 12 she taught herself to write using her mouth. At Sunday services she would refuse offers of assistance and rolled down the aisle till she came to the family pew.

The annual St. Matthew’s Fair at Bridgwater attracted people from all around, and she herself became an attraction, along with all the other oddities exhibited at fairgrounds. There at the age of 13 she joined the travelling side show of a Mr. Emmanuel Dukes, and said farewell to her parents and two younger sisters. For the next 18 years she travelled the fairgrounds of England, exhibiting her skill in drawing and dress-making, earning £5 a year and living as one of Mr. Dukes’ family. Fully grown at the age of 20, she never exceeded 37 inches in height. She was keen to learn to paint, and after a year she was producing such fine miniatures that she was billed as “the eighth wonder of the world.”

She was once commissioned by the Earl of Morton to paint his portrait, and the completed work shown to George III. He arranged for her to have lessons from the Royal Academy painter, William Craig. She developed the technique of holding the brush in her mouth with the handle end passed through a loop on her shoulder, and so produced paintings two and a half inches across to the highest standard.

Although the Earl of Morton wanted her to leave fairground life, Sarah respected the contract made with Mr. Dukes and all the kindness he had shown her, and it wasn’t until 1816 that she had her own residence in The Crescent in Cheltenham, moving in 1819 to a studio in London. Her fame was perpetuated by Charles Dickens in several of his books –Little Dorritt, Nicholas Nickleby, Martin Chuzzlewit, and the Old Curiosity Shop. In 1821 the Earl of Morton took her to Brussels, where she became patronized by the Prince of Orange, and painted for the Dutch Court until 1822.

A water-colour of Sarah Biffen in the Museum of Somerset, Taunton Castle, believed to be a self-portrait

In 1824 she married a London Bank clerk, William Wright, at Kilton, near Kilve. They never lived together, but he took care of her finances, granting her just £40 a year, until he left her – impoverished. The Earl of Morton died in 1827, and so she returned to a travelling fairground life to earn money. When she appealed to her former patrons for financial help, she was granted a Civil List pension of £12 a year by the monarch.

She moved to Liverpool, and after a protracted illness with breathing difficulties, she died in poverty in her lodgings in 1850. The inscription on her grave in St. James’ Cemetery is a tribute to her life:

“Few have passed through the Vale of Life so much the Child of hapless fortune as the deceased; and yet possessor of mental Endowments of no ordinary kind.

Gifted with singular talents as an Artist, thousands have been gratified with the able productions of her pencil, whilst versatile conversation and agreeable manners elicited the admiration of All.

This tribute to one so universally admired is paid by those who were best acquainted with the character it so briefly portrays. Do any enquire otherwise the answer is supplied in the solemn admonition of the Apostle.

See 1 Cor.: Chap: 4 Verse 5 [“Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.”]

“Now no longer the subject of tears

Her conflict and trials are o’er

In the presence of God she appears

On the calm of Eternity’s shore.”

What an amazing life story. Born into poverty and dying in poverty, overcoming tremendous physical handicaps to give pleasure to others, betrayed in marriage, yet dying without bitterness – we will see how God will bless her in the life to come. I am reminded of the story of Lazarus the beggar, covered in sores at the rich man’s gate, told by Jesus, and recounted by Dr. Luke (Luke 16: 19-31). Had Lazarus been full of bitterness towards the rich man I think he would have driven the dogs away angrily instead of letting them lick his sores. But after he died, the angels carried him to paradise, to the place of fellowship with Abraham and all those who had lived for God and for others, and not themselves, while the rich man went to be with all those who had only lived for themselves and their own pleasure. There is a great gulf then which cannot be passed either way, so, whether we are blessed with much or little, with health or sickness, now is the time to decide to keep the two greatest commandments which sums up everything – to love God and to love our neighbour as ourselves. That will decide our future in eternity.

“Revolting” Bridgwater

Posted January 27th, 2012
by Richard Savage

There have been a number of historical events that have given Bridgwater something of a bad reputation, so much so that people might repeat Nathanael’s famous saying about Jesus: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth!” Well, we know that something very glorious came out of the dry ground of a young man, considered by the locals as being conceived out of wedlock, the son of a poor carpenter. In those days  a “tekton” was the Greek word for an artisan in stone and wood, who could be employed in anything from making ploughs and other tools, to being a building labourer.

Bridgwater has always been a town of workers, and a major industrial centre in Somerset. As a port it was once in competition with Bristol. The people had to work hard not to be poor, and in their zeal they often cried out against the injustices of the rich – sometimes taking things too far and rebelling against the authorities of the day. We have referred to the Brickyard Workers Riot in 1896, when the Riot Act had to be employed. That was not the first time that the people of Bridgwater earned a reputation for being “revolting”.  On the other hand the autocratic conduct of Charles I towards Parliament led people like Robert Blake to support Oliver Cromwell in the civil war, believing sincerely they were fighting for the good of their country against royalist and religious injustice.

Most people know about the Monmouth rebellion if 1685, when disaffection with the rule of James II by many Englishmen, particularly Protestants in the West Country, encouraged James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, the illegitimate son of Charles II by his mistress, the Welsh noblewoman, Lucy Walter, to return from Holland and raise an army to seize the throne. After the death of Charles II, his half-brother James had taken the throne, so Monmouth had to flee to Holland as a potential pretender to the throne. After being acclaimed as king in Chard and then Taunton, he was proclaimed king of England by the major of Bridgwater on the steps of the High Cross in the town centre, outside the main gate to the castle, close to where Lloyds Bank stands to day. Many Bridgwater people joined Monmouth’s army, only to be defeated at the Battle of Sedgemoor, and then being hunted down as traitors, killed in the countryside, or captured and hung, or else subsequently tried, sentenced and executed or deported to Barbados in the “Bloody Assizes” conducted by Judge Jefferies. James II visited Bridgwater briefly in 1686 and declared it to be a “rebel town”.

For those interested in living history, the Sealed Knot re-enactment society have re-enacted important parts of the rebellion’s campaign, on the 300th anniversary in 1985, and again in 2005. For the first re-enactment, the Preston-based folk trio Strawhead, which specializes in historical British music, produced an album of various songs from the time and written especially, entitled ‘Sedgemoor’.

During the Second Barons’ War of 1264-1267 against Henry III, Bridgwater was held by the barons against the King. This revolt was largely due to the king imposing higher taxes during a time of famine, but politics is never a straight-forward matter. The leader of the barons was Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, who had apparently married Henry’s sister Eleanor without his permission, resulting in bad relationships between them. In 1258, Simon in an effort to reassert the Magna Carta and force the king to surrender more power to the baronial council led seven leading barons to force Henry to agree on oath to the Provisions of Oxford, which effectively abolished the absolute power of the king and gave authority to a council of 24 barons to deal with the business of government and providing for a parliament every three years. In 1261 Henry obtained a papal bull exempting him from his oath, and civil wall followed between the royalists under the king’s son, Edward Longshanks, and the barons under Simon de Montfort. After the Battle of Lewes in 1264 the king and his son were held prisoner, while parliament in Westminster ruled England for just 15 months. Then Edward escaped, raised a royalist army, and defeated the barons, killing Simon de Montfort, at the Battle of Evesham in 1265.

Bridgwater’s connection with this was because Bridgwater Castle then belonged to the beautiful Maud (or Matilda) de Braose,  Baroness Wigmore, the wife of Roger Mortimer, 1st Baron Wigmore.  She was a staunch royalist, a very able woman, who devised the rescue plan that enabled Prince Edward to escape from the custody of Simon de Montfort at Hereford Castle while he was taking exercise outside of the castle, and flee to Wigmore Castle, 20 miles away in Herefordshire. Furthermore it was her husband Roger who killed Simon de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham, and sent the severed head and other parts of his anatomy to his wife as a gift to where she was staying at Wigmore Castle. Maud died around 1300 and is buried in Wigmore Abbey. Interestingly. Many queens of are descended from Maud de Braose, including Mary Queen of Scots, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour,  Catherine  Howard, and Catherine Parr.

One of the most serious revolts in medieval times was the peasant’s revolt of 1381 when King Richard II was only 14 years old. Since Norman times peasants were compelled to work for the lord of the manor and for the church without payment, other than the privilege of having their own parcel of land on which to live and to farm. This compulsory labour made it hard for them to earn enough to support their own families, and when the king introduced a poll tax, largely to finance the war in France, the peasants revolted, first in Kent, and then marched to London. Negotiations with the king and the Lord Major of Londonended in violence, the leader of the peasants Wat Tyler was killed, and their requests were not met. Meanwhile In Bridgwater 2 days of violence followed a public demonstration in the market place on Wednesday 19^th June. The crowd then marched to St. John’s Hospital and demanded certain documents and bonds, money and the tithes that were due to the vicar, or they would burn down the hospital. Their demands were met, but the mob then marched on the landowner John Sydenham’s properties, destroying his houses, stealing money and burning documents. They then burnt down one of the properties belonging to Thomas Duffeld, the town’s leading lawyer, before marching along the river to Chilton Trinity where they killed Walter Baron, returning with his head on a pike to place on the Town Bridge. Next day the mob went to Ilchester to release the prisoners from the gaol on the bridge, and executed the head jailor, Hugh Lavenham, whose head was also displayed on the Town Bridge.

That seemed to be the end of the “outrage” but 4 days later the King’s Council proclaimed Bridgwater to be “contumacious” or willfully disobedient to an order of court. When a general amnesty was declared, Bridgwater was one of the last towns to be pardoned.

In 1497 Bridgwater supported the Cornishmen’s revolt. Protesting against excessive taxation by Henry VII to fund wars against the Scots, 15,000 Cornishmen in marched peaceably toLondon, apart from one isolated incident inTaunton, where a tax commissioner was killed. They were joined by many English people along the way, only to be overwhelmed by 25,000 royalist troops at the Battle of Deptford Bridge (Blackheath), and their leaders, the blacksmith Michael An Gof (Angove) and the lawyer Thomas Flamank, being hung, drawn and quartered at Tyburn. The Cornish rose a second time in September, 1497, when Perkin Warbeck landed inCornwall, claiming to be the rightful heir to the throne, as the younger son of Edward IV, one of the princes in the Tower. He was proclaimed as King Richard IV at Bodmin. 6,000 flocked to his banner and followed him to Exeter and Taunton, where he experienced resistance, and the arrival of King’s troops. He eventually surrendered and was cross-examined by the King in Taunton Castle, whereupon he confessed that he was an imposter.  He was imprisoned in the Tower of London and finally hanged in 1499 after conspiring to escape with the Earl of Warwick.

On a musical note, the well-known “Song of the Western Men” has nothing to do with the Cornishmen’s Rebellion of 1497, but was written in 1824 by the vicar of Morwenstow, Robert Hawker, to describe the events of 1688 when Jonathan Trelawny, Bishop of Bristol, was one of the seven bishops imprisoned in the Tower of London by James II, for opposing the second Declaration of Indulgence giving freedom to Catholics and Non-conformists to worship on their own premises. They were tried and found not guilty of seditious libel.

Generally speaking, Somerset people are very loyal to the crown – as long as the monarch proves loyal to the country! In this year of Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee, we can only thank God for such a monarch who has dedicated herself to serving God and her people to the best of her ability for 60 years, despite much personal sorrow and conflict. Unlike many kings of the past, she has listened to her Prime Ministers and members of parliament, and given her assent to difficult decisions. May our love, respect and prayers continue to support her at this time of her life. Long live the Queen!

Finally, can anyone tell me about the background to this song of Frederick Weatherly:

Oh, we come up from Somerset, to see the Great Review;
There was Mary drest in her Sunday best, and our boy Billee too.
The drums were rolling rub-a-dub, the trumpets tootled too,
When right up rode His Majesty, an’ says ‘An who be you?’

‘Oh, we’m come up from Somerset, where the cider apples grow,
We’m come to see your Majesty, an’ how the world do go.
And when you’re wanting anyone, if you’ll kindly let us know,
We’ll all come up from Somerset, because we loves you so!’

Then the Queen she look’d at Mary, ‘An’ what’s your name?’ she said,
But Mary blush’d like any rose, an’ hung her pretty head.
So I ups and nudges Mary, ‘Speak up and tell her, do!’
So she said ‘If it please, your Majesty, my name is Mary too!

An’ we’m come up from Somerset, where the cider apples grow,
Where the gals can hem an’ sew an’ stitch, and also reap and hoe,
An’ if you’re wanting any gals, an’ will kindly let us know,
We’ll all come from Somerset, because we loves you so!’

Then the King look’d down at Billee-boy, before they rode away,
‘An’ what is he going for to be?’ His Majesty did say.
So Billee pull’d his forelock, and stood up trim and true,
‘Oh, I’m going to be a soldier, Sir, for I wants to fight for you!

For we’m come up from Somerset, where the cider apples grow,
For we’re all King’s men in Somerset, as they were long, long ago,
An’ when you’re wanting soldier boys, an’ there’s fighting for to do,
You just send word to Somerset, an’ we’ll all be up for you!’

Does anybody know to which Queen Mary and therefore to which King he was referring? Was it  Mary, the eldest daughter of James II, who married William of Orange, a grandson of Charles I, and reigned from 1688-1702?