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Bridgwater railway station

All pages needing cleanupBridgwaterDfT Category E stationsFormer Great Western Railway stationsGrade II* listed buildings in Sedgemoor
Grade II* listed railway stationsPages with no open date in Infobox stationRailway stations in Great Britain opened in 1841Railway stations in SomersetRailway stations served by Great Western RailwayUse British English from December 2016Wikipedia pages needing cleanup from December 2022
Bridgwater railway station MMB 12
Bridgwater railway station MMB 12

Bridgwater railway station serves Bridgwater in Somerset, England. It is on the Bristol to Taunton Line and is operated by Great Western Railway. It is 151 miles 47 chains (151.59 mi; 244.0 km) from the zero point at London Paddington via Box.Originally built to the designs of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the station is now a Grade II* listed building.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Bridgwater railway station (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Bridgwater railway station
St John Street,

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Latitude Longitude
N 51.1272 ° E -2.9917 °
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St John Street
TA6 5JE
England, United Kingdom
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Bridgwater railway station MMB 12
Bridgwater railway station MMB 12
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Nearby Places

Somerset Brick and Tile Museum
Somerset Brick and Tile Museum

The Somerset Brick and Tile Museum is in Bridgwater, Somerset, England and is administered by The South West Heritage Trust. The museum is dedicated to the Brick and Tile Industry of Somerset. Bridgwater had been a centre of trade and industry since the Middle Ages, benefiting from local clay from the alluvial deposits of the River Parrett to make bricks and tiles. In the 1840s there were 1,300 people in Bridgewater employed making bricks and tiles.The Chandos Glass Cone was built in 1725 as a glasswork firing kiln by James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos as part of an industrial development. After a short period of use for glassmaking it was converted for the production of pottery, bricks and tiles, which continued until 1939. The majority of the brickwork cone was demolished in 1943. The bottom 2.4 metres (7 ft 10 in) has been preserved and scheduled as an ancient monument.It incorporates the last surviving 'pinnacle kiln' in Bridgwater, which dates from the 19th century, and has been scheduled as an ancient monument and Grade II* listed building. It used to be one of six at the former Barham Brothers' Yard at East Quay. The industry declined during the 20th century as the products of the London Brick Company were more uniform than those produced in Bridgwater, and the increasing use of concrete after World War II. The kiln was last fired in 1965, the year that the works closed. The other kiln, built in 1858 by Alfred Barham, was originally used for up-draught firing and converted to the more energy efficient down-draught firing.The existing works were converted into a museum in the 1990s. Demonstrated inside are the tools, methods and processes involved in making a variety of bricks, tiles, and terracotta plaques.

Bridgwater Town Mill
Bridgwater Town Mill

The Bridgwater Town Mill is at the end of Blake Street, Bridgwater, England, next to the Blake Museum. It is fed by the Durleigh Brook, which discharges into the River Parrett through St Saviour's Clyse. It dates from the Middle Ages and later known as the Lytel Mill, and ground corn for the town. It is a Grade II listed building.It was mentioned in the Domesday Book, 1086, in a list of the town's resources, with a value of 5 shillings.It was also mentioned in various Bridgwater Borough documents between 1361 and 1380 and again in 1413.It featured in the Borough's Royal Charter of Elizabeth: Elizabeth I. 4 July 1587 And in consideration of the promises and for the great Gratuity by us unto the Inhabitants of the said Borough bestowed we will and Rightly enjoyne and command the Mayor, Recorder and Aldermen of the said Borough that neither they nor any of them from henceforth forever do suffer or allow any persons or persons being inhabitants of the said Borough, Suburbs or Precincts to utter or sell any ale or Beer within the said Borough or to exercise the Art Mystery or Offices of a Brewer or Brewers within the said Borough Liberties or precincts thereof, but only such as from time to time do Grind or cause to be Ground all and all manner of Corne, Malt and Grain at our Mills called the Little Mills in or near Bridgwater aforesaid, the ministers of us our Heirs and Successors, or the Ministers or Millers of the Tenants or Farmers of us our Heirs and Successors for the time being assigned or appointed there for Grinding the same Grain and Malt and Corn if the same Farmers or Millars may or can conveniently or in reasonable time Dispatch or do the same, taking such and like reasonable Tolne [Toll], as on Old times the t have used and ought to do.In 1694 it was converted to pump water from the brook to a cistern under town's High Cross on Cornhill, from where hawkers carried water to the inhabitants. Bored elm pipes were installed below the streets, many of which have been dug up during roadworks over the years. The work was undertaken by Richard Lowbridge, a Stourbridge ironmonger, and Daniel Dunnett, a carpenter, who was perhaps responsible for the construction of the machinery. They established waterworks at Exeter and Barnstaple at about the same time. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the High Cross was demolished, and the town did not have a proper water supply until the 1870s, when the Borough Council built the Ashford Waterworks.The Mill was offered for sale in April 1804. It had a 15 feet (4.6 m) diameter breast-shot wheel, but very little is known about the machinery used. The surviving nineteenth-century gearing indicates the millstones were on the upper floor, It was used during the nineteenth century as a corn mill and in 1858 converted to steam power for which an extension was built housing the engine and boiler with its chimney. A broadside advertising the mill for rent, published c1860 noted that there was at 10 HP steam engine and 3 pairs of mill stones. Soon after it became a saw mill. It became unused by the end of the C19, and then occupied by a builder who was also the Borough's Weights and Measures inspector. Between c1920-c1940 it housed a firm making wicker furniture, which was an extensive local trade then. It was then used by a local builder, and during the second world war was a distribution centre for Civil Defence. It came on the market in 1987 and was purchased by the Bridgwater Museum Development Trust as an extension to the Blake Museum. An archaeological survey was done, and architect's plans made to restore the mill and incorporate it into the museum, but it was damaged by fire in 1995 before work could begin and most of the roof and upper floor of the main mill were destroyed. Part of the roof of the end of the museum was damaged, and a number of the paintings by John Chubb suffered smoke damage and required conservation. The mill was subsequently bought by Sedgemoor District Council and as a safety measure the Council dropped the upper walls of the damaged part, leaving them standing to first-floor level. The Museum was transferred to the Bridgwater Town Council in 2009 and is managed now by volunteers. They cleared the rubble from inside and refurbished the roof of the standing portion, so space could be used as storage for the museum's collection of artefacts recovered from archaeological excavations. Later, a wooden floor was inserted over the cellar area of the main mill so ready access to the building could be had from the street. The Bridgwater Town Council authorised a project in 2017 to restore the main mill to its original profile and also the wheel, and the designs and estimates are being prepared. The work is being organised by the Friends of Blake Museum. When finished it will be a valuable addition to the facilities of the museum and the town.

Telescopic Bridge, Bridgwater
Telescopic Bridge, Bridgwater

The Telescopic Bridge (locally known as the Black Bridge) in Bridgwater, within the English county of Somerset, was built in 1871 to carry a railway over the River Parrett. It has been scheduled as an ancient monument and is a Grade II* listed building.The retractable bridge was built in 1871 to the design of Sir Francis Fox, the engineer for the Bristol and Exeter Railway. It carried a railway siding over the river to the coal yard and docks in the Port of Bridgwater, but had to be movable, to allow boats to proceed upriver to the Town Bridge. Part of the railway siding followed the route previously used by a horse-drawn tram which had later been converted to a mixed gauge rail system. An 80-foot (24 m) section of railway track to the east of the bridge could be moved sideways by a traverser, making space so that the main 127-foot (39 m) girders could be retracted, creating a navigable channel which was 78 feet (24 m) wide. It was manually operated for the first eight months, and then powered by a steam engine, reverting to manual operation in 1913, when the steam engine failed. The Bristol and Exeter Railway, including the branch line and bridge, was taken over by the Great Western Railway in 1876. The bridge was temporarily immobilised during World War II and last opened in 1953, and the traverser section was demolished in 1974, but public outcry at the action resulted in the bridge being listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and the rest of the bridge was kept. It was later used as a road crossing, until the construction of the Chandos road bridge alongside it, and is now only used by pedestrians. Parts of the steam engine were moved to Westonzoyland Pumping Station Museum in 1977, and other parts of the bridge mechanism to Didcot Railway Centre.