Bridgwater Castle

Bridgwater North railway station was the terminus of the Bridgwater Railway, which ran from a junction with the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway at Edington, between 1890 and 1954. Although often regarded as part of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, and effectively worked as part of that system, the Bridgwater Railway remained nominally independent until the railway Grouping of 1923 when it was vested in the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway group.

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.

The Lions House on West Quay in Bridgwater, Somerset, England was built around 1725 and has been designated as a Grade I listed building.It was built between 1720 and 1730 in a Baroque style by Benjamin Holloway, as his house and was later occupied by several Mayors of Bridgwater. Holloway was employed by the Duke of Chandos to build and possibly design the houses in nearby Castle Street. The two-storey house is of five bays with single storey wings on either side of front door which is approached via a flight of steps. It is built of Flemish-bond brick of alternate red and yellow, beneath a double-pitched pantile roof. At the front of the house are 20th-century low panelled and corniced gatepiers which carry Chinese-style dogs (The Lions).The building is now known as Benjamin Holloway House. Parts of the building have been converted for commercial use and include a dentists and a professional services firm.The Lion statues have been used as the inspiration for an exhibit by artist Rebecca Moss as part of Somerset Art Week. They are made in concrete to link to the local industrial heritage and the nearby Castle House, which was one of the first buildings to make extensive use of Portland cement for pre-cast concrete.

The Chandos Glass Cone in Bridgwater, in the English county of Somerset, was built in 1725 as a kiln for a glassworks. The remains have been scheduled as an ancient monument.After a short period of use for glassmaking the kiln was converted to the production of pottery, bricks and tiles, which undertaking continued until 1939. Most of the cone of brickwork was demolished in 1943. The bottom 2.4 metres (7 ft 10 in) has been preserved.

Castle Street in Bridgwater, Somerset, England was built in the 1720s, on a site previously occupied by Bridgwater Castle, by Benjamin Holloway or Fort and Shepherd, the Duke's London surveyors for James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos. It was originally called Chandos Street. Many of the buildings have been designated as Grade I Listed buildings. The buildings are made of red and yellow Flemish-bond brick, with moulded stone coping to the parapet, and follow very similar lines. They form an important group, unusual for their scale and ambition outside London's West End.The buildings close to the quay on the River Parrett were built for the merchants who managed trade through the port, with the first bridge having been constructed in 1200 AD. Quays were built in 1424; with another quay, the Langport slip, being built in 1488 upstream of the town bridge. The river was navigable, with care, to Bridgwater town bridge by 400–500 tonne vessels. By trans-shipping into barges at the town bridge the Parrett was navigable as far as Langport and (via the River Yeo) to Ilchester. Many of the buildings still have undercroft vaults, some of which were used by the Customs House which was once at the lower end of Castle Street and led to the naming of Bond Street which adjoins Castle Street.Castle Street was used as a location in the 1963 film Tom Jones. In 2008, during sewer renovation work under Castle Street, a section of the curtain wall of the castle and a tunnel used to transport goods from the port were discovered.

Castle House is a house in Bridgwater, Somerset, England. Castle House is associated with two important Sedgemoor families, the Boards and the Ackermans; John Board (1802-1861) who extended his family's brick company into cement in 1844, and his grandson William Ackerman who joined the company in 1871 and is credited with the first ‘true’ Portland cement.’ Built in 1851 to resemble a Tudor gatehouse, the construction uses panels of prefabricated concrete, with significant further usage of concrete throughout the building.

King Square in Bridgwater within the English county of Somerset was laid out with large Georgian houses between 1770 and 1800 on the site of Bridgwater Castle. It is also the site of the Bridgwater War Memorial

Bridgwater War Memorial is a Grade II* listed war memorial located on King Square in Bridgwater, Somerset, England, on the site previously occupied by Bridgwater Castle. It was designed by John Angel in the mid-1920s. The green figure of the memorial is allegorical, representing "Civilization as a seated female, holding a globe in one hand and with the book of knowledge on her lap."

The Blake Statue in Bridgwater, Somerset, England was unveiled in 1900 to commemorate naval commander Robert Blake. The hollow bronze life size sculpture was crafted by F. W. Pomeroy. It is a Grade II* listed building.

The Blake Museum is in Bridgwater, Somerset, England at what is believed to be the birthplace of Robert Blake, General at Sea (1598–1657). Since April 2009 it has been run by Bridgwater Town Council with help from the Friends of Blake Museum. It has been an Accredited Museum since 2006. It is next door to the Bridgwater Town Mill, and there are plans to develop this as an extension of the 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.

The Corn Exchange and market house in Bridgwater, Somerset, England was built in 1834 by John Bowen and extended in 1875, by Charles Knowles. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building.The original market hall, which dates from 1791, is fronted by a circular portico with a domed roof with Tuscan pillars. The distinctive portico was added after the north and south sides of the corn market were demolished for road widening in 1825.It was originally surrounded by railings to separate the livestock from the food produce. The railings were removed in 1895.In front of the building is a statue of Robert Blake who was born in the town. The statue was made in 1898 by F. W. Pomeroy and has since been repositioned to face down Cornhill.