Index

• The Dark and Middle Ages
  • The Dark Ages
  • The Middle Ages
  • Bridgwater Castle
  • Town's Mediaeval Layout
  • St Mary's Church
  • St John's Hospital
  • Grey Friars
• Bridgwater's Fairs and Markets
  • The Earliest Fairs
  • St Matthew's Fair
  • Markets and Trade
• Bridgwater Carnival
  • Bridgwater Carnival
  • Historical Background
  • Cornhill Bonfire
  • The Final Bonfire
  • Squibbing
  • Early Disasters
  • The Evolution of Carnival
  • Carnival Concerts
• 17th Century
  • English Civil War
  • Admiral Blake
  • The Plague
  • Monmouth Rebellion
• River and Shipping
  • Earliest Records
  • Blossoming Trade
  • Shipbuilding
  • Docks
  • Bertha the Dredger
• 18th Century
  • Stage Coach Travel
  • The Iron Bridge and the Turnpike Trusts
  • The Architectural Legacy
  • Entertainment
• Bridgwater and Slavery
  • Somerset Rebels Sold into Slavery
  • Bridgwater’s Petition
  • A Slave Speaks Out in Bridgwater
• 19th Century
  • Political Corruption
  • Disenfranchised
  • Advent of the Railway
  • Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
  • Utilities
  • Bridgwater’s Regiment
  • The Borough Constabulary 1834-1940
  • The Bridgwater Workhouses
  • The Brick and Tile Trade
  • The Brickyard Strike of 1896
  • Bath Brick
  • Wicker Products
• Early 20th Century
  • Introduction
  • Introduction of Electricity
  • The New Fire Stations
  • The Launch of the Irene
  • An Unwanted Suffragette
  • First World War
  • Changes in Transport
  • Between the Wars
• Second World War
  • Vernon Bartlett
  • The Day War Broke Out
  • Rationing and Restrictions
  • Prisoners of War
  • Women’s Land Army and the War Effort
  • Air Raids
  • Home Guard and Returning Heroes
  • VE Day
• Late 20th Century
  • Post War Bridgwater
• Around and About the Town
  • Admiral Blake Statue
  • Bridgwater Infirmary
  • Blake Gardens
  • The Cannon
  • Castle Street
  • The Cornhill
  • Friarn Street
  • King Square
  • The Old Vicarage
  • Penel Orlieu
  • Royal Clarence
  • Salmon Parade
  • Town Hall
• Lesser known Bridgwater Worthies
  • Captain George Lewis Browne, William Hubber and the Battle of Trafalgar
  • John Clark, Inventor of the Mackintosh
  • Denis Heron
  • Frances Barkley
  • Brother John Somer
  • Fanny Talbot
• Did You Know?
  • Did You Know?

History

Markets and Trade

Apart from the fairs, a regular market was held in Bridgwater, initially on a Saturday until around 1600, and then latterly on a Wednesday.  In St. Mary Street there was a Cheese Cross where cheeses were sold.   In 1857 an Act of Parliament rearranged the days of the town’s markets and fairs as follows:  the market on Wednesday instead of Thursday; St Matthew’s Fair the last Wednesday in September; Cock-hill Fair, last Wednesday in January; Lent fair, last Wednesday in March; Midsummer Fair, last Wednesday in June.

Fish, fowl, fruit and vegetables were sold in the Cornhill area.  There were two market crosses in Bridgwater and one of these, known as the High Cross, was at the Cornhill in a position which would now place it in the middle of the road between the dome and the Lloyd’s TSB bank premises.  It was octagonal in shape.  The cross was used for the sale of various items but especially fish.  In 1694, a water tank was added to the roof to hold water for the town centre community.  It was finally pulled down in 1827, having also served as a gallows at the time of the Monmouth Rebellion.  It carried an interesting motto of “Mind your own business”.

The other cross was the Pig Cross, a simple shaft with an orb atop, a replica of which can now be found at the Town Bridge end of Fore Street.  The Pig Cross was at Penel Orlieu, where cattle and pigs were sold, sheep being sold in West Street, and was destroyed in 1830.  It is believed that ‘Pig’ is not derived from the animal but rather from ‘Pigens’, an ancient manor which existed in the town. 

Cloth trade

During the fourteenth century, the Bridgwater cloth trade expanded considerably and not least because of the good quality of locally made cloth, the speciality being a ratteen, a coarse serge-like cloth known as a “Bridgwater”.  Taunton and Dunster had reputations equal to Bridgwater and cheap imitations were a problem for the local traders.  It became necessary to introduce legislation which made it illegal to sell “Bridgwaters” in a rolled-up form.  The cloth had to be exposed so that the buyers could see that they were getting the real thing.  In 1388, three traders from Taunton were caught illegally selling cloth at Bridgwater market.

Within the walls of the castle there was a fulling mill, tuckers, dyers and  carders.  Outside of the castle, the same businesses would be found in many cottages.  There were also goldsmiths, indicating the wealth from the wool trade, and mercers, men who traded in cloth.  The volume of trade was such that a new slipway on the river had to be built.  This was the Langport slipway built in 1488, paid for by the Abbot of Glastonbury, and is the slipway between the town bridge and the library.

Text Copyright © 2008 Roger Evans