| 800 A.D. |
Saxon Chronicles indicate the presence of
Bridgwater as Bruggie |
| 878 |
Danes invade nearby Combwich |
| 1080 |
Mentioned in Doomsday
Book as being 5 hides or 5 extended families |
| 1200 |
King John granted
William Brewer permission to build a castle and create a borough |
| 1204, 1205, 1208 and 1210 |
King John visits Bridgwater |
| 1200-1210 |
Bridgwater
Castle built for William Brewer |
| 1216 |
St. John’s Hospital founded |
| 1220 |
Earliest reference to St. Mary’s Church |
| 1230 |
Grey Friars priory founded |
| 1245-46 |
Franciscan Friary founded |
| 1249 |
St Matthew's Fair and market first held
in the town |
| 1276 |
Great earthquake in Bridgwater |
| 1298 |
Earliest record of a Bridgwater school |
| 1348 |
Black Death hits Bridgwater |
| 1358 |
Friary moved outside the town boundary |
| 1367 |
Spire added to St. Mary’s church |
| 1381 |
St. John’s Hospital attacked in wake of
Wat Tyler’s peasant revolt, two rioters heads put on spikes on town
bridge |
| 1400 |
Bridgwater Castle falls into disrepair |
| 1402 |
Bridgwater declared a port |
| 1404 |
St Matthew's Fair moves to West Gate |
| 1464 |
Humphrey Stafford,
Earl of Devon, executed in Bridgwater Castle John Kendall
elected first mayor of Bridgwater |
| 1487 |
Henry Vll declares Bridgwater a county,
a privilege never pursued |
| 1520 |
Jane Seymour reputedly born at West Bower,
Durleigh |
| 1535 |
Four riot ringleaders executed |
| 1538 |
Henry Daubenny made Earl of Bridgwater |
| 1539 |
Medieval Hospital of St John the Baptist
dissolved |
| 1561 |
Bridgwater’s first free Grammar School |
| 1578 |
The ‘Emanuel’ of Bridgwater joins Frobisher’s
voyage to discover the North West passage |
| 1586 |
Charter granted for Bridgwater Fair |
| 1588 |
News of Spanish Armada
reaches England by Humphrey Blake’s ships arriving at Bridgwater
on July 21st. Bridgwater’s ship the ‘William’ sailed to join the
fleet against the Spanish Armada. |
| 1598 |
Robert Blake
born |
| 1600 |
Baptist Chapel founded |
| 1605 |
Gunpowder Plot, origin of Bridgwater Carnival |
| 1625 |
River traffic brought to a standstill as
plague hits Bridgwater |
| 1640 |
Robert Blake becomes Bridgwater's member
of parliament |
| 1643 |
Royalists capture Bridgwater in English
Civil War |
| 1645 |
Most of the town destroyed by Cromwell’s
army – town and castle captured by Cromwell and Fairfax |
| 1646 |
Bridgwater Castle demolished |
| 1648 |
Admiral Blake appointed General-at-sea |
| 1649 |
Bridgewater Massachusetts founded, the first
of 17 other Bridgewaters worldwide |
| 1657 |
Death of Admiral Robert Blake |
| 1671 |
Admiralty approve Bridgwater for ship building |
| 1685 |
Battle of Sedgemoor |
| 1686 |
King James visits Bridgwater |
| 1694 |
William Penn held a Quaker meeting in Bridgwater |
| 1716 |
Earliest record of Bridgwater squib as John
Taylor blows up his family |
| 1717 |
Riots in St. Mary’s Street |
| 1720 |
Lions built on West Quay |
| 1721 |
Duke of Chandos
buys the castle and adjoining properties |
| 1720-23 |
Castle
Street constructed |
| 1722 |
Friends Meeting House built in Friarn Street |
| 1723 |
Dr. Morgan’s Grammar School founded |
| 1725 |
Chandos
Glass Cone constructed |
| 1746 |
John Wesley’s first visit to Bridgwater |
| 1785 |
Bridgwater first to petition parliament
for the abolition of slavery |
| 1797 |
Second Town Bridge, first iron bridge, finished;
Samuel Taylor Coleridge preached in the town |
| 1801 |
First official census - 3,634 residents |
| 1813 |
Taunton Horse Races transferred to Bridgwater |
| 1816 |
Angel Crescent built |
| 1822 |
Bristol Road constructed avoiding Puriton
Hill |
| 1823 |
Bath Brick patented |
| 1825 |
Royal Clarence Hotel opens |
| 1826 |
Cornhill dome erected |
| 1827 |
Canal opened from Taunton to Huntworth |
| 1832 |
Riots after general election results |
| 1834 |
Bridgwater Borough Police Force formed;
gas works built in Old Taunton Road |
| 1834 |
George Williams, founder of the YMCA, moves
to Bridgwater |
| 1840 |
Holy Trinity Church, Taunton Road consecrated |
| 1841 |
Dock excavated to north of the town with
canal link to Taunton; Bristol to Exeter railway (later GWR) arrives
at Bridgwater |
| 1846 |
St John the Baptist's church consecrated |
| 1857 |
First procession through the town to earn
the name 'Carnival' with floats, a band and squibbing; St. Matthew’s
Fair extended to three days; Bridgwater Mercury first published |
| 1865 |
Town Hall opened |
| 1869 |
Bridgwater disenfranchised after decades
of corrupt voting |
| 1871 |
Steam driven Telescopic Bridge built |
| 1875 |
Bridgwater Rugby Club founded |
| 1880 |
Salvation Army comes to Bridgwater |
| 1883 |
The third Town Bridge opened (over the River
Parrett); first Carnival Concerts |
| 1884 |
General Booth, founder of Salvation Army,
visits Bridgwater and again in 1904 |
| 1887 |
YMCA building erected |
| 1898 |
Blake Gardens purchased for the town |
| 1900 |
Blakes statue unveiled in Cornhill |
| 1904 |
Electricity introduced to the town |
| 1905-6 |
Cranleigh Gardens opens |
| 1907 |
The 'Irene' launched, last ship built in
Bridgwater |
| 1909 |
Police raid on illegal fireworks factory |
| 1913 |
Electric lights introduced to Carnival Procession |
| 1922 |
Bridgwater Carnival recorded on film |
| 1924 |
- War memorial erected on site
of Bridgwater Castle
- Last bonfire at Cornhill |
| 1930 |
Dr. Morgan’s Grammar School for Boys moved
to Durleigh Road |
| 1939 |
Evacuees arrive from London’s East End |
| 1943 |
Glass Cone demolished |
| 1956 |
Hamp Secondary Modern School opens, renamed
to Blake in 1957 |
| 1957 |
Blake Bridge under construction |
| 1962 |
Sydenham Secondary School (East Bridgwater)
opens |
| 1965 |
Last brick kiln firing at Barham Brothers |
| 1966 |
Chilton Trinity Secondary School opens |
| 1971 |
Last commercial use of Bridgwater Docks |
| 1973 |
M5 motorway opens |
| 1974 |
Formal end of the Borough of Bridgwater
as Sedgemoor District Council is established |
| 1999 |
PipM creates Bridgwater Town Web |
|
|