Bridgwater Town Council is a parish level authority in Bridgwater, Somerset, England. It owns and administers Bridgwater Town Hall, the Blake Museum and the adjacent historic Bridgwater Town Mill, and awards grants.
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Bridgwater Town Council is a parish level authority in Bridgwater, Somerset, England. It owns and administers Bridgwater Town Hall, the Blake Museum and the adjacent historic Bridgwater Town Mill, and awards grants.
Following the implementation of Local Government Act 1972 in March 1974, Bridgwater Borough Council was abolished, and Charter Trustees were created, drawn from the 16 councillors elected to Sedgemoor District Council in Somerset, England, that represented the borough wards, who maintained the continuity of the town's legal status until such time as a parish council was established. Duties were limited to ceremonial activities. In Bridgwater's case this extended to being responsible for the Town's charters, [1] muniments [2] and historic silver. [3]
Bridgwater Town Council was created in 2003, with sixteen elected members representing six wards of the town — Bower (three); Eastover (two); Hamp (three); Quantock (three); Sydenham (three) and Victoria (two). The wards were changed in 2011 to Westover (three); Hamp (two); Wyndham (two); Victoria (two); Eastover (two); Fairfax west (one); Fairfax east (two); Dunwear north (one) and Dunwear south (one). [4]
The Council's seal has been used by the Mayor, Bailiffs and Burgesses of the town since the Middle ages. [5]
Bridgwater Town Council owns Bridgwater Town Hall, which houses the Town Clerks office, Mayor’s Parlour, Charter Hall and meeting rooms and a new suite of additional offices plus numerous offices hired out to the community. The Town Hall main rooms have been restored, and some are available for hire. [6]
It owns and administers the Blake Museum, and the adjacent historic Bridgwater Town Mill These are administered by joint committee of councillors and volunteer members of the Friends of Blake Museum, [7] who do the day-to-day management. Trinity Hall is leased to On Your Bike, a local charity that trains people to refurbish bicycle and learn skills. [8]
The Council gives financial support to the Victoria Park [9] and Sydenham Community [10] centres and the Hamp Community Association. [11] It gives financial support to Bridgwater Arts Centre, and in May 2020 it took over the ownership of the Arts Centre from Sedgemoor District Council. [12]
The town has international links with La Ciotat (France), 1957; Homberg (Efze) (Germany), 1992; Uherske Hradiste (Czech Republic), 1992; Marsa (Malta) 2006; Priverno (Italy) 2015; Seattle (USA) 2015 and Camacha, Madeira, (Portugal) 2019. [13]
The Council's two Grant Schemes are for one-off grants up to £2,500 for community groups. One is ring-fenced for grants in Wards; the other is for town-wide community groups with heritage, cultural and social aims, such as the Friends of Wembdon Road Cemetery, a group which is restoring a closed Victorian cemetery. [14]
The Council funds with £7,000 the Quayside festival in the summer via the Bridgwater Cultural partnership. [15]
In the winter it sponsors a Bridgwater History Day when various talks are given on aspects of the town's past. [16]
Youth Grants - These total £10,000 per year and applications are decided by a 'Youth Forum' drawn from the schools. [17]
Twinning Grants - These total c.£2,500 per year, of which £300 goes as general running to the 6 twinning organisations and the remainder on an annual twinning week. [18]
Bridgwater is a historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. The town had a population of 41,276 at the 2021 Census. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies along both sides of the River Parrett; it has been a major inland port and trading centre since the industrial revolution. Most of its industrial bases still stand today. Its larger neighbour, Taunton, is linked to Bridgwater via a canal, the M5 motorway and the GWR railway line.
The River Parrett flows through the counties of Dorset and Somerset in South West England, from its source in the Thorney Mills springs in the hills around Chedington in Dorset. Flowing northwest through Somerset and the Somerset Levels to its mouth at Burnham-on-Sea, into the Bridgwater Bay nature reserve on the Bristol Channel, the Parrett and its tributaries drain an area of 660 square miles (1,700 km2) – about 50 per cent of Somerset's land area, with a population of 300,000.
Buckingham is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the 2011 Census. The town lies approximately 12 miles (19 km) west of Central Milton Keynes, 19 miles (31 km) south-east of Banbury, and 24 miles (39 km) north-east of Oxford.
Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the Bishops of Winchester. Parts of the inner ward house were turned into the Museum of Somerset and Somerset Military Museum. For the Second Cornish uprising of 1497, Perkin Warbeck brought an army of 6,000; most surrendered to Henry VII on 4 October 1497. On 20 June 1685 in Taunton the Duke of Monmouth crowned himself King of England in a rebellion, defeated at the Battle of Sedgemoor. Judge Jeffreys led the Bloody Assizes in the Castle's Great Hall.
North Petherton is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on the edge of the eastern foothills of the Quantocks, and close to the edge of the Somerset Levels. The town has a population of 6,730 as of 2014. The parish includes Hamp, Melcombe, Shearston, Woolmersdon and Huntworth.
Ringwood is a market town in south-west Hampshire, England, on the River Avon close to the New Forest, northeast of Bournemouth and southwest of Southampton. It was founded by the Anglo-Saxons, and has held a weekly market since the Middle Ages.
Bridgwater was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, until 2010 when it was replaced by the Bridgwater and West Somerset constituency. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
Bawdrip is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. The village is on the south side of the Polden Hills about 4 miles (6.4 km) north-east of Bridgwater. At the 2011 census the parish had a population of 506. The parish includes the hamlets of Bradney, Horsey and Knowle.
Bridgwater and West Somerset is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Ian Liddell-Grainger, a Conservative.
Bridgwater Castle was a castle in the town of Bridgwater, Somerset, England.
Wembdon is a semi-rural village near Bridgwater, in Somerset, England.
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.
Cannington is a village and civil parish 3 miles (5 km) northwest of Bridgwater in Somerset, England. It lies on the west bank of the River Parret, and contains the hamlet of Edstock.
Bridgwater Without is a civil parish in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England.
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.
Sedgemoor District Council was a local government district in Somerset, England covering the Sedgemoor district. It was established in 1974 by the merger of Bridgwater and Burnham-On-Sea Urban District Councils. It was replaced on 1 April 2023 by Somerset Council.
The Anglican St George's Church was founded in the 13th century in the village of Wembdon within the English county of Somerset. The current building dates from the 14th and 15th century but was largely rebuilt in 1868 after a fire. It is a Grade II listed building.
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.