Port of Bridgwater
The Port of Bridgwater is a port, originally located in the town of Bridgwater, Somerset, England. Created under the Bridgwater Navigation and Quays Act 1845 it extends from Brean Down to Hinkley Point in Bridgwater Bay, and parts of the rivers Parrett, River Brue and River Axe. Although no ships now dock in the town, in 2001 103,613 tonnes of cargo were handled within the area of the port authority, most of which were stone products through the wharf at Dunball.
History
Toponymy
The origins of the name of the town of Bridgwater are much debated by historians, with options coming from:- Brigg, meaning quay
- Old English brycg
- Old Norse bryggja, though this idea has been opposed on etymological grounds.
Origins of maritime trade
What can be gained from the etymology of the town's name, is that Bridgwater has been a port of trade since pre-1200AD, when the first stone bridge was built within the town, which also marked the highest point of safe navigation for seagoing vessels. The town was the lowest practical crossing point on the River Parrett, although an alternate crossing via large stones at Combwich also existed but only at low tide.The two major manors which controlled the town gained considerable revenues from the 11th century onwards from the imposed Lords water tolls. This led to the port being formally adopted as part of the Port of Bristol, allowing fees to be distributed there as well. Exports included:
- Wool: due to the volumes they controlled, the port allowed the Bardi family of Florence, Italy to make the town a regional collection centre for their wool exports.
- Agricultural products: mainly wheat, corn, beans, and peas to southern France, northern Spain, Wales, and Ireland.
Bailiffs were appointed to collect appropriate taxes, tolls and berthing fees, and were also able to rent ropes and boarding planks to visiting vessels. However, due to the high tidal flow, merchants were able to avoid taxes by landing goods in the river, whereby a vessel would be purposefully beached downstream close to Combwich and manually offloaded at low tide.
Establishment
In 1348 the port was formally recognised in an act of Parliament, covering of the Somerset coast line, from the Devon border to the mouth of the River Axe. This allowed locally collected taxes via the established custom house to be invested back into port development, with substantial stone quays built from 1424 onwards, on both sides of the river and located both up and downstream of the Town Bridge. Facilities included a dry dock and launching slips, meaning that during its entire operation the port has also built some 167 ships; the last one being the Irene launched in 1907.The development of the port allowed the local cloth trade to expand, with over 100 cloth sheets exported each year from 1402 onwards, until the trade reached its peak in 1506, by which time it had become a statutory port. The average number of cloths exported per year during this period was in excess of 200. This expanded further in the 16th century, with most going to: Bilbao, San Sebastián, Fuenterrabia and Andalusia in Spain; Bayonne and Bordeaux in France; and half to the Irish ports of Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kinsale, Limerick, Rosses Point and Sligo, Wexford, Waterford and Youghal. By the latter half of the Middle Ages, Ireland also was the destination of over half of the beans and grain exported from Bridgwater.
By the 1590s imports had been erratic and depressed, with most of the ports trade going to, and from sister regional ports of: Bristol ; Cardiff ; Carmarthen ; Dartmouth; Dorchester; Exmouth; Lydney ; Melcombe Regis and Tenby. However, after this period export licenses were issued again in 1600s for trade to Ireland, France, Spain, and Portugal, which doubled the traffic tonnage. By the 1670s Bridgwater registered vessels were running triangle-based routes, allowing them to operate directly in both French-Irish and English-Dutch trade routes.
By the 1700s, the local fleet consisted of 33 vessels totalling, and employing 171 men. At the start of the century, import/export accounted for a third of total shipped tonnage, but stood at two thirds by the end. Exports remained focused around wheat, which was shipped locally to Bristol and around the West Country by coasters, and exported mainly to Madeira and Newfoundland, but with trade also to Gallipoli, Gibraltar, Virginia, and the West Indies. Return cargoes varied greatly, but were mostly made up of coal, culm, local food and wine, and a large trade in illegally imported spirit-based alcohol.
Canal and docks
Canal extension
The Bridgwater and Taunton Canal had been built from Taunton to a basin at Huntworth, to the east of Bridgwater, where it entered the River Parrett. The early years of operation were marred by a series of legal disputes, with connection to the River Tone at Taunton having been made forcibly by the canal company, and which were only resolved when the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal Company and the Conservators, who managed the River Tone Navigation, agreed that the canal company should take over the Tone Navigation. The arrangement also allowed a short extension to French Weir for junctioning with the Grand Western Canal, while the conservators were allowed to conduct an annual inspection of the canal, and to resume their ownership of the river if the canal was not maintained in good order.Construction of docks
By the start of the 19th century, four companies dominated the ports trade: Stuckey and Bagehot; Haviland; Axford; Sully. Each were in constant demand to the Corporation of Bridgwater for better port facilities, who had commissioned a number of surveys to construct a floating harbour.After the Bristol and Exeter Railway obtained the Bristol and Exeter Railway Act 1836 to construct a railway which would pass through Bridgwater, to protect its trade the canal company sought their own act of Parliament to construct a floating harbour to the west of Bridgwater, and to extend their canal to join it. The Bridgwater and Taunton Canal Navigation Act 1837 was obtained on 21 April 1837, and the works were started.
Construction work involved a deep cutting from Albert Street to West Street, a short tunnel at West Street, and an inner basin that covered. A smaller outer basin covering was connected to the inner basin by a lock and to the river by a ship lock consisting of a single gate, and a barge lock, consisting of a pair of gates. The whole outer basin could be used as a lock by larger ships up to 600 tons. The estimated cost of £25,000 for the scheme escalated to nearly £100,000, most of which was raised by mortgage.
The new facilities were opened on 25 March 1841, after which the basin and locks at Huntworth were filled in. Trade increased from in 1840, before the harbour opened, to shortly afterwards. Around 2,400 vessels per year were using the port by 1853. The canal company had hoped that the opening of the Grand Western Canal in 1838 and the Chard Canal in 1842 would increase traffic significantly, but their impact was marginal.
Canal takeover by railway company
The problem for the canal company was that the extension and docks had been paid for via a mortgage, and despite commercial success, the interest payments on the mortgage were crippling. In 1846 the company obtained an Act to convert the canal into a railway, although its powers were never used. Trade halved as railway competition increased, and the company was in the hands of receivers by the early 1850s.In 1866 the Bristol and Exeter Railway stepped in and bought the entire stock of the canal company. The main attraction was the dock, with its large volume of coal traffic, but they purchased both the canal and the dock for £64,000, under the terms of an act of Parliament obtained that year, which included a requirement that there should always be "a good and sufficient water communication between the towns of Taunton and Bridgwater". Unlike many such acquisitions, the canal was seen as a useful adjunct to the railway network, and was maintained in good order for several years, with the Conservators of the River Tone continuing their annual inspections, and reporting any defects to the railway company.
Decline
The importance of shipping and the docks started to decline after 1886, the year in which the opening of the Severn Tunnel caused a severe drop in coal imports by sea. The situation worsened as the railways were extended into Somerset and beyond, and new steam-powered ships became too big for the port.The last commercial boats used the canal in 1907, from Bridgwater dock to a wharf in North Town, Taunton, and the canal was effectively closed. The canal, which had by this time passed from the B&ER into the control of the Great Western Railway, had fallen into disrepair due to lack of trade by the beginning of World War I.
Control of the docks and canal passed into public ownership with the Transport Act 1947, both consolidated initially under British Railways. The Inland Waterways Association started to take an active interest in the restoration of the canal from 1952, but this was resisted by the British Transport Commission, who padlocked the lock gates to prevent them being used. Despite this, a team of seven men was employed to maintain the infrastructure through this period. The maintenance of the channel enabled the canal to become one of the first to be used for the commercial transport of potable water, which was pumped from the River Tone at Taunton and then transported via the canal to Durleigh reservoir for consumption in Bridgwater, from 1962 onwards.