The Blake Museum closed to the public on 20 March, with the rest of the Town Council’s public buildings.
But, on 31 March the Museum launched a Facebook Group called Bridgwater History. The aim of this group was to help fill the void while the museum was closed. By the end of April it had just under 1,800 members and is growing. It is a Private Group, devoted entirely to Bridgwater’s history, and nothing else.
You can register to join the facebook group.The Blake Museum works closely with the Bridgwater Heritage Group, which was established in 2012 by the late Dr Peter Cattermole to publish detailed illustrated accounts online of the town’s lost buildings. Since then the scope has broadened to cover historic texts about the town in books and articles. These have been digitised in A4 format, and are PDF documents so that readers can download and print them for further study. Original historical research is included. The goal has been to create an educational resource for the town, of value not only for local historians, but also for school pupils and college students. You can view these on the Bridgwater Heritage Website.
Mike Searle is the Hon Curator of Blake Museum, Bridgwater and Tony Woolrich is Website co-editor of the Bridgwater Heritage Group
Dr Miles Kerr-Peterson ,who was due to give a talk to the Museum this month on the restoration of Wembdon Road Cemetery, instead has published a video. Later videos will cover the Restoration and the C17 and the C19 when the cemetery was made.
Other Bridgwater History resources
Friends of Wembdon Road cemetery website
Bridgwater and District Archaeology Society website
Somerset Industrial Archaeology Society website
Grace’s guide to Bridgwater Industry
Bridgwater and District Civic Society facebook page
Roger Evan’s Bridgwater History
Bridgwater History facebook page
Somerset and Dorset family History Society website