Important History Dates For Bridport
|A 'Burh' fortification was set up to protect Bridport from Danish invasion.
|Bridport had its own mint and was taxed at the same rate as much larger towns, implying it had been an important and established town for some time.
|Evidence of a church belonging to St Wandrille's Abbey and possibly the antecedent of St Mary's Church in South Street.
|King Stephen stormed the town during the troubles of his reign and received the submission of the ‘Castellan’.
|The Keeper of Bridport Castle, now loyal to King Stephen, was taken prisoner by the future King of England, Henry II.
|The Pipe Roll, during the reign of King Richard, referred to Bridport as having Borough status.
|1201 & 1204
|King John, who frequently hunted in Powerstock Forest, visited Bridport and in 1204 this hospitality cost the town 50/9d (£2.54p approx.).
|King John commissioned, according to 'Bridport weight', to produce ships' ropes and cables, due to the imminent war with France.
|King John ordered that there be 'made at Bridport by night and day, as many ropes for ships both large and small as they could'.
|St Mary Magdalen Hospital for Lepers in Allington was founded by the de Leyes or de Leghs family.
|It was documented that by this date, there existed a hospital of St John the Baptist and Chapel at East Bridge (eastern end of East Street on the current site of the Masonic Hall).
|On 22nd June, Bridport was granted its borough charter by Queen Eleanor, the wife of Henry III, headed by two annually elected bailiffs. The Charter was obtained principally by Giles de Bridport.
|St Andrew's Chapel was built just outside the Bridport town boundary (current location of the Town Hall). It was probably built for the Carmelite friars. The Chapel contained a lock-up or Bocardo, the origins of Bucky Doo.
|Carmelite friars (known as 'white friars') settled and preached in Bridport for the next 100 years.
|Records indicate that the River Brit was navigable as far inland as Bridport at high tide by small flat bottomed ships. Reports suggest there might have been a small inland harbour, though it probably only consisted of an unloading wharf.
|During the reign of King Edward I, first recorded evidence of twice weekly markets being held on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
|Bridport claimed all rights to sea wrecks on the beaches.
|Bridport claimed rights to 'Take tolls from all Ships'.
|East Street and West Street were added at the northern end of the town's South Street, probably developed from the old Dorchester to Exeter Roman route.
|Earliest evidence of the construction of a church on the site of St Mary's in South Street.
|The Chantry, near the bottom of South Street was built and probably used as a beacon tower for ships at sea. Its construction was possibly on the site of the timber constructed Bridport Castle.
|References to a site called Castlehay were recorded. Possibly referring to a Bridport Castle? Now known as the site of the Old Castle and Bridport Museum.
|A toll house was built on the northern side at the junction of East Street and West Street. The toll house was later to be named the Guildhall and used as a council chamber and local court.
|The first incumbent of the Parish of Bridport, 'Peter of Collitone' or 'Peter de Colyngton' was recorded. This was the first recorded priest of St Mary's Church.
|A Coaching Inn and Tavern was built in East Street, the building being renamed 'The Greyhound' during the 17th Century.
|1348 & 1361
|Bridport together with most towns in Dorset, Devon and Somerset suffered terrible outbreaks of the Black Death.
|Sir John Chideock failed to secure land in Bridport to build a friary, so the friars, including the Carmelites, left the area.
|The Chantry building was converted into a priest's house.
|Bridport was represented in Parliament by 2 MP's.
|Various further additions were made to St Mary's Church in South Street.
|Hemp boiling mill (for rope making) constructed along West Street, replaced in 19th Century by West Mill.
|House and barn built in South Street, to become the Friends Meeting House (Quakers) in 1697.
|On 5th November, King Richard III stayed overnight in Bridport, probably at St John the Baptist and Chapel at East Bridge. He was on his way to Exeter to deal with the remnants of the rebellion led by the Duke of Buckingham.
|A second Coaching Inn, 'The Bull', was built further along East Steet.
|According to the Institute for Family Business, John Balson opened a market stall in South Street. Then operating at a shop in West Allington from 1880, this makes Balson Butchers the oldest continuously trading family business in Britain.
|An Act of Parliament prohibited anyone living within five miles of Bridport from making rope.
|Elizabeth I confirmed the right for Bridport to hold a twice weekly market and three annual fairs.
|Markett House and Scole built in the middle of the junction of East, West and South Streets. Housed butcher shops and a school room. Became known locally as The Shambles.
|The Old Castle (Castlehay) in South Street was built in early Jacobean style, now the Bridport Museum. It is believed that it may possibly occupy the original site of Bridport Castle.
|James I incorporated Bridport by granting a mayor and corporation.
|Bridport was granted its 'Coat of Arms'.
|The plague reached Bridport.
|Charles II was almost captured by troops at the 'Old George Inn' in East Street (now the Cancer Research charity shop) after his defeat from Oliver Cromwell at the Battle of Worcester.
|Charles II granted Bridport a new charter, under which the town was governed until 1835.
|The Duke of Monmouth's first conflict occurred at the 'Bull Inn' in East Street during his failed attempt to overthrow his uncle, James II from the throne.
|The Friends Meeting House (Quakers) in South Street was formed. The former house and barn were given to the Friends by Daniel Taylor, owner of the Bull Inn.
|There were around 30 licensed public (beer) houses in Bridport.
|Chapel built in Stake Lane (Barrack Street), later to become a Temperance Hall, a Liberal Hall, Electric Palace Cinema then the Lyric Theatre.
|The Dissenters Academy was built in East Street, later to become the Bridge House Hotel.
|The Marquis of Granby Inn was built on the former site of St John the Baptist Hospital and Chapel in East Street, later to become the Masonic Hall.
|The Markett House was destroyed by fire and the Guildhall (council chamber and local court) was badly damaged. Both were demolished.
|A new East Bridge was built over the River Asker at the eastern end of East Street.
|Act of Parliament passed for building a Town Hall, better cleansing, paving and prohibiting any new buildings from being roofed with thatch.
|At the junction of East Street and South Street, St Andrew's Chapel was demolished to make way for the new Town Hall.
|Completion of Bridport's Grade I listed Georgian Town Hall and Market House, at a cost of almost £3,000.
|Completion of the octagonal shaped Corne & Greene Market building in South Street behind the new Town Hall. Converted in 1902 to house the town's Fire Engine, then demolished in 1946, the area becoming known as Bucky Doo Square.
|Downe Hall, a large mansion sitting on the side of Coneygar Hill, was built for William Downe.
|Mountfield, the current location of Bridport's council offices, was built for William Downe.
|The Chapel in the Garden, a Unitarian Church, was built along East Street.
|Wykes Court was built around this time for the manufacture of sailcloth, net and twine by William Fowler, later by William Hounsell & Co. Now the site of a public car park.
|A brewery was set up by Samuel Gundry at the bottom of South Street, later to become Palmers.
|Barracks were built to house troops due to the threat of a Napoleonic invasion. Location was at Stake Lane, renamed Barrack Street, this being the origins of the street's current name.
|Fire destroyed 24 houses, including two public houses, the Ship and White Lion.
|The principal coaching inns for Bridport were The Bull and The Golden Lion.
|Doctor Giles L. Roberts, a Methodist and apothecist in Bridport, bought the 'Old George Inn' and set up a pharmacy to produce a widely used ointment called the 'Poor Man's Friend'.
|Lieutenant Laponetiere changed horses at The Bull Inn on his journey from Falmouth to London with news of England's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar.
|A cupola and clock were added to the Town Hall.
|The Grove Iron Works was converted from a boiling mill.
|On 2nd September, the Government (Commissioners for the Affairs of Barracks) sold land, wooden huts and other particulars in Barrack Street. The sale would have been due to the diminishing threat of a Napoleonic invasion and probably accounts for the origins of the street's name.
|A smallpox epidemic spread through Bridport, killing 26 people.
|The Grove, at the top of Rax Lane, was built for James Templer.
|Gas street lighting arrived at Bridport, provided by the Bridport Gas & Coke Company, from gas works near the bottom end of South Street.
|Cholera outbreak kills 19 people.
|The Literary and Scientific Institute was built in East Street, initially as a mechanics institute to provide practical education to working men. Later, Fra Newbery was a pupil and teacher when it became a School of Art.
|The Poor Law Union for Bridport was formed (by reorganising parishes into unions) to provide a form of welfare state, with its guardians being magistrates and JP's (justices of the peace).
|The Union Workhouse opened in Barrack Street, housing 200 inmates or paupers who work in return for food and accommodation.
|Thomas Beach and John Barnicott took over Dr Giles Roberts' pharmacy and continued to produce the 'Poor Man's Friend' ointment.
|Asker Mills built as weaving shop and bleaching works.
|Bridport's governing body had been the 'Bailiffs and Burgesses of the Borough of Bridport'. Due to the introduction of the Municipal Corporations Act (Municipal Reform Act), Bridport became known as 'Bridport Municipal Borough Council'.
|Parish boundary changes due to the Reform Act of 1832. West Bay, previously shared between the parishes of Symondsbury, Burton Bradstock and Bothenhampton, now came under the control of Bridport Municipal Borough Council.
|A Wesleyan Methodist Chapel was built along South Street, now the home of Bridport Arts Centre.
|Various proposals put forward to link Bridport by railway to a main line.
|A hide and skin yard was built at New Zealand (east of South Street) later to be sold to Thomas Tucker & Co. for a net making factory.
|The Bull Inn was sold to the Knight family, refurbished and remained in the family for 110 years.
|The Boys' General School was established on a site at Killingham, at the corner of King Street and Folly Mill Lane.
|Various Tanneries were built around this time, including the 'Britside' by Thomas Ewens Biddlecombe, now the location of the Coach and Bus Station.
|A girls and infant school was added on the site of the boys' school at the corner of King Street and Folly Mill Lane.
|The necessary Act of Parliament was passed on 5th May to build a railway to link Bridport to Maiden Newton.
|The Bridport News, local newspaper was established at 34 West Street.
|Bridport Cemetery was opened in Lower Walditch Lane, off East Road.
|On 12th November, The Bridport Railway Company opened its rail link.
|The United Church in East Street was built on the old site of The Crown Public House.
|Bridport Police Station was located in South Street, later to become the Fire Station and currently the Library.
|The Drill Hall in St Michael's Lane was built for the 1st Dorset Rifle Volunteers Regiment 'A' Company.
|The number of MP's representing Bridport was reduced to 1.
|St Thomas's Hospital at Allington, known locally as 'Tommy's' opened.
|A water company was formed to supply piped water throughout Bridport from works at Litton Cheney.
|The railway link from Bridport to Maiden Newton was converted from broad gauge to standard gauge during the period of 18th to 22nd June.
|Irish Lane was renamed King Street. Reason for name change is unknown, though Samuel Hood, 2nd Baron Bridport also held the title 'Peerage of Ireland' until his death in 1868.
|A drainage / sewerage system was constructed to link all buildings in Bridport and piped out to sea at West Bay.
|The Poor Law Union for Bridport (formed in 1834), became the Bridport Sanitary District Council under the Public Health Act of 1873.
|The Old Castle (current location of Bridport Museum) was seriously damaged by fire.
|The Temperance Movement arrived in Bridport, opening a Coffee Tavern at 12 East Street (now W H Smith) and later, a hotel at 3 East Street, opposite the Town Hall.
|A water wheel was added to the brewery in South Street.
|Act of Parliament was passed to extend the Bridport Railway down to Bridport Harbour.
|A new railway station at Bridport was opened, called East Street and the railway opened its services to Bridport Harbour (West Bay) on 31st March.
|In response to the renaming of Bridport Harbour to West Bay, Harbour Road linking South Street to the harbour was renamed 'West Bay Road'.
|Bridport lost all representation in Parliament.
|On 7th October, Bridport Football Club was formed by a group of members from the town's cricket and lawn tennis clubs.
|A trust was created, stating that when the Dorset Rifle 'A' Company were not using Drill Hall in St Michael's Lane, the hall could be used by the town as the mayor decided.
|The Bridport Rural District Council was created due to the Local Government Act of 1894, from the Bridport Sanitary District Council formation in 1875 and amalgamation of other local district councils.
|The Palmer family bought Samuel Gundry's brewery, now the only thatched brewery in England.
|A voluntary Fire Brigade Service was formed, using a horse drawn carriage kept at a housing behind the Town Hall.
|Hospital for Infectious Diseases opened in Allington.
|A Fire Engine with Merryweather & Sons Steam Pump 'Greenwich Gem' was housed behind the Town Hall in the Corne & Greene Market building. Bought to commemorate the coronation of King Edward VII, the pump was pulled by a Daimler 58hp engine, once owned by the king.
|The Post Office was built on the site of the old cattle market, on the corner of West Street and Victoria Grove.
|The cattle market was moved to St Michaels Lane.
|Local magistrates were given sufficient powers to force the closure of unruly public houses.
|Palmers shut 4 beer houses in South Street, buying up houses either side of existing outlets to avoid further complaints.
|On 12th November, West Street Infants School was destroyed by fire. It had opened in March 1838 as Miss Gundry's Infant School and located next to West Street Mill.
|First evidence of a summer carnival being held in Bridport. However, by 1920 the event had been abandoned.
|On Friday, 9th February, women workers in the Gundry net and rope factory (now Amsafe) walked out on unofficial strike against changes to their pay and conditions. Marching through the streets of Bridport singing the suffragette anthem 'Shoulder to Shoulder', they returned to work on 16th February after signing up to the National Federation of Women Workers trade union.
|The Electric Palace Cinema opened in Barrack Street, the hall previously used as headquarters of the Royal Field Artillery and later, the Lyric Theatre.
|The Union Workhouse in Barrack Street became an institute for the 'Mentally Defective'.
|King of Prussia pub in East Street (named in the mid 18th Century after Frederick the Great) was renamed 'King of the Belgians', due to the number of Belgians in Bridport working for the war effort.
|Bridport General Hospital opened in Park Road, North Allington, on the site of the old isolation hospital.
|Steel wire anti-submarine nets were manufactured in Bridport during the First World War.
|The Electric Palace Cinema in Barrack Street was moved to South Street and opened as the Electric Palace on 14th June, accommodating 400 people on the ground floor plus 100 in the circle.
|Mains electricity arrived through the foundation of the Bridport Borough Electricity Undertaking. The power station was at Fulbrooks Lane, off St Swithins Road.
|The Askers Roadhouse Hotel opened on the north side of the A35 near Askerswell. Famous for the Beatles stopping there for lunch in 1963, it was later called the Four Winds Motel, then Askers Motel before being destroyed by fire in May 1990 following a 29 hour rave. Concrete foundations still exist just before the dual carriageway.
|On 28th May, the Old Castle was donated to Bridport Borough Council by Captain Codd for use as a museum and art gallery.
|Bridport Borough Council purchased Eype Beach, primarily to protect it from gravel extraction.
|In December, the Lyric Theatre in Barrack Street opened as a modern cinema. Previously the building had been the Liberal Hall and Palace Cinema (built in 1746 as a chapel).
|In May, automatic traffic lights were installed next to the Town Hall, to control the flow of vehicles at the junction of South, East and West Street.
|Ground floor of the Town Hall was modified to incorporate public conveniences.
|King of the Belgians pub in East Street had a second name change, this time to the 'Lord Nelson'.
|The building behind the Town Hall, originally a Corne & Greene Market, then the Fire Station, was demolished to make way for a Hackney Carriage stand. Area is now known as Bucky Doo Square.
|The Fire Station was transferred further along South Street to the Police Station (currently Bridport Library).
|The Police Station was transferred from South Street to the junction of Barrack Street and St Andrews Road (Peelers Court).
|Bridport Rotary Club started on 13th August.
|Mountfield House became Grove School for Girls after being used by troops and nurses during the Second World War.
|The Union Workhouse building in Barrack Street became a geriatric hospital and renamed 'Port Bredy Hospital'. It was eventually converted into residential apartments.
|The Bridport & District Co-operative Society opened its self service 'supermarket' with the 'Divi', at 29 South Street. Now the site of Folly Mill Lodge.
|To celebrate the 7th Centenary (700 years) of Bridport's Royal Charter (1253) and the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret visited the town.
|Mountfield House was sold to the Bridport Rural District Council for £6,000.
|Britside tannery demolished to make way for a coach and bus station.
|The gas works in South Street were closed down and later demolished.
|Diesel locomotives replace steam engines on the Bridport Railway.
|Coach and bus station opened on old site of Britside Tannery (behind West Street).
|Bridport's Merryweather & Sons fire engine of 1902 was discovered in a Birmingham scrap merchant's yard. It was refurbished and put on display in West Bay. It is currently on display at Highlands End Holiday Park.
|In June, fire destroyed St Michael's Foundry, including a garage and engineering workshop.
|The cattle market in St Michael's Lane was closed.
|Bridport's Lyric (Cinema) Theatre in Barrack Street was closed down. Later it became the location of the Bernard Gale School of Dancing (Lyric Studios).
|On 13th November, The Beatles pop group stayed at the Askers Roadhouse Hotel near Askerswell, between performing at Portsmouth and Plymouth. The hotel was later renamed Four Winds Motel, then Askers Motel before being destroyed by fire in May 1990 following a 29 hour rave.
|Bridport supplied the goal nets for England's football World Cup victory at Wembley Stadium.
|Bridport Carnival was resurrected from its earlier failings during the First World War.
|The Lyric Theatre in Barrack Street opened as the Bernard Gale School of Dancing.
|Bridport was designated a 'Conservation Area'.
|Bridport Arts Centre opened in South Street, in the old Methadist Chapel.
|Due to the Local Government Act of 1972, on 1st April, West Dorset District Council was formed from the Bridport Rural District Council and took over the running of various Bridport Municipal Borough Council responsibilities and properties.
|Following local government reorganisation, Bridport Municipal Borough Council was replaced by Bridport Town Council.
|Bridport Town Council offices were relocated from the Town Hall to Mountfield, at the top of Rax Lane. The Magistrates' Court was moved to a new building next to Mountfield.
|Running of Bridport Museum was handed over to West Dorset District Council as part of the reorganisation of Bridport Municipal Borough Council to Bridport Town Council.
|The Bridport to Maiden Newton rail link closed on 5th May.
|Serious flooding in large areas of Bridport, including St Michaels Trading Estate, parts of West Street and South Street.
|Due to regular flooding of the River Brit to the east of South Street, the river's course was straightened between the Bridport Brewery and St Mary's Church.
|Drill Hall, a listed building in St Michaels Lane was demolished to make way for a public car park. The 1st Volunteer Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment (A Co.) had been based there.
|On 19th July, the River Brit Viaduct was opened as part of the new A35 Bridport Bypass.
|In September, Bridport Leisure Centre was opened on land donated by Palmers Brewery.
|The Star Petrol Garage and Showroom at 70 East Street was demolished and replaced by Homebredy House, a complex of 37 retirement flats and houses.
|On Sunday, 27th May following a 29 hour rave, the Askers Motel was destroyed by fire. It had been built in 1931 as the Askers Roadhouse Hotel on the north side of the A35 near Askerswell. Concrete foundations still exist just before the dual carriageway.
|Bridport Community Hospital was built on the site of the Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Allington.
|Waste landfill site at Bothenhampton was closed.
|Although the passage between Bridport Town Hall and the Greyhound Hotel had been known as Bucky Doo for centuries, the area behind the Town Hall only became known as Bucky Doo Square from around this time.
|Fire Station relocated from South Street (now Bridport Library) to purpose built premises at Sea Road South.
|Downe Hall at Coneygar Hill was sold off for conversion into apartments.
|Octagonal obelisk with seating constucted in Bucky Doo Square by Bridport Town Council, to commemorate the important heritage and landmarks of Bridport.
|The geriatric hospital 'Port Bredy' in Barrack Street, formally the Union Workhouse, was closed down. Work started to convert into residential apartments.
|Bridport Library transferred to South Street. The building's original stone facade was restored from having been the local Fire Station. The library's previous location was at the Literary and Scientific Institute in East Street.
|Planning consent was granted to build the first section of a narrow gauge railway from Bridport to West Bay. It would link the existing Bridport Bus Station, running under the A35 to Broomhills then onwards to the existing West Bay Station with a level crossing at the Brit Valley meadow to cross West Bay Road. The railway would eventually link to the main line at Maiden Newton. Planning consent elapsed.
|Temporary recycling centre was opened in South Street, to replace a previous facility in Bothenhampton.
|The Electric Palace was closed, through competition from video and tv.
|Port Bredy Hospital in Barrack Street which closed in 1996, opened as residential apartments.
|In January, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (River Cottage tv chef) married his partner, Marie at a quiet ceremony in Bridport Register Office, Mountfield. They were planning a honeymoon later in the month.
|On 30th May, the Millennium Green, just north of Rax Lane, was officially opened by H. R. H. Duchess of Gloucester.
|The old Co-op at 29 South Street was closed down and rebuilt as retirement apartments - Folly Mill Lodge. A new larger Co-op opened along Sea Road North.
|West Mead Hotel in West Allington, demolished to make way for a housing estate.
|In November, West Dorset District Council handed over the running of Bridport Museum and Local History Centre to the newly formed Bridport Museum Trust.
|The Police Station in St Andrews Road was redeveloped into retirement apartments - Peelers Court.
|Bridport Police Station was relocated to Tannery Road.
|In April, Folly Mill Lodge in South Street was opened as retirement apartments and two self contained shops.
|Currys, the electrical and computer retailer, closed its premises at 16 East Street, said to be one of the company's smallest shops in the country.
|The Bull was dedicated as part of the New Trafalgar Way and bears a plaque to commemorate its role at the time of the Battle of Trafalgar.
|On Wednesday, 23rd August, Bridport hit the national press headlines when 3 girls were stabbed in a frenzied attack as they disembarked from a bus in East Street. A Bridport man was later arrested in Surrey.
|In March, national newspapers The Observer, followed by the Daily Telegraph referred to Bridport as Notting Hill on Sea in various articles describing its increasing house prices.
|Bridport Medical Centre opened on 22nd June, at West Allington.
|The Electric Palace was refurbished and re-opened.
|On 5th January, Woolworths closed its store at 23 East Street following a countrywide collapse of the company.
|The old Bridport Railway goods shed at Bradpole, previously used as a warehouse for a builders' merchants, was demolished for a new supermarket in St Andrew's Road. Lidl opened in November.
|The first Bridport Hats Festival took place in September, to become an annual event. This was the brainchild of Roger Snook, proprietor of Snooks the Hatters in West Street.
|The Lyric Theatre in Barrack Street, after closing as the Bernard Gale School of Dancing in 2006, reopened as an artist venue and Stuff and Nonsense Theatre Company.
|In January, after undergoing a major refurbishment, the Bridport Town Hall reopened.
|On 7th July, one month's rain fell on West Dorset in 24 hours, causing the rivers Brit and Asker to burst their banks. Flooding occurred at West Street, South Street, East Street and Asker Meadows. Properties were also flooded.
|The 2012 Summer Olympics were held in Britain (London 2012). On 12th July starting at 2:46pm, the Olympic Torch came through Bridport, greeted by many hundreds of people lining the streets of East Road, East Street, West Street and West Road.
|On 1st October, a new Waste Transfer Station costing £9 million opened at Broomhill's Farm on the A35 with modern recycling facilities to replace the temporary recycling centre in South Street.
|On Friday, 29th March, Barclays Bank closed its Bridport branch at 28 East Street in an efficiency drive for online banking.
|On 1st April, Dorset Council was formed to administer the area previous controlled by Dorset County Council together with the district councils of West, East and North Dorset plus Weymouth and Portland.
|On 11th May, Nan Winton, real name Nancy Wigginton, died aged 93 after a fall at her home in Pymore Lane. She was the first woman in 1958 to read national news on BBC television but removed in 1961 because some viewers considered it unacceptable for a woman to read the news.
|A flu-like virus spread around the world, emanating from the city of Wuhan, China. Coronavirus, called COVID-19, was classified a pandemic in early March, causing many countries and cities to 'lockdown' (nobody permitted to enter or leave except for emergencies). In the UK, schools closed and people were advised to work from home where possible to contain the spread. At the time, there was no vaccine.
|From 24th March, to control the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19), lockdown occurred in the UK. All social gathering establishments had to close, including restaurants, pubs and cafés in Bridport, plus the Leisure Centre, Arts Centre and Electric Palace. Takeaway outlets weren't affected but hotels and bed & breakfasts closed, holiday lets cancelled and 2nd home owners instructed to return to their main/primary residence.
|Due to the fear of spreading coronavirus (Covid-19), various annual events for Bridport were cancelled, including the Bridport Carnival and Torchlight Procession.
|For a second year, all major annual events for Bridport were cancelled due to the fear of spreading coronavirus (Covid-19).
|With a vaccination programme now protecting the UK population from coronavirus (Covid-19), all major annual events were reinstated with life almost returning to normal.
|Taking the suburbs of Allington, Bradpole and West Bay into account, there have been more than 80 different licensed public houses over the years in Bridport, of which only about 20 remain today.
History records have been compiled by John May and sourced from various locations including:
Bridport Local History Centre, Bridport News & Dorset Council archives.
Note that some dates are approximate / unconfirmed.