We were heading down to Bridgwater for the Quayside Festival where the Beach’d Buoys shanty band were performing, in fact, in the car were two members of this great little gang, one was husband and the other was Trev. As we drove down, Trev remarked that he’d only been to Bridgwater once before, and he’d arrived at the station at 6 p.m. on a dark and rainy December night, and was picked up by a friend and given a lift to a gig ‘somewhere’. He knew nothing about the small town, so we gave him a brief summary.
From pre-Conquest times, there has been a quay on the River Parrett, and some sort of trading post and supporting community, but it was after the Norman invasion that Walter, a French knight was granted the lordship of the manor in 1201. King John granted that a castle could be built, the creation of a borough and a market established. Over the millennium since then, much has happened to Brigg, which became Brigg-Walter, and eventually Bridgwater. It has been involved in significant events, the Second Barons War, 1264 -7, the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, the English Civil War 1639-53 during which the castle was destroyed, the 1685 Monmouth Rebellion – and these are just the headline acts!
The port of Bridgwater has been significant since Walter’s day, but now ships no longer dock in the town, although the river still flows through as it ever did. So today the quay was the main stage for the festival, and it was here, by the Fountain Inn that the Beach’d Buoys performed, as a bicycle piano went past, and a very tall man on stilts wandered by, and gig racing took place on the river, and flocks of people enjoying the performances sauntered past and stopped to listen. It was a great day out!
Here’s the programme of events: https://www.bridgwaterquaysidefestival.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Quayside-Programme-2023-Web.pdf
My featured image as you can see is not of the Beach’d Buoys who you can find elsewhere here, but the cycling piano player, Chloe Marie Aston, who sang as she cycled and had an incredible voice!
http://chloemarieaston.uk/?page_id=552
I forgot to mention the torrential rain which came as if a huge bucket of water had been emptied with great suddenness. I was literally (yes, literally, actually, really) soaked to my skin. I had gone in search of sandwiches for lunch, which I did find, but returned from my mission to the Bridgwater Arts Centre where the Bouys were shantying.
Lois Elsden 