Dorset's Bridport and West Bay, its past and present

Bridport & West Bay...past

Until its Victorian overspill into the new suburbs of Allington and Bothenhampton, Bridport sat within an upside-down triangular wedge contained by the rivers Asker and Brit. East and West streets formed its base, its apex was where the two rivers met by the brewery at the bottom of South Street. Behind the lines of houses lay long narrow gardens that served as rope and spinning walks.

Since medieval times, Bridport’s prosperity had depended on netting, cordage and canvas, mainly for the navy. And until the 1870s, ships set out annually from West Bay with twine and nets for the Newfoundland cod fisheries. Hemp was grown in the rich alluvial valley soils of west Dorset, flax on the slopes. By the middle of the 19th century approximately 17% of the local population of 12,000 were dependent on textiles for their weekly wage, either as outworkers in the surrounding villages or in the town’s mills.

The Victorian appetite for outdoor sports created a new market. When the Wanderers beat the Royal Engineers before a crowd of 2,000 at the first FA Cup Final in 1872, the single goal went into the back of a Bridport made net. Five years later it was a Bridport made tennis net, at the first Wimbledon Championships. The Boer War, and then the First World War, created a substantial military market, with everything from rifle pull throughs to camouflage netting.

Only South and East Mills ground corn, the rest made nets. Typical of these was Joseph Gundry and Company, whose works ranged from its bleaching and drying sheds in St Michael’s Lane to its netting factory at the Court, in the town centre. To the north, on the banks of the Brit, lay Pymore Mills. Dorset’s only surviving example of its Victorian industrial heritage, it boasted spinning mills, a winding shop, dye house, stables, bleaching ground, and blacksmith’s shop.

The arrival of the railway in 1884 and improvements to Bridport Harbour, renamed West Bay in the hope of it turning into another Bournemouth, made it seem that a golden age lay ahead. But it was not to be, despite J.W. Rowson’s 1900 Guide to Bridport claiming West Bay to be ‘among the principal health resorts in Europe’.

Great British Life: West Bay, or Bridport Harbour, net and rope made locally was sent via ship to the Baltic and Newfoundland West Bay, or Bridport Harbour, net and rope made locally was sent via ship to the Baltic and Newfoundland (Image: The Barry Cuff Collection/The Dovecote Press)

Bridport & West Bay...present

BridLit: A highlight of this arty town’s calendar is the Bridport Literary Festival at the beginning of November. First held in 2005, it always attracts an impressive line-up of feted authors. bridlit.com

Arts Hub: Bridport Arts Centre, on South Street, is where the internationally renowned Bridport Prize was founded in 1973. From Page to Screen, a Spring film festival celebrating literary adaptations, happens here. frompagetoscreen.info

West Bay: The rippling golden cliffs provided the backdrop for ITV’s award-winning series Broadchurch. Check out The Station Kitchen in two former train carriages, and Sladers Gallery in a Georgian rope warehouse. sladersyard.wordpress.com