The Blake Museum is in

Bridgwater Bridgwater is a historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. The town had a population of 41,276 at the 2021 census. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies along both sid ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, England at what is believed to be the birthplace of Robert Blake, General at Sea (1598–1657). Since April 2009 it has been run by Bridgwater Town Council with help from the Friends of Blake Museum. It has been an Accredited Museum since 2006. It is next door to the Bridgwater Town Mill, and there are plans to develop this as an extension of the museum.

History of the building

The building is believed to be the birthplace of Robert Blake, General at Sea. It was built in the late 15th or early 16th century, and has been designated by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

as a grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The three-storey two-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

structure is built of

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

with some

hamstone Hamstone is a honey-coloured building stone from Ham Hill, Somerset, England. It is a well-cemented medium to coarse grained limestone characterised by marked bedding planes of clay inclusions and less well-cemented material which weather dif ...

and a mixture of

English bond Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called '' courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by s ...

and

Flemish bond Flemish bond is a pattern of brickwork that is a common feature in Georgian architecture. The pattern features bricks laid lengthwise (''stretchers'') alternating with bricks laid with their shorter ends exposed (''headers'') within the same cou ...

brickwork. Some of the ceilings are original including one of six panels divided by

chamfer A chamfer ( ) is a transitional edge between two faces of an object. Sometimes defined as a form of bevel, it is often created at a 45° angle between two adjoining right-angled faces. Chamfers are frequently used in machining, carpentry, fur ...

ed beams and a

roundel A roundel is a circular disc used as a symbol. The term is used in heraldry, but also commonly used to refer to a type of national insignia used on military aircraft, generally circular in shape and usually comprising concentric rings of differ ...

in the middle of each panel. One of the fireplaces has a Tudor

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented/structural item. In the case ...

. In the mid C19 the building was occupied by George Parker (1796–1888) Customs Officer, historian and author.

The collection

The museum was founded in 1926 by Bridgwater Borough Council, and its collecting area covered from East and West Huntspill in the North to Thurloxton in the South and from Ashcott and

Burrowbridge Burrowbridge is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on the River Parrett and the A361 road on the edge of the Somerset Levels. It is located southeast of Bridgwater, and has a population of 508. History The name probab ...

in the East to beyond Nether Stowey in the West. This was the area of the Bridgwater Rural District Council. In 1974, the assets of the borough council were absorbed by Sedgemoor District Council, which ran the museum until 2009, when it could no longer afford to do so: the museum was then returned to the ownership of the town council. The collection includes materials relating to Blake's life. Although it is commonly used, Robert Blake's name was never prefixed by "Admiral", which was not used in the Parliamentarian navy; his actual rank of General at Sea combined the role of an Admiral and Commissioner of the Navy. Notable features of the museum include Blake's sea chest. The museum also illustrates Bridgwater's mercantile and marine past and includes important local historical events such as the Battle of Sedgmoor. As well as a diorama of the Battle of Sedgemoor, the new Battle gallery covers conflicts from the time of

King Alfred Alfred the Great ( ; – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who both died when ...

, the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

as well as the 20th century. The museum possesses a very full archive of cuttings from the local newspaper, '' The Bridgwater Mercury'', for every week of the war, 1914–1918. There is also a small collection of agricultural machinery and tools, and dairy equipment, a group of coins found in the bank of

King's Sedgemoor Drain King's Sedgemoor Drain is an artificial drainage channel which diverts the River Cary in Somerset, England, along the southern flank of the Polden Hills, to discharge into the River Parrett at Dunball near Bridgwater. As the name suggests ...

. In 2012, the museum restored and put on display the Spaxton Mosaic. The collection also includes items of women's garments dating from the 19th century, an extensive photographic collection, maritime and transport heritage items, brick, tile and textile items, and a

Monmouth rebellion The Monmouth Rebellion in June 1685 was an attempt to depose James II of England, James II, who in February had succeeded his brother Charles II of England, Charles II as king of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland and ...

archive. The museum houses the archive of the work of the local artist John Chubb (1746–1818). In 2004 the Museum purchased the art and manuscripts of Chubb, for £123.000. The museum also had an association with Channel 4's archaeological television programme ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4, Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned in 2022 on online platforms YouTube and Patreon. Created by television produce ...

''. 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. Dr Cattermole was the museum's first Honorary Curator after its return to the town council, in 2009. 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. The museum's 90th birthday in 2016 was celebrated by a special exhibition.

Opening times

Because of the Coronavirus crisis, the Blake Museum closed to the public on 20 March, with the rest of the town council's public buildings. 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 October, it had over 3,400 members and is growing. It is a Private Group, devoted entirely to Bridgwater's history, and nothing else.

References

External links

Blake MuseumFriends of Blake MuseumMuseums in Sedgemoor DistrictBridgwater Heritage Group
{{Authority control Biographical museums in Somerset Grade II* listed buildings in Sedgemoor History of Somerset Archaeological museums in England Local museums in Somerset Museums established in 1926 1926 establishments in England Bridgwater Grade II* listed houses in Somerset Grade II* listed museum buildings