the royal colours were, much to the chagrin of Charles, unexpectedly hauled down from the stronghold, and the garrison, 1000 strong, tamely walked out.  The Parliamentary commander made a huge “bag” by the capture.  It was, however, in connection with Monmouth’s ill-starred enterprise that Bridgwater attained its chief historical notoriety, for it was here that the Duke had his headquarters before the fatal engagement on Sedgemoor.  Of the castle—­founded by a De Briwere, who is said to have been the bearer of Richard I.’s ransom—­hardly a vestige remains.  King’s Square now occupies its place, and a few fragments of its walls and portions of the water-gate are incorporated in some of the cellars which border the quay.  In the centre of the town is the parish church of St Mary, a spacious building with a low W. tower of red sandstone crowned by a tall and graceful spire.  It is chiefly Perp., with an ugly and inharmonious modern clerestory; but there are some remains of the Dec. period in the N. porch.  Over the altar hangs a picture of the “Descent from the Cross,” said to have been found in the hold of a captured privateer.  The noteworthy features are (1) black oak screens and pulpit, (2) the blocked squints, in the porches, (3) stoup and geometric rose window in N. porch, (4) mural monument to Sir Francis Kingsmill and two sons.  In the churchyard are two timeworn, recumbent figures recessed into the N. wall of N. transept, and an altar-tomb to Oldmixon, mentioned in Pope’s “Dunciad.”  In front of the town-hall is a good statue of Blake, the famous Cromwellian admiral, whose birthplace, much modernised, will be found in Blake Street.  An arched doorway in Silver Street is said to have been the gateway of a college of Grey Friars.  A house E. of the churchyard has a fine panelled ceiling.  The modern church of St John in the suburb of Eastover (for the name, cp.  Northover at Ilchester and Southover at Wells) stands upon the site of a former hospital of the Knights of St John, founded by William de Briwere in the 13th cent.  Besides its shipping trade, Bridgwater does a large business in bricks and tiles, and possesses a unique industry in the manufacture of Bath bricks—­presumably so called from their resemblance to Bath stone.  Beds of mingled mud and sand are left by the tide in recesses excavated in the river-banks.  The deposit is dug out, moulded into bricks, and dried, and then exported for cleaning metals.

Brislington, a rapidly growing suburb of Bristol, 1-3/4 m.  S.E. of the city, with a station on the Frome branch.  The church has a tower which is characteristic of a considerable class of Somerset towers.  On its S. face are two quaint little effigies (supposed to represent the founders, Lord and Lady de la Warr), and each side of the parapet has a niche containing a figure (cp.  Tickenham and Wraxall).  The S. aisle has a waggon-roof, and there is a piscina in the S. chapel.  The square font is presumably Norm. Brislington Hill House is a 17th-cent. brick mansion.