THE Friends of the Wembdon Road Cemetery will be holding a walking tour of the old burial ground, which will explore the town in Victorian times, titled Lost at Sea: The Mariners of Bridgwater.
Led by the chairman Miles Kerr-Peterson, the talk will explore Bridgwater’s long maritime tradition.
Bridgwater was always close to the sea and famously produced such notable sea faring figures like General-at-Sea Robert Blake.
The town became an increasingly busy port in the nineteenth century, especially after the opening of the docks in 1841, and it is only in recent decades that the town has become shut off from the high seas.
This tour will look at some of the town’s seafaring families, including a hero from the Battle of Trafalgar, George Lewis Browne, who raised Nelson’s famous signal.
The tour will also take in some recent discoveries, such as the story of Cyril Ricks.
Ricks’ memorial in the cemetery was only discovered under brambles last year.
The tour will take place at 10.30 am on May 14 in the Wembdon Road Cemetery, and will meet near the main gates.
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