Public access to Bridgwater's Watergate set to be improved

The Watergate, located in West Quay, is one of town’s oldest surviving structures and one of the few remaining parts of its medieval castle.

It contains three finely carved Norman arches and was used to enable access from the castle to the quay.  

The Bridgwater & District Civic Society believes the structure, which had been “walled off and concealed from the public for months”, should have “full public access”.

An agreement has now been reached between civic society chair Dave Chapple and Watergate co-owner Steven Beasant to facilitate more public engagement with it.

The arches will be made visible from the street, and people taking part in the society's blue plaque tours will be able to enter the building and view the arches up-close.

Crowds gather outside the Watergate building after the agreement was signed. Picture: Steve Richardson

The agreement was signed at 11am on Saturday, August 13 at a “celebration of progress” outside the historic building.

Mr Chapple said: “I am delighted to have reached agreement with the Watergate owner Steven Beasant over improved visibility of, and public access to, the Watergate, just as my predecessor Derek Gibson was delighted to have reached the initial access agreement with Steven back in 2017.

“The arches will once again be visible from the street. The civic society Watergate display board will be accessible for inspection 24 hours a day.

The agreement will improve “visibility of, and public access to, the Watergate”.  

“We will advertise and take every opportunity to encourage interested parties to join civic society historians and spend time inside the Watergate itself during weekdays, by arrangements with Steven's staff.”

Mr Beasant said: “We fully support and endorse the civic society looking after our heritage. We’ve come up with an easy and simple plan to create what they were after and we could implement.”

The agreement between the civic society and Mr Beasant will:

• Replace “the left side opaque glass on the outside doors with clear glass”
• Replace a panel blocking visibility of the arches with “an open panel with no glass leaving a low base 900mm high”
• Remove the Watergate Historic Display Panel from its position inside the doors and secure it to the outside wall of the Watergate Hotel building next to the blue plaque
• Ensure “lighting at the arches themselves” is switched off during the daytime (Monday to Friday) so “public visibility of the arches from the street is maximised”
• And ensure that Bridgwater blue plaque town centre tours held by the civic society can enter the building and view the arches.

The work is expected to be completed within the next month.