A PLAQUE has been unveiled to mark the site of a former Quaker and Wesleyan Methodist burial ground.

The Bridgwater and District Civic Society blue plaque was unveiled on Sunday, July 2.

The burial grounds, which are located on the corner of Albert St and The Broadway, used to be adjoined but separate, and are now an open green space.

The Quaker burial grounds were in use from 1721, and it is estimated that there are 74 known Quakers resting there. The Wesleyan grounds were added in 1830. The grounds were handed over to the council in 1935.

It is thought that this could be the resting place of 400 to 500 people.

Writing about the Quaker site, The Bridgwater Heritage group website reads: "There are 74 known burials, although there were probably quite a few more, as there does not seem to be a proper record kept in the eighteenth century.

"The earliest burial is assumed to be a William Alloway in December 1721, although there is a big gap until the next recorded individual. The adjoining Wesleyan ground contains upwards of 142 known burials up to 1879, when only about half of the space was used up."

Some of the individuals buried there include Thomas Hutchings, who was responsible for the construction of the Cornhill Market House, including the dome.

The Clarke brothers, who were cousins to the shoemakers, are also buried there. Thomas Clarke was a scientist and botanist, who built Halesleigh Towers (Quantock Gateway), while his brother John Clarke was an inventor, who devised an early mechanical computer that could generate Latin poetry.

John Clarke also invented a waterproof cloth, an invention he sold to Mr Macintosh.

Francis James Thompson, who was mayor in 1883, also rests there. He founded the Thompson ironmongers, which survived right up until a few years ago in Mount Street.

There's also Margaret Sturge, one of the earliest female historians of Bridgwater.

A spokesperson from the Civic Society said: "The Civic Society were keen that this remarkable plot be properly commemorated and signposted, as an important addition to our town’s Blue Plaque stories."