http://wembdonroadcemetery.com/

Friends of the Wembdon Road Cemetery, Wembdon Road, Bridgwater (2026)

16/06/2026

Now added to the website, the story of William Thomas Holland. When we first started work in the cemetery his great polished stone slab had sunk badly into the ground, and Cllr. Gill Slocombe kindly funded its righting.

William T. Holland (1834–1899) was a prominent businessman, civic leader, and three-time mayor of Bridgwater whose influence helped shape the town during a period of economic growth and modernization. Born in Loughborough to a Unitarian minister and schoolmaster, Holland came from a family that valued education, hard work, and public service. After beginning a commercial career, he moved to Bridgwater around 1861, where he joined the brick and tile manufacturing firm of John Browne & Co.

In the same year, Holland married Florence Du Val of Manchester. Although the couple suffered the loss of their first child in infancy, they went on to raise several children while becoming respected figures in local society. Holland quickly rose within Browne & Co., becoming a partner in 1863. The company was one of Bridgwater’s largest employers and played a major role in the town’s economy.

Alongside his business career, Holland became increasingly involved in public affairs. He served on various committees, supported educational reform, and was elected to Bridgwater Town Council. After becoming mayor in 1878, he served three terms (1878–80 and 1882–83). His mayoralty coincided with significant civic improvements, most notably the completion of the Bridgwater Corporation Waterworks, which brought clean running water to the town, and the opening of the new Town Bridge in 1883, officially inaugurated by his wife Florence.

Florence was herself active in charitable work, supporting the infirmary, workhouse children, and the “Robin Dinners” scheme that provided affordable meals to schoolchildren. Holland also served as an alderman for many years and remained involved in council affairs, particularly matters concerning the port and navigation.

Although respected as a capable administrator and businessman, Holland’s later years were overshadowed by labour disputes in the local brick industry, where wage cuts led to strikes. He largely avoided public controversy and preferred negotiation behind the scenes. After semi-retiring in the early 1890s, he continued his civic duties until his death in 1899. Remembered as a skilled businessman, effective politician, and dedicated public servant, Holland left a lasting mark on Bridgwater’s development. Kindly supplied by Jillian Trethewey and Clare Spicer

14/06/2026

Today's diary: Sunday 14 June

Another sunny day for Astrid, Chris, Alan & Rita working in the cemetery today. All working together in Section H today, cleaning weeds and grass from the graves, Alan’s favourite type of work (Not!), he would rather be cementing back kerbs and posts but it’s too hot for cementing.

Alan & Chris worked on the Vicary H16 while the Astrid worked on H22 Boulting grave and Rita worked on H42 Stockham and H41 Dare graves, all meeting up in the middle on the H20 Nicholls, Dare H40 and Letherby H39. The grass around the graves clipped with the shears as it was so long, the council grass cutting team are at present short staffed so not been in yet. It was hot work today but they managed to work mostly in the shade. The boys hauled another full bag of debris up to the dumping area and brought two empty bags back! A bit too optimistic today but they are ready and waiting for next week.

Rita planted s few foxglove plants which will hopefully flower next year. The flower garden is looking nice, she didn’t take her camera over to take a photo and she was too tired to walk back to get it, hopefully someone will remember to take one next week.

Luckily Chris took an area photo of all the graves that have recently been worked on.

07/06/2026

Today's diary: Sunday 7 June

Chris, Astrid, Alan, Rita and Miles working in the cemetery today. Miles our chairman was visiting from Scotland and quickly knuckled down and did some sterling work clearing weeds and grass from graves in section H with Astrid and Rita.

Chris and Alan started on the Symons H64 grave that Rita cleared last week, the heavy kerbs and posts were out of position on the back part of the grave. They managed to straighten up the kerbs and the two centre posts, the small posts had an ornamental metal piece fixed to the post as the grave originally had chain all the way around held up by the metal parts. Also placed on the back of the Symons grave is a stone book marking the remembrance of the Mr & Mrs Hutchings H73, this memorial was originally a few feet away in the middle of a pathway, it was placed on the Symons grave for safe keeping as it had been hit by the mower a few years ago. This was all askew so the boys straightened this up, it’s now looking good.

Meanwhile Astrid worked on the Bond grave H18 clearing grass and weeds and Rita worked on the Andrews grave H17 again clearing grass and weeds. Miles did a great job, he managed to clear the Reed H38, Baker H37, Foley H36 and the Carman H35 graves and he took the full dumpy bag up to the waste area, Oh to be young and strong again!

After Chris and Alan had completed their work on the Symons and Hutchings memorials they then worked in Plan 6 on the Harris grave 6-28, they cleared the earth, grass and weeds, cleared the drainage holes and centralised the laid down headstone inside the grave. Tools were packed away and all left for home satisfied with the amount of work they (Miles) had completed today.

31/05/2026

Today's diary for you: Sunday 31 May

Chris, Rita, Alan and Astrid working in the cemetery today. Very pleased that Astrid was able to make it into the cemetery and felt able to give a working hand for an hour, lovely to have her back. The weather was good with a few dark clouds above but no rain.

The team set about clearing ivy from graves which they started a couple of weeks ago. Chris did a good job cleaning the Palmer H32 grave while Alan finished off the Braithwaite grave H33 that Rita had started last week. She left the most difficult part for Alan, an ornate fallen cross was laying against the block tiers and ivy had encroached all over it, an on the knees job! Well done Alan for getting down there.

Rita worked on the Symons H64 grave which kept her quiet, with ivy completely covering the boulder shaped stone block, luckily it hadn’t managed to get up to the marble cross on the top. Astrid and Rita worked together on the Bowering grave Plan6-8 again ivy growing everywhere and grass growing all around the base edge. Although hard work they did enjoy using a new tool made for cleaning between paving slabs on a patio, it made good work of getting the grass out, but Alan had to come and finish off as they ran out of energy.

Alan and Chris worked together on the Hallett grave H34, like the Hooper H31another of the few double lengthways graves we have in the cemetery. The Hallett grave next to the Braithwaite grave both overgrown with ivy.

The team have now worked in this area for a few weeks, and pleased that instead of seeing ivy everywhere it now looks a lot better.

Chris wandered over to the flower garden where poppies and other flowers are blooming, and he remembered to take a few photos as well.

The grass has grown at a terrific rate hopefully the grass cutting team will be in soon. That’s all for now Folks!

24/05/2026

Today's diary: Sunday 24 March

Alan, Chris and Rita working in the cemetery today, hoping to carry on from last week clearing ivy off the gravestones and moved over into section H where there was a bit of shade. It was lovely to see the sun but it was a little bit too hot today, but not complaining far better than the rain!

Rita started to clear grass and ivy from the Braithwaite H33 grave very overgrown with a large fallen cross propped up against the tiered slabs. She worked here until tea break and then found the sun had come around and it was too hot to continue so moved back and trimmed the saplings from the Sycamore tree growing between H55 & H56 graves.

Chris started out in the sun filling in a hole dug by Mr Badger, having to dig up ant hills to fill the hole. He then came back and assisted Alan who was working on the Hooper grave, a double plot running lenthways H31 & H48. This grave had a lot of ivy growing around it, grass and earth had built up in the stone chippings inside the grave. These were sieved and the stones bagged up to be washed later. There was also a holly tree next to the headstone covered in ivy that they cleared.

They then moved over to the Ker H10 and cleared the ivy from this grave. Harry Ker was the Town Clerk and the President of the Carnival and donated a silver cup in 1923 a prize cup that every local gang or feature club hopes to win.

When we sat down for our tea break, we noticed in the distance that the rose we planted in the flower garden was out in bloom and looked beautiful, this was planted in memory of Bernice our past Secretary of the Friends who passed away a few years ago. Chris wandered over and took a photo of the roses and a few other flowers that were flowering in the garden.

Two dumpy bags were filled and taken over to the dumping area; the team packed up their tools and made their way home.

17/05/2026

Two diaries for you this week:

Tuesday 12 May

Alan and Rita went in the cemetery today as they missed going in on Sunday. When they arrived at the cemetery they found the Council Grass cutting team were in cutting the grass. The job today was to finish the Toms J15 grave and get the kerbs cemented back together, a job started several weeks ago and now hopefully finally get it finished today. It was a bit fiddly getting all the kerbs cemented together, but it worked well and all completed in a couple of hours. They then searched for some earth to lay around the grave to make it look neat and tidy, it took a while to find enough ant hills to dig up but got there in the end. All there is left to do is to level the top end with stone chipping.

While Alan was busy on the Toms grave, Rita worked close by so she could assist Alan when needed, she decided to cut back the base of the Euonymus tree nearby that Chris pointed out on Sunday. All the debris was stacked high by the side of the tree when she realised her sunglasses were missing, so instead of picking it all up to put in a dumpy bag she had to go through it all carefully to look for her sunglasses. She did find them but not amongst the debris, they were in her pocket. A full dumpy bag was taken over to the waste pile, tools were picked up and packed away.

Before they left Rita suggested to the Council work team that it would be nice to have another photo of them all, which they very kindly posed for on top of the base of the Non-Conformist Chapel. Let’s hope the photo comes out!

Sunday 17 May

Chris, Alan & Rita working in the cemetery today, with a visit from Astrid who joined us for our tea break then set to work over in the wildflower garden where she planted a foxglove and two other plants, she had to dig up a lot of weeds before she could do this. Well done Astrid, hopefully it won’t be long before she can join us full time. Nice to see her progressing so well.

Alan & Rita arrived early and uncovered the protection put on the Toms grave cemented kerbs completed on Tuesday, cut black membrane and put around the top of the grave and filled with chippings. J15 now completed. Photo taken. Chris then joined us and all helped fill in a large hole made by Mr Badger, hopefully he will not dig here again.

The team looked over at Section 6 and could see several graves where ivy had encroached over them, so a view photo was taken and they set about starting to clear some of them. First one they attacked was the Stowell 6-32 where ivy had covered the holly tree stump between the grave and the Britton 6-31 grave next to it. Then, Alan & Chris started on the Bouchier grave 6-11 while Rita tidied up around the Stowell, then moved over to help Chris on the Bouchier while Alan had started on the Pole 6-27 grave and they all finished up working on this grave. This done it began to look a bit dark and threatening, the tools were packed up and the boys took the filled dumpy bag up to the dumping pile, then went over to where Astrid was working. The black cloud missed us so Rita then started on the Harris 6-28 grave, Astrid headed for home, the boys joined Rita and another dumpy bag was half filled and placed under nearby tree as now we knew this next black cloud would not miss us this time! We managed to get the cars packed before getting too wet, another useful day.

17/05/2026

Good morning friends,

It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of Hilary Southall, who died peacefully on 13 May 2026.

Hilary was, for many years, a dedicated researcher for the Friends. Alongside Jillian Trethewey and Clare Spicer, she contributed a great many biographies to our archive, helping to preserve and share the rich history connected with the cemetery.

What began as research into their own family ancestors soon grew into a wider passion for uncovering and telling the many fascinating stories of those laid to rest there. Hilary’s work, care, and enthusiasm made a lasting contribution that will continue to benefit future generations.

Although Hilary lived far from Bridgwater, she was delighted to be able to visit in May 2023 (three years ago this week), on a bright sunny day.

She will be warmly remembered and greatly missed by all who knew and worked with her.

16/05/2026

Returning again to the Pursey memorial, we’ve just added another story to the website. James Pursey (1825–1899) and his wife Jane Nation Pursey (1829–1912) lived through a period of major industrial and social change in Somerset. Born in Taunton, James was the son of an ostler and was first apprenticed as a harness maker. At 17 he briefly faced an assault charge, but afterwards rebuilt his life and trained as a skilled cabinet maker. The arrival of the railway opened new opportunities, and by 1851 James was working in London before returning to Somerset to marry Jane Nation in 1853.

Jane came from a struggling family after her mason father died, and she likely worked in domestic service before marriage. The couple settled in Ilminster, where James worked as a journeyman cabinet maker and Jane later earned money as a glover. Together they raised seven children.

As the family grew, their daughters entered the expanding shirt-collar industry in Ilminster and Taunton. Through this work, daughter Margaret met businessman William Masding, who set up the Tone Vale Manufacturing Company. In 1897 several family members moved to Bridgwater to help establish the new collar factory there in Bailey Street. Here’s a picture of it (in the upper right) in 1966. The Cross Rifles junction is at the bottom.

James died in Bridgwater in 1899 after only a short retirement. Jane remained close to her children and grandchildren until her death in 1912. Kindly supplied by Clare Spicer and Jill Trethewey

11/05/2026

Your weekend diary:

Thursday 30 April

Alan went in the cemetery today to cut a replacement missing kerb stone for the Toms J15 grave. This done, he then sorted out some new pad stones that were needed to enable the kerbs and the replacement short kerb to sit on, these were levelled in and the kerbs were placed in position. All now ready to be cemented together when next in the cemetery. Although it took several hours to carry out this work he was pleased with the result, this will make the job of cementing the kerbs back in place a lot easier as the kerbs now have a sound and level base to sit on.

Sunday 10 May

Unfortunately, as Alan was loading the car up to come to the cemetery, he noticed that he had a flat tyre caused by a large screw, so unable to get to the cemetery today.

Chris decided to go in and tidy up some the graves and dig up some of the numerous ant hills. He started first on the Stowell 6-32 grave where ivy and bramble had encroached over the headstone obscuring the leaded inscription. He then moved over to the Winslade 7-15 a large double grave with kerbs and headstone, he tidied up the grave by removing the grass and weeds.

Chris then started work on the Greenslade/Durant grave 10-69 the Friends had worked on this grave a number of years ago as it was in a bad state, cementing the kerbs back together again and adding new chipping. Chris removed a nasty bramble that was growing out from one of the drainage holes in the centre of the grave. Next was the Gover graves 11-7 and 8, a pair of large solid tombstones where he removed bramble growing between the two graves and gave the area around the graves a general clean. He then moved over to the Symes 6-32 grave where he removed the weeds and brambles that had built up around the grave.

Chris back filled holes that had been dug up by the badger and managed to fill a full dumpy bag with the bramble and weeds he had cleared from the graves he had worked on.

He identified several trees where the base of the trees needs cutting back, this is something that needs to be tackled a little later in the year.

Astrid popped into the cemetery and had a chat with Chris and both took a photo of the large branch of the Redwood tree that has now drooped down to the ground due to splitting at the top.

10/05/2026

Continuing the exploration of the Nurse-Bradbeer memorial, now added to the website are the stories of Lewis Willie Nurse (1865-1936) and Ida Nurse nee Davis (1866-1956).

Lewis came from a long line of Gloucestershire mariners and ship owners whose livelihoods were tied to the River Severn, canals, and coastal trade. His grandfather, Captain John Nurse, worked the Severn trows carrying coal and goods between South Wales, Gloucester, and Stroud. Lewis’s father, David Nurse, expanded the family shipping business after moving from Saul to the thriving port of Bridgwater in the 1860s, adapting to changing trade routes and increasing railway competition.

Raised in Bridgwater, Lewis followed the family tradition and became a master mariner and ship owner. He married Ida Davis in 1888, and they had one daughter, Selina. Lewis captained the ketch Sunbeam from 1886 to 1900, transporting coal, bricks, salt, and other cargoes around Britain and Europe. In 1900 the Sunbeam was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands during a severe blizzard, though the crew survived. Lewis later commissioned and captained the Sunshine, earning a reputation as a skilled and daring sailor.

The Nurse family endured many hardships, including the drowning of Lewis’s brother John in 1891 and the decline of the sailing ship trade during World War I, when U-boats and mines threatened coastal shipping. Lewis eventually retired from sea life and became active in Bridgwater civic affairs, serving as a town councillor, nautical assessor, and member of shipping organisations. He defended the importance of sailing ships during an era increasingly dominated by steam and rail transport. Lewis died in 1936 after a stroke, while Ida lived until 1956.

Pictured here is the Emma, possibly one of their ships, although there may have been two Emmas in the town. All the same, this shows the sort of ship they dealt with.

Kindly supplied by Jillian Trethewey and Clare Spicer.

Friends of the Wembdon Road Cemetery

16/06/2026

14/06/2026

07/06/2026

31/05/2026

24/05/2026

17/05/2026

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16/05/2026

11/05/2026

10/05/2026

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