The South Gate stood on St Mary Street and had a small bridge that crossed the Durleigh Brook. Unfortunately we know nothing more of its structure. The Southgate was demolished when it was somewhat bizarrely found that within the structure was contained a quantity of gunpowder. This might have had something to do with the Civil Wars of the 1640s, as there were a number of skirmishes by the gate. Taunton was controlled by the Parliamentarians and Bridgwater by the Royalists, and each would intermittently send raiding parties to harass the other.
Not far outside the gate, on the left, was St Saviour’s Chapel. This was a small chantry chapel built in 1530 and stood to sometime in the eighteenth century. Close to this was the settlement of Hamp, for which there are earlier records than Bridgwater itself. Nearby to the south is a small park at the corner of the Broadway. Today there are a few gravestones and this was once the site of Holy Trinity Church, which was built in 1839 and demolished in 1958.
