Until finally closing 2007, Thompsons Ironmongers was the longest established independent company in Bridgwater, established on the Cornhill in 1797, moving to Market Street in 1956 and finally to Mount Street in 1982. It had been started by Joseph Thompson of Shaftsbury and his family, noted Quakers would run it until about 1914, when the Bond family took it over. A sketch history of the business can be found here.
The building to which this plaque is placed was built as part of the Bridgwater electricity generating station and was built in 1904 for the Bridgwater and District Electric Supply and Traction Company. Electricity generation stopped in 1934 when Bridgwater was connected to the Central Electricity Board Grid.
Mount Street is so called because at the corner where the Thomson’s building now stands was once a great earthen mound, known as the Mount, which was thrown up during the civil wars of the 1640s. It was to provide artillery fire to defend the town attack from the north. It was the longest surviving of the town’s Civil War defences, finally removed in the mid-nineteenth century.