thumb|upright=1.3|West Street in 1960; Bridport's wide main street is a result of the town's history as a rope-making centre
Bridport is a market town and civil parish in Dorset, England, inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the River Brit and its tributary the Asker. Its origins are Saxon and it has a long history as a rope-making centre. On the coast and within the town's boundary is West Bay, a small fishing harbour also known as Bridport Harbour.
The town features as Port Bredy in Thomas Hardy's Wessex novels. In the 21st century, Bridport's arts scene has expanded with an arts centre, theatre, cinema and museum.
At the 2021 census, the Bridport built-up area had a population of 12,295. The town is twinned with Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, France.
History
Bridport's origins are Saxon. During the reign of King Alfred it became one of the four most important settlements in Dorset – the other three being Dorchester, Shaftesbury and Wareham – with the construction of fortifications and establishment of a mint.
Bridport's name probably derives from another location nearby. In the early 10th century the Burghal Hidage recorded the existence of a fortified centre or burh in this area, called 'Brydian', which is generally accepted as referring to Bridport. 'Brydian' means 'place at the (River) Bride', In 1086 the Domesday Book recorded that the town was called 'Brideport'; and by the subsequent reign of Edward I Bridport sent two members to Parliament. In the 14th and 15th centuries, like other Dorset coastal towns, Bridport suffered heavy losses due to frequent outbreaks of the Black Death; one 14th-century account by Geoffrey Baker recorded that the disease "almost stripped the seaports of Dorset of their inhabitants". Around this time the town was also subjected to attacks by raiding French and Spanish forces. The earliest official record of this industry dates from 1211, when King John ordered that Bridport make "as many ropes for ships both large and small and as many cables as you can". The raw materials needed, flax and hemp, used to be grown in the surrounding countryside, though they were superseded in modern times by artificial fibres such as nylon. Bridport's main street is particularly wide due to it previously having been used to dry the ropes, after they had been spun in long gardens behind the houses.
In the English Civil War (1642–1651) the population of Bridport mainly supported the royalists. At the end of the war in 1651 Charles II briefly stayed in the town at The George Inn as he sought to escape Parliamentarian forces after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester. The skirmish ended with retreat of the rebel force, although many of the militiamen deserted and joined Monmouth's army.
Many buildings in Bridport, particularly in the main street, date from the 18th century. Bridport Town Hall was built in 1785–6, with its clock tower and cupola added about twenty years later. During the 19th century Bridport's population grew little, unlike many Dorset towns, although many sturdy buildings were constructed at this time, showing that at least parts of the population remained prosperous. In 1857 the Bridport Railway was opened, which joined the town with the existing national rail network. This benefitted the town's textile industry and brought cheaper goods such as coal to the area. In 1884 the line was extended from Bridport's station to a new terminus on the coast at Bridport Harbour, which was renamed West Bay as part of attempts to promote it as a resort. The West Bay extension closed to passengers in 1930 and all traffic in 1962. The entire Bridport line closed in 1975.
Governance
thumb|[[Bridport Town Hall (1786) by William Tyler]]
In the UK national parliament, Bridport is within the West Dorset constituency. , the Member of Parliament (MP) is Edward Morello of the Liberal Democrats.
Bridport has two-tiers of local government. At the lower level, Bridport is a civil parish governed by a town council of 20 members elected from 5 wards representing neighbourhoods of the town. At the upper level, Bridport is part of Dorset unitary authority. Bridport electoral ward (which also includes neighbouring Symondsbury) elects 3 of the 82 members to Dorset Council.
In 1835 Bridport became a municipal borough, the district contained only the parish of Bridport from 1894. in 1974 the district and parish were abolished and it became part of West Dorset district. A successor parish was formed covering the same area as the former district and its parish. In 2019 Bridport became part of Dorset unitary authority area. The rural hinterland around the town formed Bridport Rural District from 1894 to 1974.
On 1 April 2024 the parishes of Bothenhampton and Allington were abolished and merged with Bridport, part of Allington also went to Symondsbury.
Geography
Bridport is in the county of Dorset in South West England. Measured directly, it is about west of the county town Dorchester, SSW of Yeovil in Somerset, east of Exeter in Devon and inland from the English Channel at West Bay. The town centre is sited between the small River Brit and its tributary the Asker, about north of their confluence, at an altitude of . Another small tributary, the River Simene, also joins the Brit to the west of the town centre.
Bridport contains several neighbourhoods, some of which used to be separate villages. These include Allington, Skilling, Coneygar, Bothenhampton, Bradpole, Court Orchard and St Andrew's Well. South of the town centre and within the town's boundary is West Bay, a small fishing harbour known as Bridport Harbour until the arrival of the railway.
thumb|The Jurassic cliffs, West Bay
The geology of Bridport comprises rocks formed in the Pliensbachian, Toarcian, Aalenian, Bajocian, Bathonian and Callovian ages of the Jurassic period, overlain by superficial Quaternary deposits of alluvium alongside the rivers. There are several faults in the area, including the Mangerton Fault, which is aligned SSW-NNE and runs from West Bay up the valleys of the River Brit and Mangerton River. This intersects with several E-W faults, including three in the lower Brit Valley, between Bothenhampton and West Bay, that run east, and two, north of the town centre, that run west. The land beneath the town centre and to the west and southwest (around the neighbourhood of Skilling) is mostly Eype Clay, a micaceous mudstone, though slightly younger Down Cliff Sand crowns the hill at Watton Cross. The hills immediately north of the town are formed from Bridport Sand, with Allington Hill and Watton Hill having small caps of Inferior Oolite. North of the hills, moving away from the town's built-up area, undifferentiated Down Cliff Sand and Thorncombe Sand is separated from the Bridport Sand of the hills in most places by a band of Beacon Limestone. The hills east of the town, around Walditch and Loders, are also mostly of Bridport Sand capped by Inferior Oolite, with the Beacon Limestone outcropping near their base and the undifferentiated sands closer to the town. To the south east however, the faults running east from the lower Brit Valley are associated with a change to slightly younger material, mostly calcareous mudstones and sandstones (Fuller's Earth, Frome Clay and Forest Marble), with small outcrops of Cornbrash limestone and Kellaways Formation to the south of Bothenhampton parish church.
The coast at Bridport is part of the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site that covers a continuous of coastline in Dorset and neighbouring east Devon. Chesil beach starts at Portland and ends at West Bay. The east pier of West Bay is at the east end of Chesil beach. All of the town is also within the Dorset National Landscape area, a protected landscape designation of national significance. The town's most notable landmark is the conical Colmer's Hill, its distinctive shape and small clump of summit trees being very noticeable from West Street.
Bridport is a Met Office coastal weather observation point.
Demography
At the 2021 census, Bridport civil parish as it was then defined had a population of 8,205 people in 4,175 households.
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible" style="text-align:center;"
|+ class="nowrap"| Census population of Bridport and its predecessor civil parishes
|-
! scope=col width="10%"| Census
! scope=col width="20%" class="unsortable"| Bridport
! scope=col width="20%" class="unsortable"| Allington
! scope=col width="20%" class="unsortable"| Bothenhampton
! scope=col width="20%" class="unsortable"| Bradpole
! scope=col width="10%" class="unsortable"| Sources
|-
!scope=row| 1801
|| 3,117
|| 716
|| 334
|| 575
|rowspan=12|
|-
!scope=row| 1811
|| 3,567
|| 941
|| 344
|| 789
|-
!scope=row| 1821
|| 3,742
|| 1,139
|| 385
|| 926
|-
!scope=row| 1831
|| 4,242
|| 1,300
|| 424
|| 1,018
|-
!scope=row| 1841
|| 4,787
|| 1,545
|| 533
|| 1,357
|-
!scope=row| 1851
|| 4,653
|| 1,748
|| 548
|| 1,391
|-
!scope=row| 1861
||
||
||
||
|-
!scope=row| 1871
||
||
||
||
|-
!scope=row| 1881
|| 3,936
|| 1,709
|| 536
|| 1,567
|-
!scope=row| 1891
|| 3,768
|| 1,771
|| 490
|| 1,641
|-
!scope=row|  1901
|| 5,710
|| 253
|| 449
|| 805
|-
!scope=row| 1911
|| 5,919
|| 254
|| 481
|| 524
|-
!scope=row| 1921
|| 5,909
|| 233
|| 502
|| 581
|rowspan=7|
|-
!scope=row| 1931
|| 5,917
|| 228
|| 564
|| 696
|-
!scope=row| 1951
|| 6,272
|| 525
|| 813
|| 870
|-
!scope=row|  1961