Chandos Street, Bridgwater

The duke of Chandos demolished the eastern part of the castle to lay out two new streets leading to the riverside quays. He probably expected merchants to build houses in his new streets and they would naturally want to see the ships and cargoes that created their wealth.

The earliest of his houses are probably these in Chandos Street, which may have been built in the early 1720s to house the men responsible for carrying out the duke’s works. The short terrace of narrow four-storeyed houses would originally have faced the Castle Street building site and later its back gardens.

Unfortunately the steep drop behind the street which gives the seemingly three-storeyed houses a fourth floor and the slope down to the river have caused some slippage.