Coordinates: 50°44′01″N 2°45′30″W / 50.7336°N 2.7584°W / 50.7336; -2.7584
Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England, situated approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the small River Brit and its tributary the Asker. Its origins are Saxon and it has a long history as a rope-making centre, though many of its buildings date from the 18th century.
On the coast and within the town's boundary is West Bay, a small fishing harbour previously known as Bridport Harbour.
In the 21st century Bridport's arts scene has contributed to the town becoming increasingly popular with people from outside the locality. It has an arts centre, theatre, library, cinema and museum, and several annual events. It features as Port Bredy in the fictional Wessex of Thomas Hardy's novels.
In the 2011 census the population of Bridport's built-up area was 13,568. The town is twinned with Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, France.
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 was a parliamentary borough in Dorset, England, which elected two Members of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons from 1295 until 1868, and then one member from 1868 until 1885, when the borough was abolished.
Bridport was continuously represented in Parliament from the first. The medieval borough consisted of the parish of Bridport, a small port and market town, where the main economic interests were sailcloth and rope-making, as well as some fishing. (For some time in the 16th century, the town had a monopoly of making all cordage for the navy.) By 1831, the population of the borough was 4,242, and the town contained 678 houses.
The right to vote was at one period reserved to the town corporation (consisting of two bailiffs and 13 "capital burgesses"), but from 1628 it was exercised by all inhabitant householders paying scot and lot. This was a relatively liberal franchise for the period but nevertheless meant that only a fraction of the townsmen could vote: in 1806, the general election at which Bridport had the highest turnout in the last few years before the Reform Act, a total of 260 residents voted.
Bridport can refer to:
We're gonna drink enough tonight to drown the average army
By new year's day the next door neighbour will be goin' barmy(yep,
That's how it's spelled)
The milkman arrives at midday with his usual wisecrack
Who knows a girl with wednesday legs so when's they gonna snap?
Chorus:
Why does everybody have to be so hale and hearty
Can't they see we're tryin' to have a party party party party
The last thing I remember I was talkin' to some fellas
Then she said she'd have a word for me with her good-looking mate
And handed me a pint-pot filled with advocaat and tizer
And I woke up in the flowerbed fearing fertilizer
(I would have thought "feeling fertilizer" would make more sense, but
Maybe that's just me and my strange sense of humour!)
(note: advocaat is a dutch drink, sometimes described as the "dutch
Eggnog", tizer is a scottish drink (I think), it even has it's own
Website: www.tizer.co.uk)
Chorus
Bridge:
So shift yourself and shake your bod
You got bullet proof insurance from fire, flood and act of god
You got to learn from your mistakes
When you got a face like last week's cornflakes
The doors and the window frames are by pablo picasso
The party decorations owned by michelangelo
The fine music that you hear is by stravinsky
With overall design by leonardo davinci
Chorus
Bridge:
So shift yourself and shake your bod
You got bullet proof insurance from fire, flood and act of god
You got to learn from your mistakes
When you got a face like last week's cornflakes
Two boys are upstairs in your bed
Three girls are downstairs cryin'
The alka seltzer in the glass is roarin'like a lion
You think you've aged 10 years tonight and still never been kissed
So you overdose on aftershave and try to slash your wrist