Boroughbridge

BOROUGHBRIDGE, a hamlet, in the parishes of Ling, Othery, and Weston-Zoyland, partly in the hundred of Andersfield, and partly in that of Whitley, union of Bridgwater, W. division of Somerset; containing 93 inhabitants. Collinson, the county historian, states the name to be derived from "a large borough or mount, very high and steep," and a stone bridge of three lofty arches, which here crosses the navigable river Parret: this mount is situated within an inclosure, on the eastern side of the river, and has generally been considered as formed by nature; but the same author supposes it to be a work of art, raised for a tumulus. It is crowned with the ruins of an ancient cruciform chapel, which was dedicated to St. Michael, and dependent on the abbey of Athelney. Though previously in a dilapidated state, it was greatly damaged during the parliamentary war, when it was occupied as a military post by a small party of royalists, who, after having successfully resisted various assaults, were compelled to surrender to a body of parliamentarians, detached against them by General Fairfax.