*BRIDPORT, (Dorset) bet. 2 rs. 6 m. from Lyme, 115 cm. and 145 mm. from London, from whence it is a thoroughfare to
Devonshire, is not far from the shore of the Channel. In the time of the Saxons it had a mint; was created a Bor. by K.
Hen. III. The corp. under the K. are intire Lds. of all, except some small manors bel. to the D. of Bedford, Mr. Pitt, Mr.
Strangeway, Horner, &c. It had once a good harbour and trade, and manufactured so much hemp in ropes, cables, &c, that, in
the R. of Hen. VIII. it was provided, that the cordage for the English navy should, for a limited time, be made here, or
within 5 m. of it, and no where else; which act was confirmed by almost every Pt. for near 60 years after. Yet this trade
is sunk to little or nothing, though the soil, bet. this place and Beaminster, is so fruitful in hemp, that, when a man
was hanged, it was proverbially said, he was stabbed with a Bridport dagger; and as for the harbour it has been long
barred up by the tides with sand; but after many fruitless attempts to restore it, here is a safe port, where may ride
about 40 sail. The situation of the T. is low; but the soil, though dirty, is good. It was incorporated by Hen. VII. and
afterwards by Q. Eliz. and K. James I. by whose charter 2 bailiffs were to be chosen yearly out of 15 capital burgesses;
and the corp. was impowered to choose a recorder, and town-clerk. The quarter-sessions for the Co. are held in the town-
hall once a year. The Mt. is on S. and the Fairs on Lady-day, Holy-Th. and Michaelmas-day. Here was formerly a priory. It
is also called Burport, from the r. Bur, or Bret, on which it stands. It began to send members to Pt. the 23d of Edw. I.