In the late C19th, Bridgwater was regarded as a rugby stronghold and could boast two strong teams of national repute. Association football was, in comparison, of only minor importance. The first senior football club to bear the town’s name was formed on 28th January 1898 at a meeting held at Graddon’s Cross Rifles public house on Bristol Road. The newly founded, Bridgwater AFC played friendly matches at first but in the second year entered the Somerset Senior League. Home matches were played on a rented field in front of Sydenham House on the eastern edge of the town. “The Brickies”, that was the nickname adopted by supporters, lifted the Somerset Senior Cup in their first full season, beating Yeovil Casuals 1-0 in the Final played at Wells. Despite this early success, the club struggled to capture the imagination of the Bridgwater public and finished bottom of the table in three of the four years of their existence. Bridgwater FC was forced to disband in 1902 due to financial difficulties.

Two years later, a new Bridgwater AFC was formed and played in local junior leagues. Home matches were played just outside the Town boundary on a field alongside the Westonzoyland Road. The site was close to where the Co-Op supermarket stands today. This club, which enjoyed limited success, folded before the outbreak of World War One again because of financial difficulties.

In 1919 workers from a local factory formed a team called Wills Athletic. This club joined the Highbridge & District League and played home fixtures at the Malt Shovel ground, which had been vacated by Bridgwater RFC when it merged with the Albion RFC and moved to a ground off Taunton Road. In 1921 Wills Athletic took the bold step of changing its name to Bridgwater Town FC and applying for membership of the Mid Somerset and the West Somerset Senior Leagues. They were accepted and moved to Chilton Park, in the Crowpill area of the town. The expense of developing facilities at this venue proved to be a huge financial burden and after only one season the club was forced to drop to junior status. The club played on for several seasons in the Taunton & District League, winning minor honours on several occasions. The club name disappears from records in the mid 1930’s.

After the war an influx of newcomers, from parts of the country where association football was more popular, to work in the large factories growing up in and around Bridgwater changed the dynamic and there was a clamour for a senior football club to be formed in the town. A team called Crown Dynamos, based at the Crown Inn, St John Street, was formed in 1946. It played at Eastover Park in the Bridgwater & District League drawing big crowds of enthusiastic supporters before progressing into the Somerset Senior League and finishing a creditable third in the 1947-1948 season. The following year the club moved to a new ground at Castlefield and changed its name to Bridgwater Town AFC. After finishing second in the Somerset Senior League the Club was accepted into Western League membership.  Two fifth place finishes were followed in 1951-52, by promotion into Division One. The club was to remain in the top division of the Western League for the next 30 years, winning the League title twice (in seasons 1967-68 and 1980-81) and finishing in the top three on numerous occasions.

Bridgwater Town AFC was destined to earn a reputation as doughty cup fighters. The club reached the Final of the Somerset Professional Cup in 1951 and won the competition for the first time in 1959 when Yeovil Town was beaten. The final stage of this competition was reached again in 1973 and 1982. In 1958 the club captured the Western League Cup for the first time when victorious in a two-legged encounter with Bristol Rovers. 1960 saw the club reach the Final again. In 1974, Falmouth Town was defeated and the Western League Cup was won for the second time.

It was in the FA Cup that the club was to have some of its finest moments. In 1960 the 1^st round proper was reached for the first time and a crowd approaching 9000 witnessed a narrow away defeat at the hands of Oxford United. In 1961 the club went one stage further and reached the 2^nd round proper drawing Crystal Palace to Castlefield. A record crowd of 6500 watched a 3-0 defeat. In 1963 and 1971 the club again reached the 1^st round and met Luton Town and Reading respectively.

The club also enjoyed thrilling cup runs in the FA Trophy competition. In both 1970 and 1973 the club was within touching distance of the quarterfinals before it met defeat.  The Alan Young Cup and the Pratten Cup were both won in this era too.

From the early 1970’s onward many of the top Western League sides had made the move up to the Southern League. The Bridgwater board had resisted such a move because it was deemed to be too expensive despite near neighbours, Taunton Town and Minehead making the step. However, 1982 saw the club reassess the situation and join the Southern League. The cost of such a move was measured in terms of thousands of pounds extra per season but it was felt that something had to be done to reinvigorate interest and stem the fall in attendances. The timing of the move was not fortuitous. The country was enduring economic depression and the club left the Western League just as it was to enter a sponsorship deal with DIY retailer, Great Mills Ltd

Gates were up by 48% for the first few home matches and Bridgwater made a bright start to the campaign but within months a stark picture of indebtedness was revealed. Several key players were released from their contracts and moved to other clubs. Bridgwater Town soldiered on and finished the season above both Taunton and Minehead in the table. It was then learned that both of their near neighbours had resigned from the Southern and were returning to the Screwfix Western League. During the next season in the Midland division, mounting debts forced the club into voluntary liquidation. The Castlefield ground and other assets were sold off to pay creditors and the club was wound up at the end of the 1983-84 season. The last match played at the ground was a friendly against Bristol City FC in aid of the John Shaw Testimonial Fund in May 1984.

A new club was formed by a band of loyal supporters of the previous club and started life in the Somerset County League. Their adopted base at Fairfax Park was without much in the way of facilities but gradually the ground was upgraded and steady progress was made including a hat trick of Somerset County League titles and several Somerset County League and Senior Cup triumphs. The new Bridgwater club returned to the Western League in 1994. Under the guidance of former Exeter City professional, Alan Hooker, the Division One title was quickly secured along with promotion to the Premier Division. A creditable eighth place finish was secured in the first season back and the club finished third the following year. There then followed a brief period of consolidation. After this the club won the Les Phillips Cup twice with high profile manager, Trevor Senior at the helm and also enjoyed an excellent run in the FA Vase. He was succeeded by former player, Craig Laird, who led the club to the runners-up spot in the Western League Premier Division in 2007 and a place back in the Southern Football League.

It had taken 23 years but after the heartbreak caused by the demise of the old club, Bridgwater Town was back. The first three seasons at the higher level were fairly successful for ‘The Robins’ with the team just missing out on the end of season play-offs in 2008 (6th) and 2009 (7th) and then narrowly failing on promotion after being defeated at home by Cirencester Town in the Play-Off Final of 2010 (Town had finished the regular season in 3rd place). In 2009 Bridgwater Town reached the Final of the Southern League Cup but lost on aggregate to Atherstone Town.

The club was left reeling by the shock departure of joint managers Craig Laird and Leigh Robinson to join Weston-Super-Mare FC in the summer of 2010 and a resultant mass exodus of players followed. The following two seasons saw the club battling at the wrong end of the table despite the valiant efforts of former reserve team manager Rob Dray, who had succeeded Laird in the hot seat. Another club stalwart, Kevin Milsom took charge for season 2012-2013 and after an indifferent start, things looked to be coming together only for exceptionally wet weather to intervene. The numerous postponements caused all sorts of problems for the team, which eventually had to play 21 league fixtures in just 57 days! Not unsurprisingly, it finished in a disappointing 19^th position. In the 2014-2015 season Bridgwater Town FC were semi-finalists in the Somerset Premier Cup under the management of Richard Fey, who later moved on to manage Paulton Rovers.

A new look team, under the stewardship of former Taunton Town player and manager Paul West, followed. It languished near the foot of the table but relegation was never a real threat. Paul signed a promising crop of younger players in a bid to help shape the future and ethos of the club. Paul’s resignation at the end of 2016 paved the way for the return of former manager, Craig Laird. The campaign did not start well, after early exits in the FA Cup (Plymouth Parkway), FA Trophy (North Leigh) and with just two league victories, Craig chose to further his career in the Southern Premier League with Dorchester Town. Phil Hucker was his replacement but he could not stem the flow of poor results. With just six of the season’s matches remaining Dave Pearse took over from him but by then, relegation was inevitable.

Bridgwater Town returned to the Toolstation League with Dave Pearse still at the helm. Assisting him was former Barnstaple joint manager Karl Baggaley. A solid eighth place in the League plus good runs in the FA Cup and FA Vase and a narrow Les Phillips Cup semi-final defeat to Shepton Mallet was a strong return to Step 5. The following year saw Dave and Karl lead the club to fourth place in the League with the loss of only five league games (compared to sixteen the season before). There was more semi-final heartbreak in the Les Phillips Cup. This time it was Willand Rovers, who won the tie following a penalty shootout. Ace striker, Jack Taylor won the League’s Golden Boot award after netting 33 goals in the season.

A great deal of pre season transfer activity and the signing of a clutch of talented and experienced players from higher level clubs whetted the appetite of supporters for the 2019-20 season. It sent out a strong message that the club was ambitious to make a real challenge for the Toolstation League title and to regain Southern League status once. However, events were destined to finish in a most unsatisfactory and premature manner due to the Co-Vid 19 lockdown. With the return of full fixtures, Bridgwater Town FC will be aiming to fulfil its ambitious plans for the future.