John Bridgeman

Sir John Bridgeman, SL (1568/69 – 5 February 1638) was a barrister of the Inner Temple, serjeant-at-law and local magnate in the West of England during the early 17th century.

Early career Bridgeman came from a minor gentry family settled at Littledean, Gloucestershire. He matriculated from Magdalen College, Oxford in June 1582, and after some years at Clifford's Inn, was admitted to the Inner Temple in June 1591. Sometime during this period, he married Frances Daunt. When her brother Giles died in 1596, he became embroiled in a dispute with her uncle Thomas Daunt over the manor of Owlpen. He lost the case when he was accused of forging deeds before Sir Edward Coke, the Attorney General. They had at least two children: George Bridgeman Anne Bridgeman, married John Winford

In 1637, Bridgeman was compelled to take severe measures to end pilgrimages to St Winefride's Well, Flintshire, considered a hotbed of recusancy by the government. He died in 1638 at Ludlow. He seems to have been a harsh and unpopular judge, as Ralph Gibbon composed the following pasquinade upon his death: Here lies Sir John Bridgeman clad in his clay; God said to the devil, Sirrah, take him away.

He is buried in Ludlow's St Laurence's Church, where the monument to him and his wife is attributed to court sculptor Francesco Fanelli.