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Places to see in ( Watchet - UK )

Places to see in ( Watchet - UK )

Watchet is a harbour town, civil parish and electoral ward in the English county of Somerset, with a population of 3,785. It is situated 15 miles west of Bridgwater, 15 miles north-west of Taunton, and 9 miles east of Minehead. The parish includes the hamlet of Beggearn Huish. The town lies at the mouth of the Washford River on Bridgwater Bay, part of the Bristol Channel, and on the edge of Exmoor National Park.

The original settlement may have been at the Iron Age fort Daw's Castle. It then moved to the mouth of the river and a small harbour developed, named by the celts as Gwo Coed meaning Under the Wood. After the Saxon conquest of the area the town developed and was known as Weced or Waeced and was attacked by Vikings in the 10th century. Trade using the harbour gradually grew, despite damage during several severe storms, with import and exports of goods including those from Wansbrough Paper Mill until the 19th century when it increased with the export of iron ore, brought from the Brendon Hills via the West Somerset Mineral Railway, mainly to Newport for onward transportation to the Ebbw Vale Steelworks. The West Somerset Railway also served the town and port bringing goods and people from the Bristol and Exeter Railway. The iron ore trade reduced and ceased in the early-20th century. The port continued a smaller commercial trade until 2000 when it was converted into a marina.

The church is dedicated to Saint Decuman who is thought to have died here around 706. An early church was built near Daw's Castle and a new church was erected in the 15th century. It has several tombs and monuments to Sir John Wyndham and his family who were the lords of the manor. Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner which was written in the area is commemorated by a statue on the harbourside.

Daw's Castle (Dart's Castle or Dane's Castle) is an Iron Age sea cliff hill fort about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) to the west of the town. It was built and fortified, on the site of an earlier settlement, as a burh by Alfred the Great, as part of his defense against Viking raids from the Bristol Channel around 878 AD. Watchet is believed to be the place where Saint Decuman was killed around 706 and its parish church is dedicated to him. At the time of the Domesday Book Watchet was part of the estate held by William de Moyon. The parish of Watchet was in the Williton and Freemanners Hundred in the Middle Ages.

Watchet developed as a town thanks to its closeness to the minerals within the Brendon Hills, and its access to the River Severn for onward shipping. Aside from local ships plying trade across the river, from 1564 onwards the port was used for import of salt and wine from France.

The foreshore at Watchet is rocky, with a high 6 metres (20 ft) tidal range. The cliffs between Watchet and Blue Anchor show a distinct pale, greenish blue colour, resulting from the coloured alabaster found there. The name Watchet or Watchet Blue was used in the 16th century to denote this colour. A fragment of a lower jaw from a Phytosaur longirostrine archosaur has been described from early Hettangian strata. Kentsford Bridge is a packhorse bridge over the Washford River. It existed before the Reformation, possibly being a route to Cleeve Abbey and was repaired in 1613. The bridge is 54 inches (1,400 mm) wide and has a total span of 16 feet (4.9 m).

Adjacent to the harbour is Watchet station. This is now an intermediate stop on the West Somerset Railway, a largely steam-operated heritage railway that links Bishops Lydeard, near Taunton, with Minehead. The station was first opened on 31 March 1862 when the West Somerset Railway was opened from Norton Junction. The station was built as a terminus, as part of the commercial aim of the WSR was to provide a wider and cheaper distribution route for goods from the then major port of Watchet. On 16 July 1874 the line was extended westwards by the Minehead Railway Company, with an industrial railway siding provided at the same time into the Wansbrough Paper Mill.

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