WATCHET

'Watchet' is a harbour town in West Somerset, England, situated 15 miles (24 km) west of Bridgwater, and 15 miles north west of Taunton. The town lies on Bridgwater Bay, part of the Bristol Channel, and on the edge of Exmoor National Park. In 2002, the town's population was estimated to be 4,400. Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem ''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'' was written whilst travelling through Watchet and the surrounding area. Cleeve Abbey lies a short distance away.
Watchet is a station on the West Somerset Railway and the place where Saint Decuman was killed. In the mid 1860s two independent railways terminated at Watchet. The West Somerset Mineral Railway ran down from the iron mines on the Brendon Hills, and the West Somerset Railway came up from the Bristol & Exeter Railway at Norton Fitzwarren. Both lines made extensive use of the harbour at Watchet, from where the iron ore was shipped across the Bristol Channel for smelting at Ebbw Vale in South Wales.

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Other usage

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Other usage

The word "Watchet" was used in the 16th century to designated a pale, greenish blue colour.

References

External links

★ Visit Exmoor Portal site for Greater Exmoor Tourism

★ Watchet Information Information on the new Marina Development and more

★ Visit Watchet Information about the ancient port of Watchet

★ Watchet Town Council

★ Watchet - Quantock Online Community

★ The Somerset Urban Archaeological Survey: Watchet, by Clare Gathercole

★ The Watchet Boat Museum The world's largest collection of flatner boats