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Minehead
Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, north-west of the county town of Taunton, from the boundary with the county of Devon and close to the Exmoor National Park. The parish includes Alcombe and Woodcombe, suburban villages which have been subsumed into Minehead, and had a population of 11,757 at the 2021 census. There was a small port at Minehead by 1380, which grew into a major trading centre during the medieval period. Most trade transferred to larger ports during the 20th century, but pleasure steamers continued to call at the port. Major rebuilding took place in the Lower or Middle town area following a fire in 1791. The fortunes of the town revived with the growth in sea bathing, and by 1851 was becoming a retirement centre. There was a marked increase in building during the early years of the 20th century, which resulted in the wide main shopping avenue and adjacent roads with Edwardian-styl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Somerset Railway
The West Somerset Railway (WSR) is a heritage railway line in Somerset, England. The freehold of the line and stations is owned by Somerset Council. The railway is leased to and operated by West Somerset Railway plc (WSR plc), which is supported and minority-owned by the West Somerset Railway Association (WSRA) charitable trust and the West Somerset Railway Heritage Trust (WSRHT). WSR operates services using both heritage steam and diesel trains. It originally opened in 1862 between and . In 1874 it was extended from Watchet to by the Minehead Railway. Although just a single line, improvements were needed in the first half of the twentieth century to accommodate the significant number of tourists that wished to travel to the Somerset coast. The line was closed by British Rail in 1971 and reopened in 1976 as a heritage line. It is the longest standard gauge independent heritage railway in the United Kingdom. Services normally operate over just the between Minehead and . D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Butlins Minehead
Butlins Resort Minehead is a holiday camp operated by Butlins, located in Minehead in Somerset, England. It opened in 1962 and remains in use today. It was known as Butlin's Minehead until 1987, and as Somerwest World from then until 1999, when it reopened as Butlins Minehead Resort. History In the winter of 1961, Billy Butlin began work on creating a holiday camp in Minehead. The site was selected because of its flatness, good rail links, and proximity to the town and sea. The site was not without its problems, however, including flooding. In order to solve this, a trench was excavated around the site and an earth wall constructed. The trench later became the site's boating pond. The site opened to the public on 26 May 1962, the construction having cost £2 million. Over the next decade several attractions were added: the miniature railway in 1964, the chairlifts in 1965, and the monorail in 1967. Full size locomotives, LMS Princess Coronation Class 6229 Duchess of Hamilton, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South West Coast Path
The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked Long-distance footpaths in the UK, long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. Because it rises and falls with every river mouth, it is also one of the more challenging trails. The total height climbed has been calculated to be 114,931 ft (35,031 m), almost four times the height of Mount Everest. It has been voted 'Britain's Best Walking route' twice in a row by readers of The Ramblers' ''Walk'' magazine, and regularly features in lists of the world's best walks. The final section of the path was designated as a National Trail in 1978. Many of the landscapes which the South West Coast Path crosses have special status, either as a national parks of England and Wales, national park or one of the heritage coasts. The path passes through two World Heritage Sites: the Dorset and East Devon Coast, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tiverton And Minehead (UK Parliament Constituency)
Tiverton and Minehead is a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, it was first contested at the 2024 general election. Its first MP is Liberal Democrat Rachel Gilmour, who defeated Ian Liddell-Grainger, the Conservative MP for Bridgwater then Bridgwater and West Somerset from 2001 to 2024. The constituency is named after the Devon town of Tiverton and the Somerset town of Minehead. Boundaries The constituency, which crosses the boundary between the counties of Devon and Somerset, is defined as composing the following as they existed on 1 December 2020: * The District of Mid Devon wards of: Canonsleigh; Castle; Clare and Shuttern; Cranmore; Halberton; Lower Culm; Lowman; Upper Culm; Westexe. * The District of Somerset West and Taunton wards of: Alcombe; Cotford St. Luke & Oake; Dulverton & District; Exmoor; Milverton & District; Minehead Central; Minehead North; Old C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Selworthy
Selworthy is a small village and civil parish from Minehead in Somerset, England. It is located in the National Trust's Holnicote Estate on the northern fringes of Exmoor. The parish includes the hamlets of Bossington, Tivington, Lynch, Brandish Street and Allerford. At Selworthy Beacon, rising above the village, is one of the highest points on Exmoor. Its height defines as one of the 'marilyns" in England. Near the summit are a series of cairns, thought to be the remains of round barrows, and the British Iron Age Bury Castle. Bossington is separated from Porlock Bay by a shingle beach, through which flows the River Horner, forming part of the Porlock Ridge and Saltmarsh Site of Special Scientific Interest. In the 1990s rising sea levels created salt marshes, and lagoons developed in the area behind the boulder bank. The village is on the South West Coast Path. History The name of the village means "''enclosure or settlement near sallows or willows''". In the Domes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hobby Horse
In folklore, a hobby horse is a costumed character that features in some traditional seasonal customs, processions and similar observances around the world. In England, they are particularly associated with May Day celebrations, mummers' plays and the Morris dance. Etymology The word ''hobby'' is glossed by the OED as "a small or middle-sized horse; an ambling or pacing horse; a pony". The word is attested in English from the 14th century, as Middle English ''hobyn''. Old French had or , whence Modern French and Italian . But the Old French term is apparently adopted from English rather than vice versa. OED connects it to "the by-name ''Hobin'', ''Hobby''", a variant of ''Robin''" (compare the abbreviation ''Hob'' for ''Robert''). This appears to have been a name customarily given to a cart-horse, as attested by White Kennett in his ''Parochial Antiquities'' (1695), who stated that "Our ploughmen to some one of their cart-horses generally give the name of Hobin, the very word ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exmoor National Park
Exmoor () is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simonsbath. Exmoor is more precisely defined as the area of the former ancient royal hunting forest, also called Exmoor, which was officially surveyed 1815–1818 as in extent. The moor has given its name to a National Park, which includes the Brendon Hills, the East Lyn Valley, the Vale of Porlock and of the Bristol Channel coast. The total area of the Exmoor National Park is , of which 71% is in Somerset and 29% in Devon. The upland area is underlain by sedimentary rocks dating from the Devonian and early Carboniferous periods with Triassic and Jurassic age rocks on lower slopes. Where these reach the coast, cliffs are formed which are cut with ravines and waterfalls. It was recognised as a heritage coast in 1991. The highest point on Exmoor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Somerset
Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. The largest settlement is the city of Bath, Somerset, Bath, and the county town is Taunton. Somerset is a predominantly rural county, especially to the south and west, with an area of and a population of 965,424. After Bath (101,557), the largest settlements are Weston-super-Mare (82,418), Taunton (60,479), and Yeovil (49,698). Wells, Somerset, Wells (12,000) is a city, the second-smallest by population in England. For Local government in England, local government purposes the county comprises three Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas: Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, and Somerset Council, Somerset. Bath and North East Somerset Council is a member of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exmoor Group
The Exmoor Group is a late Devonian to early Carboniferous lithostratigraphic group (a sequence of rock strata) in southwest England whose outcrop extends from Croyde in north Devon east across Exmoor to Minehead in west Somerset. The group comprises the following formations (in stratigraphic order, i.e., the oldest at the base and the youngest at the top): *Pilton Mudstone Formation (Pilton Beds, Pilton Shales) * Baggy Sandstones Formation (Baggy Beds, Marwood Beds) *Upcott Slates Formation *Pickwell Down Sandstones Formation *Morte Slates Formation *Ilfracombe Slates Formation *Hangman Sandstone Formation (Hangman Grits) *Lynton Formation (Lynton Beds, Lynton Slates) Each of these divisions has been given different names by different authors in the past including those shown in brackets above. Some that had been classed as 'formations' (or even in one case as a 'group') are now ' members'. Lynton Formation Extending east from Woody Bay, the Lynton Formation underlies the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taunton
Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the Bishop of Winchester, Bishops of Winchester, which was rebuilt as Taunton Castle by the Normans in the 12th century. Parts of the inner ward house were turned into the Museum of Somerset and Somerset Military Museum. For the Second Cornish uprising of 1497, Perkin Warbeck brought an army of 6,000; most surrendered to Henry VII on 4 October 1497. On 20 June 1685, the James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, Duke of Monmouth crowned himself King of England in Taunton in the failed Monmouth Rebellion. Judge Jeffreys led the Bloody Assizes in the Castle's Great Hall. The Grand Western Canal reached Taunton in 1839 and the Bristol and Exeter Railway in 1842. Today it hosts Musgrove Park Hospital, Somerset County Cricket Club, is the base of 40 Comma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William De Moyon
William I de Moyon (d. post 1090) (''alias'' de Moion, also de Mohun), 1st feudal baron of Dunster in Somerset, was seigneur of Moyon in Normandy and became Sheriff of Somerset in 1086. He founded the English ''de Mohun'' family in the West Country. Recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a tenant-in-chief of William the Conqueror holding a number of manors in Somerset with '' caput'' at Dunster Castle. Career Deriving from Moyon, near Saint-Lô, Normandy, William was called "one of the greatest Barons of the Cotentin" by Francis Palgrave, though he adds that William had only "five knights who held of him". Dugdale attributed "forty-seven stout Knights of name and note" to him. Participating in the Norman conquest of England, he was granted fifty-five manors in Somerset, one each in Wiltshire and Dorset. He built Dunster Castle on the site of a former West Saxon fortress. The Norman chronicler Wace called him ''le Viel'', (modern French: ''le Vieux''), "the elder", to di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carhampton (hundred)
The Hundred of Carhampton is one of the 40 historical Hundreds in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, dating from before the Norman conquest during the Anglo-Saxon era although exact dates are unknown. Each hundred had a 'fyrd', which acted as the local defence force and a court which was responsible for the maintenance of the frankpledge system. They also formed a unit for the collection of taxes. The role of the hundred court was described in the Dooms (laws) of King Edgar. The name of the hundred was normally that of its meeting-place. The hundred of Carhampton was a large hundred, covering approximately , that contained the parishes of Minehead, Cutcombe, Carhampton, Luccombe, Withycombe, Wootton, Luxborough, Almsworthy, Oare, Dunster, Porlock, Langham, Selworthy, Wilmersham, Allerford, Bickham, Broadwood, Holne, Staunton, Avill, Knowle, East Myne, West Myne, Exford, Aller, Doverhay, Gilcott, Bagley, Oaktrow, Downscombe, Rodhuish, Tre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
