Steart (pronounced ''Ste-art''), historically also called Stert, is a small village in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England. It lies in an isolated position on the

Steart Peninsula __NOTOC__ The Steart Peninsula () is a peninsula in Somerset, England. At its outermost tip is Fenning Island (now joined to the mainland), at the tip of which is Stert Point (sometimes spelt Steart Point) which is the eastern end of the West Some ...

on the

Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel ( cy, Môr Hafren, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Seve ...

coast, about north of

Bridgwater Bridgwater is a large historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. Its population currently stands at around 41,276 as of 2022. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies alon ...

. The toponym is derived from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

''steort'', meaning "tail, projecting piece of land". Steart was historically in the

ancient parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority. ...

of Stockland Bristol, except for the foreshore on the Bristol Channel coast, which was in the parish of

Stogursey Stogursey is the name of a small village and civil parish in the Quantock Hills in Somerset, England. It is situated from Nether Stowey, and west of Bridgwater. The village is situated near the Bristol Channel, which bounds the parish on the no ...

. In 1885 it was transferred to the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Otterhampton Otterhampton is a village and civil parish in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England, between Bridgwater and the Steart Peninsula. The civil parish includes the larger village of Combwich and the small village of Steart. History It wa ...

. A medieval chapel at Steart was disused by 1611. The church of St Andrew was built in 1882. The Bethel Congregational church was open between 1847 and 1938. During World War 2, two small radio direction-finding stations were located in Steart. They were part of a secret

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

organisation called

The Radio Security Service MI8, or ''Military Intelligence, Section 8'' was a British Military Intelligence group responsible for signals intelligence and was created in 1914. It originally consisted of four sections: MI8(a), which dealt with wireless policy; MI8(b), ba ...

listening to and locating the communications of German spies and their handlers. These stations intercepted the messages of the

Abwehr The ''Abwehr'' (German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', but the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context; ) was the German military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ''Wehrmacht'' from 1920 to 1944. A ...

, the German Secret Intelligence Service, and provided a large volume of high level intelligence throughout the war. In December 1945, in the nearby village of Combwich The Freedom of Steart was conferred upon Captain Louis Varney, the officer in command of the DF Stations. The

West Somerset Coast Path The West Somerset Coast Path is a long-distance footpath that links the northern end of the South West Coast Path to the River Parrett Trail in Somerset, England, UK. In March 2016 a stretch of the England Coast Path from Brean Down to Min ...

and

River Parrett Trail The River Parrett Trail is a long-distance footpath that can be used for walking, jogging, or running, following the route of the River Parrett in Somerset, England. The trail, which is long, runs from Chedington in Dorset to the mouth of the ...

both start at Steart.

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline, Steart Villages in Sedgemoor Populated coastal places in Somerset