Beach Hotel, The Avenue, Minehead - 01643 702624 minehead.visitor@hotmail.com

The original name of the town was 'mynedd' which means mountain in Welsh.

Minehead is located on the Bristol Channel coast of South-West England, and thus experiences one of the highest tidal ranges in the world. The town is overlooked by North Hill, and is just outside the boundaries of Exmoor National Park. The cliff exposures around the shoreline are dramatic and fossils are exposed.

Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in the north-west of the the English county of Somerset. It lies 21 miles(34km) north-west of the county town of Taunton, 12 miles(19km) from the border with the county of Devon and very close to the area of Exmoor National Park. Minehead has a population of approximately 10,330 making it the largest town in the West Somerset area. The parish includes Alcombe, with a population of 3361, which has now been absorbed into the town. In addition to the parish church of St. Michael, Alcombe is home to what used to be the Parish Church in Grove Place which is now a Spiritualist Church.

Since 1991, Minehead has been twinned with Saint-Berthevin, a small town close to the regional centre of Laval in the Mayenne département of France. It is also the home of a Butlins Holiday Park which increases Minehead's seasonal tourist population by several thousand.

Minehead is mentioned as a manor belonging to William de Moyon in the Domesday Book in 1086.

Minehead has a long history as a port with the current harbour incorporating a pier dating from 1616. Trade was primarily with Wales for cattle, sheep, wool, butter, fish and coal. These are commemorated in the town arms which include a woolpack and sailing ship.

Major rebuilding took place in the town following a fire in 1791.

Early areas of development of the town include Higher Town with its cottages some of which are still thatched and the Quay area. There was a marked increase in building in the early years of the 20th century resulting in the wide main shopping avenue of the town and adjacent roads with Edwardian style architecture. In Victorian times tourism grew as an important industry, this and the ambience of its environment could be one of the reasons why Minehead has enjoyed the growth in local economy that it has to this day.

In 1990 much of Minehead's beach was washed away in a severe storm which also caused serious flooding in the town. A £12.6 million sea defence scheme by the Environment Agency was designed to reduce the risk of this erosion and flooding happening again in the future. The Environment Agency built 1.7 km (1.1 miles) of new sea wall and rock or concrete stepped revetment between 1997 and 1998 and imported 320,000 tons of additional sand in 1999 to build a new beach. This beach sits between four rock groynes and has been built at a much higher level than the previous beach so that it breaks the waves before they reach the new sea wall. Any waves that do reach the new wall are turned back by its curved shape. The town's new sea defences were officially opened in 2001 by Sir John Harman.

Sculpture marking the start of the South West Coast Path.The town's major tourist attraction is Butlins holiday camp. Other attractions include: the terminus of the West Somerset Railway; the town's main ornamental park, off Blenheim Road (Blenheim Gardens); and the Minehead & West Somerset Golf Club, Somerset's oldest golf club, established in 1882. There are a variety of sailing and wind surfing options, in addition to the usual beach activities. In addition, there are many other attractions and amusement arcades and a variety of well-known high street stores; such as W H Smith and Alliance Boots together with independent local shops. There is also Tesco supermarket situated on the outskirts of Minehead in addition to this, a proposal for a Morrisons supermarket to be built on the unused land near Mcdonald's on Vulcan road has been approved. There is also a Links (golf) course situated in proximity to the sea.

The town is the starting point of the South West Coast Path National Trail, the nation's longest long-distance countryside walking trail. The Trail starts at Minehead and runs round the South West Coast to Poole in Dorset