8 The Esplanade, Watchet - 01984 632101 tourism@watchettowncouncil.org

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.

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. In 1643 during the English Civil War, a Royalist ship was sent to Watchet to reinforce for the siege of Dunster Castle. Parliamentarian (Roundhead) Captain Popham ordered his troops into the sea with the tide on the ebb, and with the ship unable to move, attacked the ship with fire from their carbines. Taken by surprise and under heavy attack, the Royalist commander surrendered the ship, resulting in a ship technically at sea being captured by troops on horseback.

The primitive jetty was damaged in a storm of 1659, so that in 1708 leading local wool merchant Sir William Wyndham built a new harbour costing £1,000, with a stronger pier. The main export at this time was kelp, made by burning seaweed for use in glass making. In the 19th century trade increased with the export of iron ore from the Brendon Hills mainly to Newport for onward transportation to the Ebbw Vale Steelworks, paper, flour and gypsum. In 1843 the esplanade was built by George Wyndham, 4th Earl of Egremont, and in 1855 a new harbour was commissioned to cope with increased iron ore trade. The existing harbour was damaged and several vessels wrecked by the Royal Charter Storm on 26 October 1859. A new east pier and wharf was completed in 1861-62 by James Abernethy. This allowed shipping movement to reach a peak, with over 1,100 ship movements per annum. Harbour trade was aided by the coming of the railway, with two independent railways terminating at Watchet from the mid 1860s. 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 and Exeter Railway at Norton Fitzwarren. At the peak in the trade during the late 19th century 40,000 tons of ore were exported annually.

In 1862, the cast-iron Watchet Harbour Lighthouse was built by Hennet, Spinks and Else of Bridgwater. In September 2012, Princess Anne unveiled a plaque to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the lighthouse. The mines and West Somerset Mineral Railway closed in 1898. The West Somerset Railway, extended from Watchet to Minehead in 1874, survived as part of British Rail until 1971. Reopened as a heritage railway, it still operates today. In 1900 and 1903 a series of gales breached the breakwater and East Pier with the loss of several vessels each time and subsequent repairs.

After World War I, the Cardiff Scrap and Salvage company Ltd. took a lease on part of the harbour, from 1920-1923. In Autumn 1923, the company scrapped the second class protected cruiser HMS Fox of the Astraea-class of the Royal Navy, which at 320 feet (98 m) is still the largest vessel still ever to enter the harbour. Before World War II, a gunnery range was established for various army units to practice anti-aircraft gunnery at a site between Watchet and Doniford. Unmanned target aircraft were towed by planes from RAF Weston Zoyland and later were fired from catapults over the sea. Little of the camp buildings survive and it is now the site of a holiday park.

The port remained open to service the papermills, importing wood pulp and esparto grass from Russia and Scandinavia, using mainly East European registered vessels after World War II. Requiring a return load, the result was that Watchet became a leading UK port for the export of car parts, tractors and other industrial goods. However, with the replacement of coal with oil from the mid-1960s, the port traffic began to terminally decline. The harbour was in commercial use until 2000, the harbour has now been converted into a marina for pleasure boats. It is surrounded by renovated quaysides and narrow streets. The commercial esplanade has been refurbished with new shelters, information points, and the provision of new paving in some areas, as well as railings, lamps, curved benches, planters and new tree plantings. There are several museums in the town, including the Market House Museum, which explores the history of the town and its harbour. The building was constructed in 1820 on the site of the previous market house which had been demolished in 1805. It was converted into a museum in 1979. It houses a collection of exhibits about the natural history of Watchet and the surrounding area. The focus is on nautical and maritime history of the port. Artefacts include those relating to: Archaeology, Coins and Medals, Land Transport, Maritime, Natural Sciences, Science and Technology and Social History. At the rear of the museum building is the old town lock-up for the temporary detention of people, often drunks who were usually released the next day or to hold people being brought before the local magistrate. The Watchet Boat Museum, which is housed in the 1862 Victorian architecture former railway goods shed, displays the unusual local flatner boats and associated artefacts.