Porlock Manor Estate

Perhaps most visitors to the Porlock Manor Estate today are associate it with with the picturesque harbour and fishing port of Porlock Weir. With its pub, restaurants, individual shops and places to stay, it makes an excellent base for exploring the wider expanses of the Estate.

Behind Porlock Weir the Estate lands stretch up steep wooded slopes and valleys rich in wildlife to Birchanger, where the country opens out onto the ruggedly beautiful expanses of Exmoor. Here the rolling moorland and dramatic, unexpected declivities are ablaze with purple heather in mid-summer.
The whole Estate is outstanding walking country and some suggested routes with breathtaking views and interesting landmarks can be found by visiting the Walks page (click on the link below).

Today the Estate benefits from a regime of careful management, designed to develop and sustain the diverse aspects of the landcape and its communities, ensuring it survives for all to enjoy in years to come. Recent examples include studying the natural shingle storm beach in relation to climate change, placement of nesting boxes to encourage rare bird species and conservation of the Heath Fritillary butterfly, now scarce in Britain.

The Porlock Manor Estate has been linked to the Blathwayt family since 1686 when William Blathwayt, Secretary of State to King William III, married Mary Wynter. Porlock was one of the Somerset manors left to Mary and has since passed down the Wynter-Blathwayt line.

The importance of the Estate has always been underpinned by the picturesque harbour at Porlock Weir. For centuries this has been not only one of the very few places along the rugged Exmoor coast capable of providing a haven for small craft, but it has also played a vital part in the life of eastern Exmoor. The sea route was by far the easiest way to and from the area and the harbour was once used by coasters carrying timber to South Wales in exchange for coal and limestone for making lime in local kilns. It is now full of leisure craft and fishing vessels.

The lock gates now used mainly to flush pebbles from the harbour entrance, are shortly to be the subject of a restoration programme. From the end of the last glacial period, about 10,000 years ago, the melting of ice caps has caused the sea level in the Bristol Channel to rise about 40 metres (131 ft). It has been at roughly its present level for the last 2,000 years but is still rising very slowly.

Between 7,000 and 8,000 years ago the area that is now Porlock Beach was more than five miles inland. It was a flat, low lying area and the climate was warm and wet. The area was thickly wooded and Mesolithic people lived by hunting and fishing. They probably hunted aurochs, an ancient species of wild cattle, the bones of which have been found here.

The stumps of trees were preserved in the marshy conditions in which they grew and have today been revealed as the sea has risen to erode them. At low tide you can see tree trunks, a thin layer of peaty soil and a large amount of grey clay soil which is now inhabited by sea shells known as piddocks.

Christopher George Wynter Blathwayt MC MA FCA (1912-1990) elder son of Major Henry Wynter Blathwayt RFA (1887-1917), was a descendent of William Blathwayt (1649-1717). During World War II he was seconded from KRRC to Operation Jedbugh and Special Forces. He parachuted into Brittany in July 1944 to organise resistance in South West Finistere, later being awarded the Military Cross and Croix de Guerre. In January 1945 he parachuted into the Burmese jungle, serving with Force 136 until peace was won

See also: www.porlockmanorestate.org

Contributed by: James Roberts