Search the Exmoor Encyclopedia Pages
Watchet Market House Museum
| 
Watchet Market House Museum
Market House Museum is perched on the quayside. The old Market House and, upstairs, the Holy Cross Chapel have been local landmarks since the 17th Century. It also includes the town jail (complete with resident villain)! The Museum has excellent displays of Watchet's maritime heritage, the Mineral Railway Line, steam railway and local industries. It also houses artefacts from Watchet's colourful past - some even from the Viking raids on the Saxon Mint for silver! The Museum also has fossil specimens from the area. Watchet Market House Museum situated in Market St near harbour slipway. Exhibition of history of Watchet seaport, inc. fossils, Saxon mint, harbour, railways, mining, Victoriana, paintings, photographs, model & video. Donations gratefully received.
Watchet Marina
Curator: James Nicholas 01984 632266
Meetings: second Wednesday in the month, October to March, at 7.30 pm, in the Methodist Schoolroom, Harbour Road, Watchet
Market House Museum
The Esplanade, Watchet The museum houses many documents and artefacts charting Watchet's history through the ages.The museum also develops studies on more detailed themes for those with a deeper interest in history. There is a regular programme of speakers giving talks on specialist subjects. Admission to the museum is free, although donations are always welcome. For more information please call the Curator, RogerWedlake, on 01984 631209 or the Consultant Curator, Ben Norman, on 01984 631345.
Watchet Museum is on the ground floor of the old Market House built about 1820. There was a market in the town as long ago as the 13th century and the present building probably stands on the site of a previous Market House. Traders sold their wares through the large windows to folk standing outside. The displays tell the history of this ancient seaport from prehistoric times to the present day. See the local fossils, including an ichthyosaurus and a mammoth's tooth. Our early ancestors left us a collection of Stone Age implements. Locally discovered Romano-British remains show the affect of Roman influence in West Somerset. In the 900s the Vikings raided Watchet several times. During the 10th and 11th centuries there was a royal mint at Watchet producing coins for kings such as Ethelred, Canute and William the Conqueror. Replica coins on display bear the name of the place where they were minted - WACET. The story of the harbour and its maritime trade is told in photographs, model ships and paintings by Watchet's own marine artist Capt. Thomas Chidgey. Also on display are many shipwright's tools and navigational instruments. Watchet was the home port of the poet Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner". A working model of the 1 in 4 railway incline illustrates how in the 19th century iron ore from the Brendon Hill mines was transported on the West Somerset Mineral Railway to Watchet for shipment to smelting works in South Wales. The Museum has many other fascinating exhibits and a wonderful display of local photographs. A video "The Watchet Story" can be viewed and local books and cards are on sale. Don't miss the outside displays in the four large windows and take a look at the Court Leet jail and its prisoner at the end of the building.
A leaflet is available to guide you around the Heritage Trail of the oldest part of the town.
2008 Watchet Market House Museum Market St near harbour slipway. Open Easter - 31 Oct 10.30am - 4.30pm. Exhibition of history of Watchet seaport, inc. fossils, Saxon mint, harbour, railways, mining,Victoriana, paintings, photographs, model & video. Donations gratefully received. Tel. Secretary 01984 631761. Admission free.
See also:
Contributed by: Sue Thomas, Helen Bacon, James Nicholas
