Dunster

Minehead suffered greatly from fires, mostly caused by reckless behaviour.

There may have been a medieval pottery in Dunster but in the mid 18th century pottery was one of the industries being promoted, possibly to help of

Richard Phelps is little known today but was a prolific portrait painter and a designer of follies in West Somerset.

The little river Avill drove a surprising number of corn and fulling mills in the Middle Ages.

Alcombe is now part of Minehead but was formerly a village in Dunster parish.

Minehead’s position as a port town in the 17th century probably encouraged dissent to flourish and by 1667 there were public conventicles, said to

Dunster Castle on its hilltop site forms a dramatic eyecatcher from the road to Minehead or the West Somerset Railway.

Dunster has always been well served with alehouses and inns.

Until the 19th century Dunster was more important as a retail centre than Minehead. Dunster mercers were recorded from the 15th to 19th centuries a

Apothecaries and surgeons were based in Dunster from at least the early 17th century, serving the area around as well as Dunster itself, so it is n