Watchet, Somerset - Harbour - Salmon postcard

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  The Harbour, Watchet, Somerset
• Publisher:  J Salmon (2-52-06-16)
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

Please ask if you need any other information and I will do the best I can to answer.

Image may be low res for illustrative purposes - if you need a higher definition image then please contact me and I may be able to send one.

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Postage & Packing:

UK (incl. IOM, CI & BFPO): 99p

Europe: £1.60

Rest of world (inc. USA etc): £2.75

No additional charges for more than one postcard. You can buy as many postcards from me as you like and you will just pay the fee above once. (If buying postcards with other things such as books, please contact or wait for invoice before paying).

Payment Methods:

UK - PayPal, Cheque (from UK bank) or postal order

Outside UK: PayPal ONLY (unless otherwise stated) please.   NO non-UK currency checks or money orders (sorry).

NOTE: All postcards are sent in brand new stiffened envelopes which I have bought for the task. These are specially made to protect postcards and you may be able to re-use them. In addition there are other costs to sending so the above charge is not just for the stamp!

I will give a full refund if you are not fully satisfied with the postcard.

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Watchet is a harbour town and civil parish in the English county of Somerset, with an approximate population of 4,400.^[1] It is situated 15 miles (24 km) west of Bridgwater, 15 miles (24 km) north-west of Taunton, and 9 miles (14 km) east of Minehead. The parish includes the hamlet of Beggearn Huish. The town lies at the mouth of the Washford River on Bridgwater Bay, part of the Bristol Channel, and on the edge of Exmoor National Park.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner was written whilst travelling through Watchet and the surrounding area.

Watchet is believed to be the place where Saint Decuman was killed and the 15th century, Grade I listed, Church of St Decuman is dedicated to him.^[2]

There is no sign locally of Roman occupation, but the Anglo-Saxons took Watchet from the native Britons around AD 680. Under Alfred the Great (AD 871-901) Watchet became an important Saxon port, and the site of a mint with coins found as far away as Copenhagen and Stockholm.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the early port at Watchet being plundered by Danes led by Earl Ottir (Ohtor) and a 'Hroald' (possibly Ottir's king Ragnall) in 987 and 997.^[3] The parish of Watchet was part of the Williton and Freemanners Hundred.^[4]

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.^[5]

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.^[6][7]

The primitive jetty was damaged in a storm of 1659, so that in 1708 lading 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.

type=printed postcards

theme=topographical: british

sub-theme=england

county/ country=somerset

number of items=single

period=1945 - present

postage condition=unposted