INTRODUCTION

Dunster is situated in the Hundred of Carhampton, in the western division of the county of Somerset, 162 miles from London, 22 from Taunton, and 15 from the confines of Devonshire. The parish is bounded on the north by the Bristol Channel, on the east and south by the parishes of Carhampton, Luxborough, Timberscombe, and Wootton Courtenay, and on the west by that of Minehead. It contains 2870 acres, of which about a third are uncultivated. The rateable value is 4933£.

A ridge known anciently as Grobfast, and now as Grabbist, rises in the parish to a height of 760 feet above the sea, while the rich pastures below are only a few feet above the level of high tide. The little town of Dunster stands on a saddleback, sheltered on the south by the hanging woods and the heathery uplands of the Park, on the west by the steep slopes of Grabbist, and on the north by those of Conygar, where oaks and hollies have taken the place of rough pasture frequented by rabbits. At the southeastern extremity of the town is the isolated, conical hill known as the 'Tor', for centuries crowned by the defensive works of a mighty castle.

The views from the higher ground in the parish of Dunster are remarkable for their beauty and variety. Although comparatively circumscribed on the south by a bare spur of the Brendon Hills, they extend westward up the rich vale of Avill to Dunkery, the highest point of Exmoor, and one of the highest points in the west of England. On the north, they command a long stretch of the Welsh Coast, backed by the Brecon Beacons and other mountains. Eastward, they range over a great expanse of sea and land, the Flat Holmes, the Steep Holmes, Brean Down at the end of the Mendip Hills, the alabaster cliffs near Watchet, and the long line of the Quantocks, being prominent features in the landscape.

The parish is traversed by a clear stream descending from Exmoor, formerly known as the Dunster River, but now usually called the Avill, which supplied motive power for several grist-mills, and for various fulling-mills now disused. Numerous rills flowing out of it irrigate the rich meadows on either side. In the lower part of its course, the main stream is now the boundary between the parishes of Dunster and Carhampton. After winding its way through alluvial land near Marsh, it discharges into the Bristol Channel by the Hawn, the ancient haven of Dunster, frequently mentioned in medieval documents, but now silted up.

The site of Dunster must have been known to the Roman colonists of Britain, for some copper coins of the reigns of Maximian and Constantine were found, about 1863, in the Park, close to the former highway. from Gallocks Cross to Carhampton. Its recorded history, however, does not begin before the time of Edward the Confessor, when it belonged to a certain Ælfric (Aluric), who also held Broadwood, Avill, and Bratton, in the immediate neighbourhood. All these places were bestowed by William the Conqueror upon William de Moion, one of his Norman followers, the first of a long series of feudal barons.

The site of William de Moion's castle is described in the Exchequer Domesday as 'Torre', and in the Exeter Domesday as 'Torra. In a charter granted by him to the monks of Bath, between the years 1090 and 1100, the place is called 'Dunestore' and 'Donesthorra'. The second part of the compounded name indicates a projecting rock, like the Tors of Devonshire and Derbyshire. The origin of the first part of the name is less certain. Inasmuch as the place is never called Duntor, or Dunetor, any interpretation must take account of the 's' or 'es' which always precedes the final syllable. Two alternatives seem possible. Dunster may have been the 'tor' of the dunes, or hills; or it may have been the 'tor' of a man named Dun. In support of the latter theory, it may be observed that among the estates granted to William de Moion by the Conqueror were one at Exford which had belonged to Domno or Donnus, and another at Elworthy which had belonged to Dunne or Dunna.

Ecclesiastically, Dunster is in the Archdeaconry of Taunton, and it gives its name to the Deanery of which it is the chief place. Its cruciform church is, from an architectural point of view, the most important in the neighbourhood. The parish comprises the ancient manors of Dunster, Avill, Staunton and Alcombe, and part of the reputed manor of Foremarsh. The population, which was 772 in 1801, has risen to 1184 by 1851, since which time it has been practically stationary. The local woollen industry being extinct, most of the inhabitants are connected with agriculture. There are various shops in the town of Dunster, and a few at Alcombe.

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