[Transcription © SA Whittle-Bruce 2003]

Watchet, Williton, Stogumber & neighbourhoods

Pigot & Co.'s Royal National & Commercial Directory and Topography 1844

WATCHET is a market-town, seaport and chapelry, in the parish of St. Deucuman; 165 miles w. by s. from London by way of Bath and Bridgewater, 18 miles .w. of the latter town, the like distance N.W. from Taunton, eight east from Minehead, and five east from Dunster; situated on a port or creek of the Bristol Channel. It is a place of considerable trade, and has a large herring-fishery; and there are vessels employed in the coasting trade to and from Bridgewater and Bristol, and in bringing coal from Wales. The only manufacturers are those of woollen cloth and paper, on a small scale. In the time of Queen Elizabeth the harbour was cleared out, and a pier built, at the expense of the Wyndham family, which was, in the beginning of the last century, repaired by Sir Wm. Wyndham: he was buried in the parish church in 1740. The Earl of Egremont is lord of the manor, and holds a court leet and baron annually. The coast here is rocky; the cliffs, two miles west of the town, abound with fine alabaster; and a great quantity of the sea liverwort, or laver, is gathered on the rocks at low water.

The parish church of St. Peter is a handsome structure, situated between this place and Williton; the living is a discharged vicarage, in the patronage of the prebendary of St. Deucuman in Wells Cathedral. There are places of worship for Baptists and Wesleyan Methodists. The market is held on Saturday, and an annual fair on the 17th of November. The parish of St. Deucuman (including WATCHET and WILLITON) contained, by the returns for 1831, 2,120 inhabitants, and by the last census(1841) 2,536.

Two miles south from Watchet, in the same parish as that town, is the respectable village of WILLITON, situated upon the direct road from Taunton or Bridgewater to Minehead. The roads in this neighbourhood, which were at one time almost impassable, have of late years been much improved. Williton is a polling station at county elections for west Somerset. There is a chapel of ease, and the Methodists and Baptists have places of worship. Fairs are held here in the months of February and September. Population returned with the parish.

STOGUMBER is a village and parish, in the hundred of Williton and Freemanners, seven miles N. by E. from Wivelescombe, and four and a half S.S.E. from Watchett. There is a considerable brewing establishment here (called the Stogumber Brewery,) the malt liquor from which is held in great estimation: it is said to owe its celebrity in a great measure to the peculiar quality of the water, which is so well adapted to the process of brewing. The places of worship are the parish church, dedicated to St. Mary, and a chapel for baptists. The parish contained, in 1831, 1,294 inhabitants, and at the last census(1841,) 1,384.

POST OFFICE, WATCHET, Edmund Chidgey, Post Master. - Letters from all parts arrive (from WILLITON), and are despatched to that town daily.

POST OFFICE, WILLITON, John Stevens, Post Master. - Letters from all parts arrive and are despatched daily.