Minehead and Porlock Weir. 17^th May 2003

Thirty seven members and their guests gathered at "The Old Ship Aground" – a pub overlooking the 17^th century harbour at Minehead - where Peter Ferguson, who had grown up there in the last days of sail, had arranged for the main part of our visit to take place. He paid tribute to his lifetime friend, John Gilman – an authority on the area whom he had originally hoped would have been able to speak to us, and recommended John’s book Exmoor’s Maritime Heritage [Exmoor Books, Dulverton, Somerset - 1999] for further reading. We were soon to discover that he should not have been so self-effacing as he proceeded to entertain us with a wonderful slide show, brought to life by many personal reminiscences. He explained that Minehead was once an important port with vessels trading to Ireland, La Rochelle and the Bristol Channel ports and, using early paintings and charts, told us of the significance of the church and Dunster Castle to Minehead Bay and how the harbour had been developed in the 17^th century. We then entered the era of photography and, with a host of beautiful shots, he led us from the 1850s to the 1950s including the Emma Louise and the Perriton, each of which played a big part in the history of the harbour. He regretted that there was a dearth of photographs for the period from 1880 to 1888 – including the launch of the Perriton and would welcome any clues to where photographs covering this period might now reside. But there was more to Minehead than vessels and Peter told us fascinating tales of the ship owners and the sea captains who made the port what it was and showed us photographs of several of them. Then in 1901 came Minehead Pier and a year later the lifeboat station, after which the story took on colour again as we entered the era of the paddle-steamers and pleasure trips rather than trading and fishing for herring.

Switching to Porlock Weir, Peter recounted the history of this rare surviving example of a "haven" harbour with its lock gates and its involvement in oyster dredging. We were treated to more and subtly different historic photographs of vessels and people leading up to the rebuilding of the harbour in 1913.

Most members lunched at "The Old Ship Aground" and we then listened to an interview recorded by the West of England Home Service in 1960 in which Michael Bouquet spoke with Captain Stan Rawle of the Emma Louise and others of the period about their life and times. A piece of oral history that matched so well the photographs that we had seen earlier in the day. After a quick walk on the Minehead harbour wall, we moved to Porlock Weir where we were able to see for ourselves the site that Peter had described so well. With the tide out and the lock gates open, the original purpose of such a harbour was not on show but, nonetheless, the character and charm of this little port was much enjoyed by all. What is more, the sun broke through a previously cloudy day adding the final sparkle to a thoroughly enjoyable day.

Reported by David Pulvertaft

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