Description

When – Saturday 3rd October 2026 – 10.00am-16:00 pm
Where – Salvation Army Hall, 1 Brendon Road, Watchet, TA23 OAU

Doors open 10.00 am for coffee + tea. Talks start at 10.30

History Day – 6 talks on the Maritime and Local History of the area.

• Maritime Lawlessness in the Severn Sea
• The West Somerset Railway and Watchet
• Catastrophe, Construction, Counterfeiters, Conflict, Customs, Constables, Contagion, Childbearing and Commerce: Life in the Maritime Hub of Watchet, 1590-1665
• The (Mis)adventures of a Minehead Merchant
• Thomas Chidgey: Marine Artist of Watchet
• Limeburning on the West Somerset Coast 

Your ticket will entitle you to a free coffee and biscuits on arrival, and we will organise hot drinks through the day (donations welcome).

These talks will be given by local experts, hand-picked by the South West Maritime History Society, working in partnership with the British Local History Society and Somerset Industrial Archeological Society, who bring their local insights and expertise to the event.

Please bring your own lunch – we will have hot and cold drinks available throughout the day. You may be interested in a buffet lunch. If so, please order lunch at the checkout (look for the picture of lunch), and note any food intolerances or allergies on the appropriate form. Thank you.

The ticket cost of £12.00 (SWMHS and Local History Group members £10.00) includes coffee on arrival.  Please buy your ticket for the event by entering the number of tickets you would like in the gold box at the top of this page. 

We look forward to seeing you in Watchet

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Programme

10:00   Doors open, coffees and teas provided

10:30   Welcome  Jonathan Turner, Chair SWMHS

10:35   Maritime Lawlessness in the Severn Sea, Professor Evan Jones, International Maritime Historian

11:15   The West Somerset Railway and Watchet, Ian Coleby

11:50   Tea and coffee break

12:10   Catastrophe, Construction, Counterfeiters, Conflict, Customs, Constables, Contagion, Childbearing and Commerce: Life in the Maritime Hub of Watchet, 1590-1665, Philip Ashford

12:45   Lunch break – buffet lunch

13:50   The (Mis)adventures of a Minehead Merchant, Mary Miles

14:25   Thomas Chidgey: Marine Artist of Watchet, Paul Upton

15:00   Tea

15:20   Limeburning on the West Somerset Coast, Peter Daniel

15:55   Closing remarks, Chair

Details about the talks, starting at 10:30:

Maritime Lawlessness in the Severn Sea  This talk will examine smuggling, piracy and wrecking in the ‘Severn Sea’ during the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries. The waters east of Lands End / St Davids were commonly figured as a single sea in the early modern period, in both England and Wales, united by trade and local shipping. But this was also a space in which various forms of illicit maritime activity flourished. The paper will explore why this was so and the nature of the illegal activity within it. The talk will be presented by Dr Evan Jones (Associate Professor in Economic History at the University of Bristol), who specialises in the maritime trade of this region and, in particular, its illicit economy.

The West Somerset Railway and Watchet  The talk will be an illustrated journey down the line with old photographs, with an additional focus on Watchet and Minehead. Ian Coleby is the archivist of the West Somerset Railway and has written several books on the line.

Catastrophe, Construction, Counterfeiters, Conflict, Customs, Constables, Contagion, Childbearing and Commerce: Life in the Maritime Hub of Watchet, 1590-1665. “We have all been either in wars … or at sea, and seen our consort sunk by tempest or taken by pyrates or seen the pestilence devour our parents above us, our children below us [or] our friends about us” John Donne in a sermon preached in Whitehall, November 1617. Philip Ashford is a contributory author to the Maritime History of Somerset series and has been working for seven years on the history of St Decumans from documentary sources, recently published.

The (Mis)adventures of a Minehead Merchant  Quaker merchant Andrew Hare wrote several letters to his cousin at the beginning of the 18^th century, which give an insight into his life. When problems arose he had to escape and settle his family elsewhere. This is a story of ill fortune and offers an insight into the difficulties of sea trade at the time. Mary Miles has been a key member of the Somerset Industrial Archaeological Society (SIAS) for many years, having been at various times a field officer, the chair and involved with publications and conference committees.

Thomas Chidgey: Marine Artist of Watchet  Paul Upton researched the life and work of ship’s captain and ‘pierhead’ painter from Watchet, Thomas Chidgey (1845-1926) for an exhibition of his work in 2018. This led to further research on the sailing ships that he painted and their histories.

Limeburning on the West Somerset Coast  Peter Daniel is President and Field Officer of Somerset Industrial Archaeological Society and has written extensively about limekilns in Somerset. He will start by looking at West Somerset’s lime industry in a regional context and, in particular, the sources of limestone. He will then focus on the kilns of the West Somerset coast looking at their history and surviving structures, and the transport of limestone and culm. Finally, he will home in on the kilns of Watchet itself and their place in the historic use of hydraulic lime.

Please buy your ticket for the event by entering the number of tickets you would like in the gold box at the top of this page. 

We look forward to seeing you in Watchet

NOTE — PUBLICITY PHOTOGRAPHY

We will photograph and film some of the procedings for promotional and publicity purposes.  We will not feature individuals or close-up shots of audience members. All audience footage will consist of general, wide-angle views of the room.