Name: Watchet Market House Museum
Rating: 5.0

Watchet Market House Museum

Watchet Market House Museum, Swain Street, Watchet, UK

1-90 Years

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Description

Watchet Market House Museum is a charming local museum located in a historic 19th-century building by the marina in Watchet, Somerset. Housed in the former Market House built between 1819–1820, it offers a glimpse into the town’s rich past and heritage. It’s a great stop for visitors interested in history, archaeology and local stories.

Visitors can explore a variety of exhibits including locally discovered fossils such as ammonites, coral and ancient marine life from over 200 million years ago. The museum also showcases prehistoric artefacts like stone tools and hand axes, as well as displays on Saxon and Viking history, highlighting early settlers and the development of the English language. The building itself is part of the experience, with its historic structure and links to Watchet’s past as a market and community space.

Entry to the museum is completely free, though voluntary donations are encouraged to support its upkeep.

With its mix of geology, archaeology and local heritage, Watchet Market House Museum offers an informative and enjoyable visit. Whether you’re exploring fossils or learning about early history, it’s a small but fascinating attraction in Somerset.

Features

Free
Host birthday parties: No

Features

Fossils: Watchet is very fortunate in its geology, lying on local lias rocks, set down 200-215 million years ago, for within these rocks are a variety of fossils. The lower liassic sedimentary beds were formed in the first part of the Jurassic, merging with the end of the earlier Upper Triassic period. The Museum is able to display a wide selection of locally-found fossils, many picked up by people walking on the foreshore. Ammonites and Gryphaea are abundant, and fossilised coral, fish, oysters and plants are also represented amongst the collection.
Prehistory: This is the period before written records existed. Man’s progress is studied through the remains of plants, animals and humans. Lithics, stone artefacts and tools are important remains for archaeologists. The Lower Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) era, 450,000 – 120,000 BC, has remains of hand axes found in the Doniford River gravels. The museum has a selection of these from the A. L. Wedlake collection. They are made from local stone known as chert. These have been made into all-purpose tools used by Homo Heidelbergensis, who is thought to be the predecessor of Homo Neanderthalis.
Saxons and Vikings: When the Romans left Britain in about 410 AD. successive waves of invaders and settlers arrived, mainly Saxons, Angles, Jutes and Frisians from North Western Europe. Many of these had been displaced themselves by upheaval throughout Europe driven by the Huns. Anglo Saxon refers to these Germanic tribes who came to dominate English life and give the country it’s name derived from : Angle-land. Another legacy is the English language which is a hybrid formed from many languages and can be traced to the language of the invaders.

What to see

Located where the Esplanade meets Market Street and occupying the ground floor of Watchet’s former Market House is Watchet Market House Museum.
The Market House is a two-storied stone building which was constructed during 1819-20 with open arches to the ground floor and an open staircase at its west end to the upper floor, under which was the Court Leet lock-up.
The market was held on Saturdays and continued until the 1830s. The ground floor was later converted to a shop and from the 1920s the upper floor was used as a mission church, now known as Holy Cross Chapel.

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Price

Price: Free

Birthday Parties

Offer Birthday Parties: No

The Museum is open daily Saturday - Thursday.
The museum will not open Friday except by special request.

Address: Watchet Market House Museum, Swain Street, Watchet, UK

Post Code: TA23 0AD

Council: Somerset

County: Somerset and Bristol

You can find the Watchet Market House Museum towards the left end of the marina in Watchet and by entering the following address in your SATNAV: The Market House, Market Street, Watchet, Somerset, TA23 0AN