Майнхед: История и современность прибрежного города Сомерсета.

the British town

Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, 21 mile (34 km) north west of the county town of Taunton, 12 mile (19 km) from the boundary with the county of Devon and in proximity of the Exmoor National Park. The parish of Minehead has a population of approximately 11,981, making it the most populous town in the western part of the now defunct Somerset West and Taunton local government district, This figure includes Alcombe and Woodcombe, suburban villages which have been subsumed into Minehead. There is evidence of human occupation in the area since the Bronze and Iron Ages. Before the Norman conquest, it was held by Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia and after it by William de Moyon and his descendants, who administered the area from Dunster Castle, which was later sold to Sir George Luttrell and his family. There was a small port at Minehead by 1380, which grew into a major trading centre during the medieval period. Most trade transferred to larger ports during the 20th century, but pleasure steamers did call at the port. Major rebuilding took place in the Lower or Middle town area following a fire in 1791 and the fortunes of the town revived with the growth in sea bathing, and by 1851 was becoming a retirement centre. There was a marked increase in building during the early years of the 20th century, which resulted in the wide main shopping avenue and adjacent roads with Edwardian style architecture. The town's flood defences were improved after a storm in 1990 caused flooding. Minehead is governed by a town council, which was created in 1983. In addition to the parish church of St. Michael on the Hill in Minehead, the separate parish church of St Michael the Archangel is situated in Church Street, Alcombe. Alcombe is also home to the Spiritualist Church in Grove Place. Since 1991, Minehead has been twinned with Saint Berthevin, a small town close to the regional centre of Laval in the Mayenne département of France. Blenheim Gardens, which is Minehead's largest park, was opened in 1925. The town is also the home of a Butlins Holiday Park which increases Minehead's seasonal tourist population by several thousand. There is a variety of schools and religious, cultural and sporting facilities including sailing and wind surfing and golf. One popular ancient local tradition involves the Hobby Horse which takes to the streets for four days on the eve of the first of May each year, with accompanying musicians and rival horses. The town is the starting point of the South West Coast Path National Trail, the nation's longest long distance countryside walking trail. The Minehead Railway was opened in 1874 and closed in 1971 but has since been reopened as the West Somerset Railway.

The town sits at the foot of a steeply rising outcrop of Exmoor known as North Hill, and the original name of the town was mynydd, which means mountain in Welsh. It has also been written as Mynheafdon (1046), Maneheve (1086), Menehewed (1225) and Menedun (also 1225), which contain elements of Welsh and Old English words for hill.

The earliest known fossilised forest was discovered in the Hangman Sandstone Formation near to the Butlins Holiday Park. The trees, identified as a species resembling modern palm trees, known as calamophyton, date back to the Devonian period, between 419 and 358 million years ago. Evidence of prehistoric occupation of the area are Bronze Age barrows at Selworthy Beacon and an Iron Age enclosure at Furzebury Brake west of the town, although there is also possible evidence in the intertidal area, where the remains of a submerged forest still exist. It is mentioned as a manor belonging to William de Moyon in the Domesday Book in 1086, although it had previously been held by Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia. There was a small port at Minehead by 1380, but it was not until 1420 that money given by Lady Margaret Luttrell enabled improvements to be made and a jetty built. During the reign of Elizabeth I, the town had its own Port Officer similar to the position at Bristol. Further problems with the port continued and led to a decline in trade and the fisheries in the late 18th century and in 1834 the port lost its jurisdiction to Bridgwater. The pier was demolished during the Second World War as it obstructed the view from the gun battery set up on the quay head, as part of the coastal defence preparations, which stopped steamers calling at the harbour until it was cleared in 1951. Major rebuilding took place in the Lower or Middle town area following a fire in 1791. In that year a Carrara marble statue of Queen Anne, sculpted by Francis Bird was presented to the town by Sir Jacob Bancks, who served as the local Member of Parliament from 1698 to 1715. It originally stood in the parish church but was moved to Wellington Square in 1893, Lower town and the quay area were rebuilt and the fortunes of the town revived with the growth in sea bathing, and by 1851 was becoming a retirement centre. It was in the Victorian and Edwardian era that tourism in the town increased. There was a marked increase in building in the early years of the 20th century when the landowners, the Luttrells of Dunster Castle, released extensive building land. Probably the most prolific Edwardian architect was W. J. Tamlyn from North Devon who settled in the town and was responsible for designing several hundred domestic properties as well as Minehead Town Hall and the Queen's Hall. The steamship SS Pelican grounded in Minehead Bay on 22 June 1928, on an unmarked reef known as the Gables that circles Minehead Bay, from land. The Pelican was sailing from Port Talbot to Highbridge. The crew of five were rescued by the Minehead Lifeboat. Evacuees were billeted in Minehead during the Second World War. Butlins opened in 1962, and has brought thousands of visitors to the town. In 2002, the parish was estimated to have a population of 10,330. Since April 2023 Minehead has been part of the unitary authority area administered by Somerset Council. Administrative tasks and services are shared between unitary and town councils. The town falls within the Bridgwater and West Somerset constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. The current MP is Ian Liddell Grainger, a member of the Conservative Party.

Minehead is located on the Bristol Channel coast of South West England, and thus experiences one of the highest tidal ranges in the world. The tidal rise and fall in the Bristol Channel can be as great as 48 feet (15 m), second only to the Bay of Fundy in Eastern Canada. The town is overlooked by North Hill, which rises steeply from the harbour shoreline. The town lies just outside the boundaries of Exmoor National Park. The cliff exposures around the shoreline are dramatic and fossils are exposed. Areas of the town include Higher Town, Quay Town and Lower or Middle Town, although they are no longer separate. Blenheim Gardens, which is Minehead's largest park, was opened in 1925. The bandstand within the park is used to host musical events. Along with the rest of South West England, Minehead has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than the rest of England. The annual mean temperature is about with seasonal and diurnal variations, but due to the modifying effect of the sea, the range is less than in most other parts of the United Kingdom. January is the coldest month with mean minimum temperatures between and July and August are the warmest months in the region with mean daily maxima around In general, December is the dullest month and June the sunniest. The south west of England enjoys a favoured location, particularly in summer, when the Azores High extends its influence north eastwards towards the UK. Cloud often forms inland, especially near hills, and reduces exposure to sunshine. The average annual sunshine totals around 1,600 hours. Rainfall tends to be associated with Atlantic depressions or with convection. In summer, convection caused by solar surface heating sometimes forms shower clouds and a large proportion of the annual precipitation falls from showers and thunderstorms at this time of year. Average rainfall is around About 8–15 days of snowfall is typical. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, with June to August having the lightest. The predominant wind direction is from the south west.

The town's location—sea to the north and Exmoor to the south—means that transport links are limited. Minehead is located on the A39 road, and is 28 mile (45 km) north west of the M5 motorway at junction 24. Local bus services are operated by First West of England and Quantock Motor Services. Minehead railway station is close to the beach. The Minehead Railway was opened on 16 July 1874, linking the town to Taunton and beyond. It was operated by the Bristol and Exeter Railway which was amalgamated into the Great Western Railway in 1876. The Minehead Railway was itself absorbed into the GWR in 1897, which in turn was nationalised into British Railways in 1948. It was closed on 4 January 1971 but has since been reopened as the West Somerset Railway, which is notable for being the longest standard gauge heritage railway in Britain.

Minehead's local radio station is the community based West Somerset Radio that broadcasts from the town on 104.4 FM. The local newspapers are West Somerset Free Press and Somerset County Gazette.

In Minehead, there are two first schools, one middle school (Minehead Middle School) and an upper school, West Somerset College, which provides education for 1,298 students between the ages of 13 and 18. In 2006 there was debate about changing West Somerset's 3 tier school system to a 2 tier system to match the rest of Somerset and the majority of education authorities in the UK.

The Anglican parish church of St Michael dates from the 15th century and has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building; its tower used to display a beacon light for ships approaching the harbour. Quirke also donated money from the sale of the ship and its cargo to build almshouses. St Michael's parish church contains a number of historical highlights, including an impressive late medieval rood screen and rood stair, and an attractive stained glass window designed by Sir Henry Holiday. There are views from the churchyard of the surrounding hills and coastline. The Church of St Michael the Archangel in Alcombe was built in 1903 as a chapel of ease for the Dunster parish, but in 1953 it became the Parish Church of Alcombe in its own right. St Andrew's Church, on Wellington Square in the town, was built of red sandstone in 1877–1880, by George Edmund Street. Butlins Minehead is the only Butlins resort still to have a small on site chapel, and over the Easter period the resort hosts an annual Spring Harvest, the largest Christian festival in the UK. The Catholic parish of Minehead covers an area of and is served by the Sacred Heart Parish Church, built in 1896, as well as a mass centre in the nearby village of Watchet. There are also religious sites serving the needs of the Baptist, Evangelical, Methodist and United Reformed communities and the Plymouth Brethren.

One popular ancient local tradition involves the Hobby Horse, or Obby Oss, They appear on May Eve (called "Show Night"), on May Day morning (when they salute the sunrise at a crossroads on the outskirts of town), 2 and 3 May (when a ceremony called "The Bootie" takes place in the evening called "Bootie Night" at part of town called Cher). Each horse is made of a boat shaped wooden frame, pointed and built up at each end, which is carried on the dancer's shoulders.

Minehead Barbarians, the town's rugby club, have been playing together since the 1930s, but the main local football club, Minehead A. F. C., is even older, founded in 1889. In September 2007, the TWIF European Outdoor Tug of war Championships was held at the football club's stadium. Minehead Cricket Club, based at the West Somerset College in Alcombe, field four men's teams and one women's team while Minehead Hockey Club plays close by at the West Somerset Sports & Leisure Centre. There were plans for a swimming pool to be built in the grounds of the West Somerset College and there is a bowls club on Irnham Road. Minehead has on several occasions been the location of 'Britain's Strongest Man' contest, most recently in 2004, and since 2006 the Butlin's Resort has been one of the venues for the World Wrestling Entertainment's UK winter tour. In 2010 stage four of the Tour of Britain road cycling race started in Minehead. In April 2010 RadioMinehead. com started to broadcast music, travel news, events guide and general to and for the Minehead community. The 2011 European Outdoor Tug of War Championships was held within the grounds at Butlin's Minehead from 22 to 25 September. Since December 2012 Minehead has hosted the PDC Players Championship Finals. Minehead also hosts many motorsport events including the Somerset Stages Rally which has been hosted in the area for years. There is also the Enduroland Quad and Motocross Event held in Bratton Woods.

Richard Chorley (1927–2002), physical geographer, was born and brought up in Minehead. Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008), science fiction writer, was born in Minehead. Edward Ellicott (1768–1847), naval officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars, lived in Alcombe with his family and died there. Peter Hurford (1930–2019), organist and composer, was born in Minehead. Tim Kevan writer, blogger and barrister, author of the Baby Barista series of books, was brought up in Minehead. Stephen Mulhern (born 1977), television presenter, lived in Minehead at an early age where his family owned the joke shop ‘Magic Moments’ on The Avenue. His first job was a Redcoat at Butlins Minehead, aged 17. Adam O'Brian (born 1989), actor in The Imposter, was brought up in Minehead. Sir Nick Partridge (born 1955), Chief Executive of The Terrence Higgins Trust, and a key campaigner on HIV and AIDS, lived in the town in the 1970s when his family moved there to run a hotel. Danielle Waterman (born 1985), member of the England women's national rugby union team and member of the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup winning team, was brought up in Minehead.