19 Facts About Minehead

Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England.

The parish of Minehead has a population of approximately 11,981, making it the most populous town in the western part of the Somerset West and Taunton local government district, which in turn, is the worst area in the country for social mobility.

Minehead is governed by a town council, which was created in 1983.

Since 1991, Minehead has been twinned with Saint-Berthevin, a small town close to the regional centre of Laval in the Mayenne departement of France.

The Minehead Railway was opened in 1874 and closed in 1971 but has since been reopened as the West Somerset Railway.

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Until the 19th century, trade continued with Ireland but Minehead vessels started to travel further afield to Virginia and the West Indies.

Civil parish of Minehead is governed by a town council, which was created in 1983.

Administratively, Minehead is part of the non-metropolitan district of Somerset West and Taunton, which was established on 1 April 2019.

Minehead is located on the Bristol Channel coast of South West England, and thus experiences one of the highest tidal ranges in the world.

In 1990, much of Minehead's beach was washed away in a severe storm which caused serious flooding in the town.

Minehead is located on the A39 road, and is 28 miles north-west of the M5 motorway at junction 24.

The Minehead Railway was opened on 16 July 1874, linking the town to Taunton and beyond.

The Minehead Railway was itself absorbed into the GWR in 1897, which in turn was nationalised into British Railways in 1948.

In Minehead, there are two first schools, one middle school and an upper school, West Somerset College, which provides education for 1,298 students between the ages of 13 and 18.

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 200 square miles and is served by the Sacred Heart Parish Church, built in 1896, as well as a mass centre in the nearby village of Watchet.

Minehead has one of the UK's three remaining Butlins holiday camps, and tourism has been a part of Minehead's economy since Victorian times.

Minehead was the setting of Monty Python's 1970 "Mr Hilter" sketch, in which Adolf Hitler, Joachim von Ribbentrop and Heinrich Himmler conspire at a local rooming house to win the local by-election as the "National Bocialist" candidate and unite Minehead with neighbouring Taunton.

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.