The village became a centre for wool and cloth production and trade, of which the Yarn Market, built by George Luttrell (d.1629), is a relic.

[10] After the Norman conquest of England in the 11th century, he constructed a timber castle on the site as part of the pacification of Somerset.

[11] A stone shell keep was built on the motte by the start of the 12th century, and the castle survived a siege during the early years of the Anarchy.

[15] Major alterations to the castle were undertaken by Henry Fownes Luttrell who had acquired it through marriage to Margaret Fownes-Luttrell in 1747.

One outcome was the carved rood screen which divided the church in two with the parish using the west chancel and the monks the east.

[20] In the "Valor Ecclesiasticus" of 1535 the net annual income of the Dunster Tithe Barn is recorded as being £37.4.8d (£37 23p), with £6.13s7d ( £6.68p ) being passed on to the priory in Bath.

Dunster was part of the hundred of Carhampton,[23] but St George's was the seat of the local deanery, overseeing the area's parish churches.

[24][25] Dunster had become a centre for woollen and clothing production by the 13th century, with the market dating back to at least 1222, and a particular kind of kersey or broadcloth became known as 'Dunsters'.

[26][27] The prosperity of Dunster was based on the wool trade, with profits helping to pay for the construction of the tower of the Priory Church of St George and provide other amenities.

[38] It is also part of the Tiverton and Minehead county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

[39] During the early medieval period the sea reached the base of the hill, close to the mouth of the River Avill, offering a natural defence and making the village an inland port.

The mean annual temperature in the area is 8.3 °C (46.9 °F) with a seasonal and diurnal variation, but due to the modifying effect of the sea the range is less than in most other parts of the UK.

The south west of England has a favoured location with regard to the Azores High when it extends its influence north-eastwards towards the UK, particularly in summer.

In summer, convection, caused by the sun heating the land surface more than the sea, sometimes forms rain clouds and at that time of year a large proportion of the rainfall comes from showers and thunderstorms.

The village has numerous restaurants and three pubs with considerable trade being brought by tourists visiting the heritage sites and particularly the castle which attracted approximately 150,000 visitors in 2014.

A local newspaper printed in May 1863 says "The origin professes to be in commemoration of the wreck of a vessel at Minehead in remote times, or the advent of a sort of phantom ship which entered the harbour without Captain or crew.

[52][53] Annually on the third Friday in August the village hosts the well known Dunster Show where local businesses and producers come together to showcase the very best that Exmoor and West Somerset has to offer.

A more recent tradition (started in 1987) is Dunster by Candlelight which takes place every year on the first Friday and Saturday in December when this remarkably preserved medieval village turns its back on the present and lights its streets with candles.

One outcome was the carved rood screen which divided the church in two with the parish using the west chancel and the monks the east.

The church has a cruciform plan with a central four-stage tower, built in 1443 with diagonal buttresses, a stair turret and single bell-chamber windows.

[63] Nearby was an older cross known as the Butter Cross which was constructed in the late 14th or early 15th century and once stood in the High Street, possibly at the southern end of the high street,[64] and was moved to its current location on the edge of the village possibly in 1825, however a drawing by J. M. W. Turner made in 1811 suggests it was in its present position by then.

The lower tiers of nest holes were blocked to protect against brown rats which had arrived in the Britain in 1720 and reached Somerset by 1760.

The head of the pin sits in a metal cup in the base of the wooden pillar, which means the mechanism has never had to be oiled.

[80] When the Dunster Castle estate was sold the dovecote was bought by the Parochial church council and opened to the public.

In the "Valor Ecclesiasticus" of 1535 the net annual income of the Dunster Tithe Barn is recorded as being £37.4s.8d (£37.23p), with £6.13s.7d ( £6.68p ) being passed on to the priory in Bath.

[21] The Somerset Buildings Preservation Trust (SBPT) has co-ordinated a £550,000[82] renovation project on behalf of the Dunster Tithe Barn Community Hall Trust (DTBCHT), into a multi-purpose community hall under a 99-year lease at a pepper-corn rent, by the Crown Estate Commissioners who own the building.

It was commissioned by Henry Luttrell and designed by Richard Phelps and stands about 18 metres (59 ft) high so that it can be seen from Dunster Castle on the opposite hillside.

In 1934 a new signal box at the opposite end of the station, brought second-hand from Maerdy, was put into use when the line from Dunster to Minehead was doubled in 1934.

The GWR was nationalised into British Railways in 1948 and from 1964, when goods traffic was withdrawn on 6 July, the line was run down until it was eventually closed on 4 January 1971.

The signal box was moved to Minehead in 1977 but the goods yard is now home to the railway's civil engineering team.