[3] The village was the site of a boat lift on the Grand Western Canal,[4][5] and the remains of two aqueducts are still standing.

The parish council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street cleaning.

Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also the responsibility of the council.

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

From 1819 onwards he was largely an absentee clergyman living in Italy, where he made a controversial marriage to Elizabeth Georgiana Morgan, who had been divorced in scandalous circumstances by her first husband, Valentine Lawless, 2nd Baron Cloncurry, after admitting to adultery with a neighbour.