The town lies at the mouth of the Washford River on Bridgwater Bay, part of the Bristol Channel, and on the edge of Exmoor National Park.

Trade using the harbour gradually grew, despite damage during several severe storms, with import and exports of goods including those from Wansbrough Paper Mill until the 19th century when it increased with the export of iron ore, brought from the Brendon Hills via the West Somerset Mineral Railway, mainly to Newport for onward transportation to the Ebbw Vale Steelworks.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which was written in the area, is commemorated by a statue on the harbourside.

[4] The name of Watchet is attested in a number of charters and in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle during the tenth century, in the Old English forms weced, wæced, and wæcet.

Twenty-first-century authorities mostly agree that the name comes from the Common Brittonic words that survive in modern Welsh as gwo- ("under-") and coed ("woodland").

It was built and fortified, on the site of an earlier settlement, as a burh by Alfred the Great, as part of his defences against Viking raids from the Bristol Channel around 878 AD.

[8][9] It is situated on an east–west cliff about 80 metres (260 ft) above the sea, on a tapering spur of land bounded by the Washford River to the south.

[16][18] In the 1860s, the factory was converted to steam power and the local harbour was used to import raw materials and export finished goods.

[16] With an annual capacity of 180,000 tonnes of product and employing 100 people, it was the UK's largest manufacturer of coreboard, and also produced containerboard, recycled envelope, bag and kraft papers.

[20] Watchet developed as a town thanks to its closeness to the minerals within the Brendon Hills, and its access to the River Severn for onward shipping.

[22][23] The primitive jetty was damaged in a storm of 1659, so that in 1708 leading local wool merchant Sir William Wyndham built a new harbour costing £1,000, with a stronger pier.

[24] In the 19th century trade increased with the export of iron ore from the Brendon Hills mainly to Newport for onward transportation to the Ebbw Vale Steelworks,[19] paper, flour and gypsum.

[21] In 1843 the esplanade was built by George Wyndham, 4th Earl of Egremont, and in 1855 a new harbour was commissioned to cope with increased iron ore trade.

In 1900 and 1903 a series of gales breached the breakwater and East Pier with the loss of several vessels each time and subsequent repairs.

In autumn 1923, the company scrapped the second class protected cruiser HMS Fox of the Astraea-class of the Royal Navy, which at 320 feet (98 m) is still the largest vessel ever to enter the harbour.

[30] The port remained open to service the papermills, importing wood pulp and esparto grass from Russia and Scandinavia, using mainly East European registered vessels after the Second World War.

[31] Requiring a return load, the result was that Watchet became a leading UK port for the export of car parts, tractors and other industrial goods.

The commercial esplanade has been refurbished with new shelters, information points, and the provision of new paving in some areas, as well as railings, lamps, curved benches, planters and new tree plantings.

[1][42] Watchet forms part of the Tiverton and Minehead county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

[43] Until Brexit in 2020, residents of Watchet formed part of the electorate for the South West England constituency for elections to the European Parliament.

[48] Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner was written in 1797 whilst travelling through Watchet and the surrounding area.

Watchet was famous for its blue dye and Queen Caturn was so impressed she bestowed the town's folk with cider and cakes as a reward for this.

The station was built as a terminus, for part of the commercial aim of the WSR was to provide a wider and cheaper distribution route for goods from the then major port of Watchet.

From Watchet the ore was carried across the Bristol Channel by ship to Newport and thence to Ebbw Vale for smelting to extract the iron.

[59] Passenger services were also provided from Watchet, however these were not financially successful and with the declining output from the Iron ore mines the line closed in 1898.

[63] Middle and an upper schools are available in Williton and Minehead including The West Somerset Community College, which provides education for 1298 students between the ages of 13 and 18.

[64] The Anglican St Decuman's church is probably on an ancient pre-Christian site, on a hill top between Watchet and Williton.

It was restored and reseated by James Piers St Aubyn between 1886 and 1891, with further internal alterations being made in 1896 when the Caen stone reredos was erected.

Included is a memorial to Sir John Wyndham (1558–1645), who played an important role in the establishment of defence organisation in the West Country against the threat of the Spanish Armada.

[69] Cleeve Abbey, one of the best preserved medieval monasteries in England, lies about 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Watchet, in the village of Washford.