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 is the home of a Butlins Holiday Park which increases the seasonal tourist population by several thousand.

[5] It is mentioned as a manor belonging to William de Moyon in the Domesday Book in 1086,[6] although it had previously been held by Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia.

[7] William de Moyon and his descendants administered the area from Dunster Castle, which was later sold to Lady Elizabeth Luttrell.

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.

[7] Vessels in the 15th century included the Trinite which traded between Ireland and Bristol, and others carrying salt and other cargo from La Rochelle in France.

Control reverted to the Luttrells and a new harbour was built, at a cost of £5,000, further out to sea than the original, which had been at the mouth of the Bratton Stream.

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

[10] The pier was demolished during the Second World War as it obstructed the view from the gun battery set up on the quay head,[11] as part of the coastal defence preparations, which stopped steamers calling at the harbour until it was cleared in 1951.

[7][12] 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.

[13] It originally stood in the parish church but was moved to Wellington Square in 1893,[7] when the marble pedestal and canopy by H. Dare Bryan were added.

In Victorian times wealthy industrialists built large houses on North Hill and hotels were developed so that tourism became an important industry.

[22] The exception is an area in the south-east, including Alcombe and Ellicombe, which is within the largely rural Dunster division that also elects two members.

Minehead is 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),[24] second only to the Bay of Fundy in Eastern Canada.

A £12.6 million sea defence scheme by the Environment Agency was designed to reduce the risk of this erosion and flooding happening in the future.

The agency built 1.1 miles (1.8 km) of new sea wall and rock or concrete stepped revetments between 1997 and 1998, and imported 320,000 tons of sand in 1999 to build a new beach.

The annual mean temperature is about 10 °C (50 °F) 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.

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

There are many other attractions and amusement arcades, for example "Merlins" and a variety of well-known high street stores such as WHSmith and Boots, together with independent local shops.

The UK's longest long-distance countryside walking trail, it runs along the South West Coast to Poole in Dorset.

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;[42] its tower used to display a beacon light for ships approaching the harbour.

[48] St Andrew's Church, on Wellington Square in the town, was built of red sandstone in 1877–1880, by George Edmund Street.

There are also religious sites serving the needs of the Baptist, Evangelical, Methodist and United Reformed communities and the Plymouth Brethren.

At the height of the season in late July and early August, the town's population is significantly increased by tourists.

He and Wordsworth (who lived nearby at Alfoxton House) would often roam the hills and coast on long night walks; leading to local gossip that they were 'spies' for the French.

Cecil Frances Alexander wrote the popular Anglican hymn All Things Bright And Beautiful in Minehead and in nearby Dunster the verse: "The purple headed mountain, The river running by, The sunset and the morning, That brightens up the sky;−" Refers to Grabbist Hill and the River Avill that runs near it through the popular tourist location Snowdrop Valley on Exmoor Minehead was the setting of Monty Python's 1969 sketch The North Minehead By-Election (aka Mr. Hilter) in which Adolf Hitler (posing as a "Mr. Hilter"), Joachim von Ribbentrop ("Ron Vibbentrop") and Heinrich Himmler ("Heimlich Bimmler") conspire at a local rooming house to win the local by-election as the "National Bocialist" candidate and unite Minehead with neighbouring Taunton (in the style of the Anschluss in 1938).

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.

[62] In September 2007, the TWIF European Outdoor tug of war championships was held at the football club's stadium.

[68] Minehead has on several occasions been the location of the Britain's Strongest Man contest, most recently in 2004,[69] and since 2006 the Butlin's Resort has been one of the venues for the World Wrestling Entertainment's UK winter tour.