Blue Anchor, a hamlet 3 m. E.
of Dunster, with station. There is a pleasant little bay here which
possesses possibilities as a future watering-place, but at present the
accommodation for visitors is extremely limited.
It is suggested that the name came about because the anchors of boats mooring there turn blue.
The cliffs that border
the foreshore are strikingly coloured and are veined with alabaster.
The view towards Minehead is charming. It is said that the sea at very
low water uncovers the remains of a submerged forest.
Blue Anchor
This is a quiet and undeveloped coastal village with a
wide sandy beach when the tide recedes.
There is a railway museum at the steam railway station. Home Farm is a working farm open to visitors on the seafront.
There are good walking opportunities to Dunster and Watchet.
Remains of ancient trees are still found along
the Exmoor coast, although they are eroding fast. The coastline was
listed as a Heritage Coast in 1991. Five or six thousand years ago,
standing here you would have been surrounded by trees
Blue Anchor Bay
Blue Anchor offers a fine beach, and a promenade three quarters of a mile long with a scenic view of Minehead Bay and the hills beyond, across to Exmoor.
It has alabaster rocks to the east and cliffs of geological interest. Blue Anchor has a number of caravan sites, and there is a station at which West Somerset Railway steam trains stop. It is a popular place with sea anglers who fish from the promenade.
Blue Anchor Bay
Home Farm is a small working farm where pigs are the main enterprise, having a herd of Oxford Sandy and Black pigs. Other animals include sheep, goats and a selection of ducks and poultry, also donkeys and ponies. The hands on Farm Trail is a delight for both children and adults.
A view of the shore showing tilted strata on the surface. There are also fragments of a bone bed to be found on the shore. These contain fossil teeth, scales and bones of marine vertebrates which are all very small. A tooth measuring about 1/4 inch could be considered large.
The beach was used as a film set for The Shark
This picture shows a distinct fault in the cliffs, at the east end of the bay, showing the red sandstone of late Triassic age against the blue shales of the Lower Jurassic. A small gully has formed between the two caused by erosion along the fault line
The name Blue Anchor derives from the Blue Lias rock that lies beneath the beach |
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