Tidal Flow
Porlock Weir lies about 1.5 miles west of Porlock, and is a small settlement which has grown up around the harbour. Like most ports in West Somerset, the harbour is tidal.
The port has existed for over 1,000 years. The Anglo-Saxon chronicle reports that in 1052 Harold Godwinson came from Ireland with nine ships and plundered the area, and even before that in 86 AD it was visited by Danes. In the 18th and 19th centuries coal from south Wales was the main cargo, and in World War II pit props cut from local forests were exported.
The shingle ridge that protects Porlock from the sea developed about 8000 years ago after the last ice age, as sea levels rose and cliffs to the west eroded. Since then, there has been a continual process of change, with deep core samples taken from the Marsh showing that the ridge has moved inland at different periods, with sporadic breaching and ‘healing' events as part of the natural cycle of evolution of the barrier.
The construction of groynes along Porlock Beach, in the early 19th century, was designed to interrupt and reduce the thinning and instability of the ridge to protect the main road.
Tidal Flow
Porlock Weir lies about 1.5 miles west of Porlock, and is a small settlement which has grown up around the harbour. Like most ports in West Somerset, the harbour is tidal.
The port has existed for over 1,000 years. The Anglo-Saxon chronicle reports that in 1052 Harold Godwinson came from Ireland with nine ships and plundered the area, and even before that in 86 AD it was visited by Danes. In the 18th and 19th centuries coal from south Wales was the main cargo, and in World War II pit props cut from local forests were exported.
The shingle ridge that protects Porlock from the sea developed about 8000 years ago after the last ice age, as sea levels rose and cliffs to the west eroded. Since then, there has been a continual process of change, with deep core samples taken from the Marsh showing that the ridge has moved inland at different periods, with sporadic breaching and ‘healing' events as part of the natural cycle of evolution of the barrier.
The construction of groynes along Porlock Beach, in the early 19th century, was designed to interrupt and reduce the thinning and instability of the ridge to protect the main road.