t-arms. The name Minehead is a corruption of
the Norman lord's name with the Anglo-Saxon word _heved_, a head; it
used to be written "Manheved."

The Mohuns held it until the time of Henry IV, when, there being only
daughters, it passed out of the direct line, and was sold by Lady Mohun
to the Luttrells, who have held it until the present time. It was
incorporated by Queen Elizabeth, and governed by a "port-reeve," and
later by two constables. The place was then of a size to consist of a
Lower, Middle and Upper Town; the Lower Town, now called Quay Town, is
the oldest remaining part. It lies under the high hill of Culver
Cliff, around the harbour, and has more of the look of a Devon or
Cornwall fishing village--the steep, narrow streets, the whitewashed
cottages with their large chimney-stacks and leaded windows--than the
aspect of modern Minehead would lead one to expect. It was here,
indeed, that the sea broke in the great gale of 1860, when the shipping
in the harbour tore from its moorings, and was driven literally upon
the houses of Quay Town, as the sea-wall gave way under the pounding of
the waves, and the _Royal Charter_, getting clear from Culver Cliff,
was driven on to the rocks off Anglesea, and lost with all hands.

Thirty years later, in 1891, the Minehead shipping was again wrecked by
one of the fiercest storms that has ever been recorded over England.
It began on March 9, and raged for four days, chiefly over Somerset,
Devon, and Cornwall. Shipping was driven on to the rocks from Land's
End to Bristol; at Plymouth the solid iron seats on the Hoe were torn
up and hurled about by the force of the wind; the heavy snowdrifts
stopped all communication, even by train; some unfortunate people were
practically buried in their houses; and along with the tragedies and
devastation the strangest and most fantastic adventures happened, such
as an old woman, struggling back from market, having her basket of
provisions blown bodily out of her hand, and picking it up four days
later, with every article in it unharmed, not even a burst packet of
tea! Where the roads were not blocked with snowdrifts, they were
mostly impassable from fallen trees, for the force of the wind was
greater than anything which has been experienced in England, partaking
more of the character of a cyclone, with the wind varying from N.E. to
S.E. and with very rapid changes, but of greater duration than an
average cyclone, for it raged from