Combwich ( ) is a village in the parish of Otterhampton within the county of

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, between

Bridgwater Bridgwater is a historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. The town had a population of 41,276 at the 2021 census. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies along both sid ...

and the Steart Peninsula. The village lies on Combwich Reach as the River Parrett flows to the sea and was the site of an ancient ferry crossing. In the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

it was known as Comiz which means 'The settlement at the short, broad, open valley' (from Old English cumb). This is clearly a reference to the valley of exactly this topographical description, immediately to the south of the village, and through which the South Moor Brook flows westwards into the River Parrett. One derivation of -wich is thought to be from Latin 'vicus', and there are archaeological indications that there was a settlement at Combwich in the Romano-British period, based around a ferry across the Parrett at this point. The exact meaning of the second element here is uncertain at present, as Old English ''-wic'' can have a variety of meanings attributed to it. It served as a port for the export of local produce and the import of timber from the 15th century. It also served the local brick and coal yard until the creek silted up in the 1930s. Brick and tile making was first recorded in the village in 1842. As of 2019, Combwich wharf is being used for the delivery of large equipment for the building of Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. The Steart Peninsula has flooded many times during the last millennium. The most severe recent floods occurred in 1981. By 1997, a combination of

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of Wind wave, waves, Ocean current, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts ...

sea level rise The sea level has been rising from the end of the last ice age, which was around 20,000 years ago. Between 1901 and 2018, the average sea level rose by , with an increase of per year since the 1970s. This was faster than the sea level had e ...

and wave action had made some of the defences distinctly fragile and at risk from failure. As a result, in 2002 The

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

produced the Stolford to Combwich Coastal Defence Strategy Study to examine options for the future.

References

External links

* {{Commons category-inline, Combwich
Village website
Villages in Sedgemoor Somerset Levels Ports and harbours of Somerset