IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Blenheim Mews, MINEHEAD, TA24 5QT

Looking along Quay Lane as it heads through Minehead.

This unassuming little building hides quite a past. Originally part of the expansion of Minehead around the turn of the 1900s, an electricity generating station was included to power the town. It carried on for a few years before it was replaced by a newer installation in Marshfield Road. The former building was used in 1909 as a roller skating rink, oddly enough. But the growing threat of conflict in Europe brought troops to the old port, with the North Hill site being extensively used for training from 1890 onwards. Up to three thousand soldiers were camped here, so the old electricity works were pressed into service as a drill hall from 1909. The Fifth Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry used the hall from then on, although other regiments also used it. Looking at it now it seems that much of the original structures have been demolished or at least extensively altered. There are plenty of private residences here and of later dates. See Image] for a look from the side or Image] for the old doorway, http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/WW1-Great-War-Centenary---Drill-Halls/9#somerset for the collection and http://www.drillhalls.org/Counties/Somerset/TownMinehead.htm for the Drill Hall Project.

Now long forgotten, this little building is a part of Minehead's military history - among other things. It was an electricity generation plant, but became a drill hall, as taken over in 1909 by the West Somerset Yeomanry and the Fifth Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry. See Image] for another view, http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/WW1-Great-War-Centenary---Drill-Halls/9#somerset for the collection or http://www.drillhalls.org/Counties/Somerset/TownMinehead.htm for the Drill Hall Project.

Now blocked by a metal sheet, the doorway to the old drill hall is complemented by the distinctively typical 'half-moon' window. Its earliest days were as an electricity works, then a roller skating rink; but the building was taken over by the military in 1909. It served the local army units as the Great War loomed. See Image] for a wider view.

Late Victorian terrace, overlooking Blenheim Park.

Some old-fashioned buildings in Blenheim Mews, with a fairly casual approach to an upper floor.

Flats on the corner of Martlet Road and Quay Lane.

Birthplace of Arthur C. Clarke, in 1917.

Christmas day 2020.