Blue Anchor

{{Short description|Village in Somerset, England}}

{{other uses|Blue Anchor (disambiguation)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}

{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}

{{infobox UK place|

|country = England

|static_image = Blue Anchor Pub Somerset.jpg

|static_image_width = 220px

|static_image_caption = The Pub

|coordinates = {{coord|51.1810|-3.3993|display=inline,title}}

|official_name= Blue Anchor

|population =

|civil_parish= Carhampton

| unitary_england = Somerset

| lieutenancy_england = Somerset

| region = South West England

|constituency_westminster= Tiverton and Minehead

|post_town= MINEHEAD

|postcode_district = TA24

|postcode_area= TA

|dial_code= 01984

|os_grid_reference= ST022433

}}

Blue Anchor is a seaside village, in the parish of Old Cleeve, close to Carhampton in Somerset, England. The village takes its name from a 17th-century inn;{{cite web | title= Parishes: Old Cleeve| url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/som/vol5/pp39-54| access-date=7 October 2015}} the bay, Blue Anchor Bay, was previously known as Cleeve Bay. The bay and inn were the subjects of a watercolour by J. M. W. Turner in 1818, now in the Lady Lever Gallery, Port Sunlight.{{cite web | title= Minehead, Somersetshire| url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-minehead-somersetshire-tw0785| access-date=7 October 2015}}

The village marks one end of the Blue Anchor to Lilstock Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest along which the Triassic cliffs have geological interest for the variety of fossils. The coloured alabaster found in the cliffs gave rise to the name of the colour "Watchet Blue".{{cite book |title=Curiosities of Somerset |last=Leete-Hodge |first=Lornie |year=1985 |publisher=Bossiney Books |location=Bodmin |isbn=0-906456-98-3 |pages=41 }}

The village lies on the route of the West Somerset Coast Path and Celtic Way Exmoor Option.

File:Beach at Blue Anchor, Somerset, England arp.jpg and Dunster]]

Blue Anchor railway station is a station on the West Somerset Railway, a heritage railway in Somerset. It is situated in the village and houses the museum of the West Somerset Steam Railway Trust.

Within the village is the only example of an updraught brick kiln known to have survived in Somerset.{{cite web | title= Brick Kiln, Blue Anchor, Somerset| url=http://www.heritage-explorer.co.uk/web/he/searchdetail.aspx?id=7894| access-date=24 March 2016}} It was built around 1830, supplied by small vessels carrying limestone to the small culm landing,{{cite book |title=Somerset Harbours |last=Farr |first=Grahame |year=1954 |publisher=Christopher Johnson |location=London |pages=138 }} and is now used as a garage. The kiln is thought to have been used until the 1870s when the large-scale production of bricks in Bridgwater rendered small brickyards uneconomic.{{NHLE | desc=Brick Kiln | num=1345620 | accessdate=27 January 2008}}

Marshwood farmhouse dates from the late 15th century and was originally a manor house or grange. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building.{{NHLE | desc= Marshwood Farmhouse | num=1057364 | accessdate=27 January 2008}}

Coincidentally there is another Blue Anchor Inn directly north across the Bristol Channel in East Aberthaw, The Vale of Glamorgan.{{cite web | title= The Blue Anchor | url=http://blueanchoraberthaw.com/| access-date=29 April 2012}}