Porlock Marsh

Porlock Weir to the breach in the shingle ridge

Parking: Porlock Weir car park Grid Ref: SS 86517 47867

Walk along the beach eastwards towards Bossington from the car park, or walkalong the lane towards Porlock for c. 300 metres and turn left down concrete steps to the beach.

At low tide, stone fish weirs are visible to the north of the steps and further east, peat and eroded stumps and trunks of the prehistoric woodland. Continue along the beach and depending the variable sand/shingle cover, prehistoric palaeochannels may be visible in the surface of the silty clay. The partial remains of the skeleton of an early Bronze Age aurochs was found in a channel in 1997. You may also see wood, plant remains, charcoal and shells in channel fills or as remnants of former land surfaces. Continue along the beach to the breach channel which flows from Porlock Marsh into the Bay. From here can be seen the continued erosion of the silts beneath the former fields and the grypes and rhynes which drained them. Extreme care is needed as some rhynes are very deep and the breach stream flows very strongly. Do not attempt to cross this.