Artworks
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Watchet Harbour, before 1860 Thomas Chidgey (1855–1926)
Watchet Market House Museum -
Saint Decuman's Church, Watchet Harry Wells (active 1939)
Watchet Market House Museum -
The Ancient Mariner Alan Beattie Herriot (b.1952)
Watchet Market House Museum -
Hobblers Taking the Pilot to See a Boat Coming into Watchet Harbour Thomas Chidgey (1855–1926)
Watchet Market House Museum -
The Topsail Schooner 'Kelso' Thomas Chidgey (1855–1926)
Watchet Market House Museum -
St Decuman's Church and Watchet Paper Mills British School
Watchet Market House Museum -
The Ancient Mariner Alan Beattie Herriot (b.1952)
Watchet Market House Museum - 7 more
More about
About the collection
To fulfill the demand of the many shipbuilders, owners and crew who had such pride in their ships in the mid-18th century, there emerged the humble port painter. They were journeyman artists, sometimes ex-seamen who relied on the patronage of seafaring folk, becoming known as 'Pierhead Painters'.
Watchet had its own such artist , one Thomas Chidgey, who painted many of the ships and scenes of Watchet Harbour. The Museum holds a small collection of his work which is descibed as a 'naive' but accurate marine art form, providing social standing in a closely knit maritime community.