Sitting comfortably on the Bristol Channel in West Somerset, the lovely town of Dunster has been a beloved part of the United Kingdom for countless years. Even before England was the nation we all know and love, the area that we call Dunster was a highly desirable location to call home and anybody who has ever been to Dunster can certainly attest to this fact simply by pointing out certain locations in and around the town.
A few miles outside Dunster you can see the famed locations Bat's Castle and Black Ball Camp. These impressive edifices were forts in the Iron Age and are among the most historic locations in all of Somerset. Nobody is sure exactly who these forts belonged to but they most assuredly give us a rough idea of how important Dunster was over two thousand years ago. By the time the Saxons began to claim large parts of the continent (around the 700s and 800s) Dunster was again an important locale to those in power. In those days wool was a very hot commodity since there was no such thing as climate control. Anybody who wasn't properly dressed during the chilly winter months could easily catch a small cold and die from it. As such, wool meant big business and Dunster Beach was the home of a very important wool trade. The material would be exported from the harbor and allowed the Saxon Kingdom to thrive for many more years than most people would have probably expected in those days.
One of the most beautiful sites in Dunster, Dunster Castle, dates back to these formative years and we as a nation are actually quite lucky that it exists today. During the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell and Charles I weren't exactly on good terms. Cromwell ended up defeating Charles and had him beheaded in front of a crowd, thus putting to rest the monarchy and setting up England as a republic. This republic wouldn't last long, though, but during his reign Cromwell managed to tear down some of England's most historic and beautiful castles. The razing of these gorgeous edifices was meant to be symbolic of the destruction of the crown and Cromwell similarly ordered the destruction of Dunster Castle. Someone in the chain of command must have broken the link, though, because the castle still stands proudly to this day. It will never be known whether these orders were intentionally ignored as a way to preserve the beauty of the castle or if someone simply forgot to issue these orders locally but the fact remains that we are still treated to the impressive sight of the castle in an area where many other towns weren't so lucky. Dunster of course has plenty of other fascinating buildings and any fan of history would be in paradise here in the town. One needn't be a fan of history to love Dunster, though. All that is required is an appreciation for beauty of both the man made variety and the natural. In short, Dunster is truly a living, breathing, example of what makes England so endearing to the rest of the world.
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