MEMBERS of Minehead Conservation Society have visited the town’s cemetery lychgate to inspect restoration work which they helped to fund.

The society gave £500 toward the £15,800 once-in-a-century project, which was intended to make sure the historic structure survives for another 100 years.

Town council clerk Ben Parker met the conservation society members to explain the work and thank them for their contribution.

Society chairman Sally Bainbridge said members had been only too happy to support the heritage project, which met the aims of the group.

Mrs Bainbridge said: “When you drive down the Porlock Road toward town you cannot fail to see this very attractive lychgate.

“It makes a statement about the importance of the cemetery, especially for all those people who have loved ones buried there and visit regularly.

“It would have been shameful to allow it to deteriorate.

“Many churches have lychgates of which they are justifiably proud.

“Minehead has proved that it, too, values this heritage asset.”

The society’s members inspected the newly installed gates and renewed woodwork and asked a range of questions in what Mrs Bainbridge said proved to be a ‘fruitful and interesting meeting’.

The restoration work saw the lychgate made structurally secure and ‘an elegant and respectful entrance more in keeping with the cemetery’s setting’ created with new iroko gates.

Specialist joinery contractors were appointed to carry out the work after the discovery of significant deterioration and other signs of age in 2024.

Oak wood was selected for replacement beams in the lychgate and iroko for the new gates because both were durable hardwoods which were suitable for long-term use.

The cemetery, opened in 1867 in Woodcombe, Porlock Road, is a designated Commonwealth War Graves site containing the burials of 13 First World War casualties and nine from the Second World War.