History of Somerset - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

is a historic county

County

A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain modern nations. Historically in mainland Europe, the original French term, comté, and its equivalents in other languages denoted a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain...

in the south west of England

South West England

South West England is one of the regions of England defined by the Government of the United Kingdom for statistical and other purposes. It is the largest such region in area, covering and comprising Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. ...

. There is evidence of human occupation since prehistoric

Prehistory

Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...

times with hand axes and flint points from the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic

Mesolithic

The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....

eras, and a range of burial mounds, hill forts and other artifacts

Artifact (archaeology)

An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...

dating from the Neolithic

Neolithic British Isles

The Neolithic British Isles refers to the period of British, Irish and Manx history that spanned from circa 4000 to circa 2,500 BCE. The final part of the Stone Age in the British Isles, it was a part of the greater Neolithic, or "New Stone Age", across Europe.During the preceding Mesolithic...

, Bronze

Bronze Age Britain

Bronze Age Britain refers to the period of British history that spanned from c. 2,500 until c. 800 BC. Lasting for approximately 1700 years, it was preceded by the era of Neolithic Britain and was in turn followed by the era of Iron Age Britain...

and Iron Ages

British Iron Age

The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron-Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, and which had an independent Iron Age culture of...

. The oldest dated human road work in Great Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

is the Sweet Track

Sweet Track

The Sweet Track is an ancient causeway in the Somerset Levels, England. It was built in 3807 or 3806 BC and has been claimed to be the oldest road in the world. It was the oldest timber trackway discovered in Northern Europe until the 2009 discovery of a 6,000 year-old trackway in Belmarsh Prison...

, constructed across the Somerset Levels with wooden planks in the 39th century BCE.

Following the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

's invasion of southern Britain, the mining of lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...

and silver

Silver

Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...

in the Mendip Hills

Mendip Hills

The Mendip Hills is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running east to west between Weston-super-Mare and Frome, the hills overlook the Somerset Levels to the south and the Avon Valley to the north...

provided a basis for local industry and commerce. Bath became the site of a major Roman fort and city, the remains of which can still be seen. During the Early Medieval period Somerset was the scene of battles between the Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...

against first the Britons and later with the Danes. In this period it was ruled by various kings of Wessex, succeeded by kings of England. Following the defeat of the Anglo-Saxon monarchy by the Normans

Normans

The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

in 1066, castles were built in Somerset.

Expansion of the population

Population

A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...

and settlements in the county continued during the Tudor

Tudor period

The Tudor period usually refers to the period between 1485 and 1603, specifically in relation to the history of England. This coincides with the rule of the Tudor dynasty in England whose first monarch was Henry VII...

and more recent periods. Agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

and coal mining

Coal mining

The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...

expanded until the 18th century, although other industries declined during the industrial revolution. In modern times

Modern history

Modern history, or the modern era, describes the historical timeline after the Middle Ages. Modern history can be further broken down into the early modern period and the late modern period after the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution...

the population has grown, particularly in the seaside towns, notably Weston-super-Mare

Weston-super-Mare

Weston-super-Mare is a seaside resort, town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which is within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It is located on the Bristol Channel coast, south west of Bristol, spanning the coast between the bounding high ground of Worlebury...

. Agriculture

Agriculture

continues to be a major business, if no longer a major employer because of mechanisation

Mechanization

Mechanization or mechanisation is providing human operators with machinery that assists them with the muscular requirements of work or displaces muscular work. In some fields, mechanization includes the use of hand tools...

. Light industries take place in towns such as Bridgwater

Bridgwater

Bridgwater is a market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is the administrative centre of the Sedgemoor district, and a major industrial centre. Bridgwater is located on the major communication routes through South West England...

and Yeovil

Yeovil

Yeovil is a town and civil parish in south Somerset, England. The parish had a population of 27,949 at the 2001 census, although the wider urban area had a population of 42,140...

. The towns of Taunton

Taunton

Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. The town, including its suburbs, had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001. It is the largest town in the shire county of Somerset....

and Shepton Mallet

Shepton Mallet

Shepton Mallet is a small rural town and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset in South West England. Situated approximately south of Bristol and east of Wells, the town is estimated to have a population of 9,700. It contains the administrative headquarters of Mendip District Council...

manufacture cider

Cider

Cider or cyder is a fermented alcoholic beverage made from apple juice. Cider varies in alcohol content from 2% abv to 8.5% abv or more in traditional English ciders. In some regions, such as Germany and America, cider may be termed "apple wine"...

, although the acreage of apple

Apple

The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...

orchard

Orchard

An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive...

s is less than it once was.

Palaeolithic and Mesolithic

The Palaeolithic and Mesolithic

Mesolithic

The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....

periods saw hunter-gatherers move into the region of Somerset. There is evidence from flint

Flint

Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...

artefacts

Artifact (archaeology)

An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...

in a quarry at Westbury

Westbury-sub-Mendip

Westbury-sub-Mendip is a village in Somerset, England, with a population of about 800, situated on the southern slopes of the Mendip Hills from Wells and Cheddar.The parish boundary is formed by the River Axe-History:...

that an ancestor of modern man, possibly Homo heidelbergensis

Homo heidelbergensis

Homo heidelbergensis is an extinct species of the genus Homo which may be the direct ancestor of both Homo neanderthalensis in Europe and Homo sapiens. The best evidence found for these hominins date between 600,000 and 400,000 years ago. H...

, was present in the future Somerset from around 500,000 years ago. There is still some doubt about whether the artifacts are of human origin but they have been dated within Oxygen Isotope Stage 13 (524,000 - 478,000 BP

Before Present

Before Present years is a time scale used in archaeology, geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events in the past occurred. Because the "present" time changes, standard practice is to use AD 1950 as the origin of the age scale, reflecting the fact that radiocarbon...

). Other experts suggest that "many of the bone-rich Middle Pleistocene

Middle Pleistocene

The Middle Pleistocene, more specifically referred to as the Ionian stage, is a period of geologic time from ca. 781 to 126 thousand years ago....

deposits belong to a single but climatically variable interglacial that succeeded the Cromerian, perhaps about 500,000 years ago. Detailed analysis of the origin and modification of the flint artefacts leads to the conclusion that the assemblage was probably a product of geomorphological processes rather than human work, but a single cut-marked bone suggests a human presence." Animal bones and artefacts unearthed in the 1980s at Westbury-sub-Mendip, in Somerset, have shown evidence of early human activity approximately 700,000 years ago.

Homo sapiens sapiens, or modern man came to Somerset during the Early Upper Palaeolithic. There is evidence of occupation of four Mendip caves 35,000 to 30,000 years ago. During the Last Glacial Maximum, about 25,000 to 15,000 years ago, it is probable that Somerset was deserted as the area experienced tundra conditions. Evidence was found in Gough's Cave

Gough's Cave

Gough's Cave is located in Cheddar Gorge on the Mendip Hills, in Cheddar, Somerset, England. The cave is deep and is long,and contains a variety of large chambers and rock formations. It contains the Cheddar Yeo, the largest underground river system in Britain.- History :The initial sections of...

of deposits of human bone dating from around 12,500 years ago. The bones were defleshed and probably ritually buried though perhaps related to cannibalism

Cannibalism

Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...

being practised in the area at the time or making skull cup

Skull cup

A skull cup is a drinking vessel or eating bowl made from an inverted human calvaria that has been cut away from the rest of the skull. The use of a human skull as a drinking cup in ritual use or as a trophy is reported in numerous sources throughout history and among various peoples, and among...

s or storage containers. Somerset was one of the first areas of future England settled following the end of Younger Dryas

Younger Dryas

The Younger Dryas stadial, also referred to as the Big Freeze, was a geologically brief period of cold climatic conditions and drought between approximately 12.8 and 11.5 ka BP, or 12,800 and 11,500 years before present...

phase of the last Ice Age

Ice age

An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...

c. 8000 BC. Cheddar Man

Cheddar Man

Cheddar Man is the name given to the remains of a human male found in Gough's Cave in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, England. The remains date to approximately 7150 BC, and it appears that he died a violent death. It is Britain’s oldest complete human skeleton....

is the name given to the remains of a human male found in Gough's Cave

Gough's Cave

in Cheddar Gorge. He is Britain’s oldest complete human skeleton

Skeleton

The skeleton is the body part that forms the supporting structure of an organism. There are two different skeletal types: the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, and the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside the body.In a figurative sense, skeleton can...

. The remains date to approximately 7150 BC

8th millennium BC

In the 8th millennium BC, agriculture became widely practised in the Fertile Crescent and Anatolia.Pottery became widespread and animal husbandry spread to Africa and Eurasia. World population was approximately 5 million.-Events:*c. 8000 BC—The last glacial period ends.*c...

, and it appears that he died a violent

Violence

Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...

death

Death

Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....

. Somerset is thought to have been occupied by Mesolithic

Mesolithic

The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....

hunter-gatherer

Hunter-gatherer

A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...

s from about 6000 BCE with Mesolithic artefacts being found in more than 70 locations. Mendip caves were used as burial places, with between 50 and 100 skeletons being found in Aveline's Hole

Aveline's Hole

Aveline's Hole is a cave at Burrington Combe in the limestone of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England.The earliest scientifically dated cemetery in Britain was found at Aveline's Hole...

. In the Neolithic

Neolithic

The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...

era, from about 3500 BCE, there is evidence of farm

Farm

A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...

ing.

At the end of the last Ice Age

Ice age

the Bristol Channel

Bristol Channel

The Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...

was dry land but subsequently the sea level rose, particularly between 1220 and 900 BC and between 800 and 470 BCE, resulting in major coastal changes. The Somerset Levels

Somerset Levels

The Somerset Levels, or the Somerset Levels and Moors as they are less commonly but more correctly known, is a sparsely populated coastal plain and wetland area of central Somerset, South West England, between the Quantock and Mendip Hills...

became flooded, but the dry point

Dry point

In geography a dry point is an area of firm or flood-free ground in an area of wetland, marsh or flood plains. The term typically applies to settlements, and dry point settlements were common in history....

s such as Glastonbury

Glastonbury

Glastonbury is a small town in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,784 in the 2001 census...

and Brent Knoll

Brent Knoll Camp

Brent Knoll Camp is an Iron Age Hill fort at Brent Knoll, from Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, England. It has been designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument , and is now in the care of the National Trust....

, have a long history of settlement, and are known to have been occupied by Mesolithic

Mesolithic

The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....

hunters. The county has prehistoric burial mounds (such as Stoney Littleton Long Barrow

Stoney Littleton Long Barrow

The Stoney Littleton Long Barrow is a Neolithic chambered tomb with multiple burial chambers, located near the village of Wellow, Somerset. It is an example of the Severn-Cotswold tomb....

), stone rows (such as the circles at Stanton Drew

Stanton Drew stone circles

The Stanton Drew stone circles are at just outside the village of Stanton Drew, Somerset. The largest stone circle is the Great Circle, 113 m in diameter and the second largest stone circle in Britain...

and Priddy

Priddy

Priddy is a village in Somerset, England in the Mendip Hills, close to East Harptree and north-west of Wells. It is in the local government district of Mendip....

) and settlement sites. Evidence of Mesolithic occupation has come both from the upland areas, such as in Mendip

Mendip

Mendip is a local government district of Somerset in England. The Mendip district covers a largely rural area of ranging from the Mendip Hills through on to the Somerset Levels. It has a population of approximately 110,000...

cave

Cave

A cave or cavern is a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter. The term applies to natural cavities some part of which is in total darkness. The word cave also includes smaller spaces like rock shelters, sea caves, and grottos.Speleology is the science of exploration and study...

s, and from the low land areas such as the Somerset Levels

Somerset Levels

. Dry points in the latter such as Glastonbury Tor

Glastonbury Tor

Glastonbury Tor is a hill at Glastonbury, Somerset, England, which features the roofless St. Michael's Tower. The site is managed by the National Trust. It has been designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument ....

and Brent Knoll

Brent Knoll Camp

, have a long history of settlement with wooden trackway

Trackway

A trackway is an ancient route of travel for people or animals. In biology, a trackway can be a set of impressions in the soft earth, usually a set of footprints, left by an animal. A fossil trackway is the fossilized imprint of a trackway. Trackways have been found all over the world...

s between them. There were also "lake villages" in the marsh such as those at Glastonbury Lake Village

Glastonbury Lake Village

Glastonbury Lake Village was an iron age village on the Somerset Levels near Godney, some north west of Glastonbury, Somerset, England. It has been designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument and covers an area of north to south by east to west....

and Meare

Meare

Meare is a village and civil parish north west of Glastonbury on the Somerset Levels, in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. The parish includes the village of Westhay.-History:...

. One of the oldest dated human road work in Britain

United Kingdom

is the Sweet Track

Sweet Track

, constructed across the Somerset Levels with wooden planks in the 39th century BC, partially on the route of the even earlier Post Track

Post Track

The Post Track is an ancient causeway in the Somerset Levels, England. It dates from around 3838 BC, making it some 30 years older than the Sweet Track from the same area. It was constructed of long ash planks, with lime and hazel posts spaced along 3-metre intervals...

Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages

There is evidence of Exmoor's

Exmoor

Exmoor is an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England, named after the main river that flows out of the district, the River Exe. The moor has given its name to a National Park, which includes the Brendon Hills, the East Lyn Valley, the Vale of Porlock and ...

human occupation from Mesolithic

Mesolithic

The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....

times onwards. In the Neolithic period people started to manage animals and grow crops on farms cleared from the woodland, rather than act purely as hunter gatherers. It is also likely that extraction and smelting of mineral

Mineral

A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...

ore

Ore

An ore is a type of rock that contains minerals with important elements including metals. The ores are extracted through mining; these are then refined to extract the valuable element....

s to make tools, weapons, containers and ornaments in bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

and then iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

started in the late Neolithic and into the Bronze

Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...

and Iron Age

Iron Age

The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...

s.

The caves of the Mendip Hills

Mendip Hills

were settled during the Neolithic

Neolithic

period and contain extensive archaeological

Archaeology

Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

sites such as those at Cheddar Gorge. There are numerous Iron Age

Iron Age

Hill Forts

Hill fort

A hill fort is a type of earthworks used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Some were used in the post-Roman period...

, which were later reused in the Dark Ages, such as Cadbury Castle

Cadbury Castle, Somerset

Cadbury Castle is an Iron Age hill fort in the civil parish of South Cadbury in the English county of Somerset. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and associated with King Arthur.-Background:...

, Worlebury Camp

Worlebury Camp

Worlebury Camp is the name of the place where an Iron Age hill fort once stood atop Worlebury Hill, which is north of the town of Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, England. This fort was designed for defence, as is evidenced the number of walls and ditches around the site. Archaeologists have found...

and Ham Hill. The age of the henge monument at Stanton Drew stone circles

Stanton Drew stone circles

is unknown, but is believed to be from the Neolithic period. There is evidence of mining

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

on the Mendip Hills

Mendip Hills

back into the late Bronze Age

Bronze Age

when there were technological changes in metal working indicated by the use of lead

Lead

. There are numerous "hill forts", such as Small Down Knoll

Small Down Knoll

Small Down Knoll, or Small Down Camp, is a Bronze Age hill fort near Evercreech in Somerset, England. The hill is on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills, and rises to 222 m .Finds of flints indicate a prehistoric Mesolithic occupation....

, Solsbury Hill

Solsbury Hill

Little Solsbury Hill is a small flat-topped hill and the site of an Iron Age hill fort. It is located above the village of Batheaston in Somerset, England. The hill rises to above the River Avon which is just over to the south. It is within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...

, Dolebury Warren

Dolebury Warren

Dolebury Warren is a 90.6 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near the village of Churchill in North Somerset, notified in 1952...

and Burledge Hill

Burledge Hill

Burledge Hill is on the southern edge of the village of Bishop Sutton, Somerset, England. It is the site of a Site of Special Scientific Interest and an univallate Iron Age hillfort.-Site of Special Scientific Interest:...

, which seem to have had domestic purposes, not just a defensive role. They generally seem to have been occupied intermittently from the Bronze Age

Bronze Age

onward, some, such as Cadbury Camp

Cadbury Camp

Cadbury Camp is an Iron Age hill fort in Somerset, England, near the village of Tickenham. Local legends associate it with Arthurian England and Camelot, though these may be due to confusion with the better-known Cadbury Castle, near South Cadbury some 50 miles to the south. The hill fort is well...

at South Cadbury

South Cadbury

South Cadbury is a village and civil parish in the South Somerset council area of the English county of Somerset. The parish includes the village of Sutton Montis...

, being refurbished during different eras. Battlegore Burial Chamber

Battlegore Burial Chamber

Battlegore Burial Chamber is a Bronze Age burial chamber located in Williton, Somerset. It is composed of three round barrows and possibly a long, chambered barrow. The site was excavated in 1931 by George Gray. The name "Battlegore" comes from this site being attributed to the location of a Danish...

is a Bronze Age burial chamber at Williton

Williton

Williton is a medium-sized village and civil parish in West Somerset, England. It has many of the facilities of a small town, being the administrative centre for the district. Williton is situated at the junction of the A39, A358 and B3191 roads...

which is composed of three round barrow

Tumulus

A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...

s and possibly a long, chambered barrow.

The Iron Age

Iron Age

tribes of later Somerset were the Dobunni

Dobunni

The Dobunni were one of the Celtic tribes living in the British Isles prior to the Roman invasion of Britain. There are seven known references to the tribe in Roman histories and inscriptions. The latter part of the name possibly derives from Bune, a cup or vessel...

in north Somerset, Durotriges

Durotriges

The Durotriges were one of the Celtic tribes living in Britain prior to the Roman invasion. The tribe lived in modern Dorset, south Wiltshire and south Somerset...

in south Somerset and Dumnonii

Dumnonii

The Dumnonii or Dumnones were a British Celtic tribe who inhabited Dumnonia, the area now known as Devon and Cornwall in the farther parts of the South West peninsula of Britain, from at least the Iron Age up to the early Saxon period...

in west Somerset. The first and second produced coins

COinS

ContextObjects in Spans, commonly abbreviated COinS, is a method to embed bibliographic metadata in the HTML code of web pages. This allows bibliographic software to publish machine-readable bibliographic items and client reference management software to retrieve bibliographic metadata. The...

, the finds of which allows their tribal areas to be suggested, but the latter did not. All three had a Celt

Celt

The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....

ic culture

Culture

Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...

and language

Language

Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...

. However, Ptolemy

Ptolemy

Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...

stated that Bath was in the territory of the Belgae

Belgae

The Belgae were a group of tribes living in northern Gaul, on the west bank of the Rhine, in the 3rd century BC, and later also in Britain, and possibly even Ireland...

, but this may be a mistake. The Celtic gods were worshipped at the temple

Temple

A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...

of Sulis

Sulis

In localised Celtic polytheism practised in Britain, Sulis was a deity worshipped at the thermal spring of Bath . She was worshipped by the Romano-British as Sulis Minerva, whose votive objects and inscribed lead tablets suggest that she was conceived of both as a nourishing, life-giving mother...

at Bath and possibly the temple on Brean Down

Brean Down

Brean Down is a promontory off the coast of Somerset standing high and extending into the Bristol Channel at the eastern end of Bridgwater Bay between Weston-super-Mare and Burnham-on-Sea....

. Iron Age sites on the Quantock Hills

Quantock Hills

The Quantock Hills is a range of hills west of Bridgwater in Somerset, England. The Quantock Hills were England’s first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty being designated in 1956 and consists of large amounts of heathland, oak woodlands, ancient parklands and agricultural land.The hills run from...

, include major hill fort

Hill fort

s at Dowsborough

Dowsborough

Dowsborough Camp is an Iron Age hill fort on the Quantock Hills near Nether Stowey in Somerset, England. It has been designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument .-Background:...

and Ruborough, as well as smaller earthwork enclosures, such as Trendle Ring

Trendle Ring

Trendle Ring is an Iron Age earthwork on the Quantock Hills near Bicknoller in Somerset, England. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument .The word trendle means circle, so it is a tautological place name....

, Elworthy Barrows

Elworthy Barrows

Elworthy Barrows is an unfinished Iron Age hill fort rather than Bronze Age barrows, which has been designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument . It is located in the civil parish of Brompton Ralph near Wiveliscombe, Somerset, England.-Background:...

and Plainsfield Camp

Plainsfield Camp

Plainsfield Camp is a possible Iron Age earthwork on the Quantock Hills near Aisholt in Somerset, England.The so-called hill fort has several features that make it more likely to be an animal enclosure, than a defended settlement:...

Roman

Somerset was part of the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

from 47 AD to about 409 AD. However, the end was not abrupt and elements of Romanitas

Romanitas

Romanità also termed Romanitas in English referring to "Roman-ness" or the Roman ideal the refers to an immiscibly Latin culture of the Roman Empire. Cicero contributed much to the notion....

lingered on for perhaps a century.

Somerset was invaded from the south-east by the Second Legion

Legio II Augusta

Legio secunda Augusta , was a Roman legion, levied by Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus in 43 BC, and still operative in Britannia in the 4th century...

Augusta, under the future emperor Vespasian

Vespasian

Vespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...

. The hillforts of the Durotriges

Durotriges

The Durotriges were one of the Celtic tribes living in Britain prior to the Roman invasion. The tribe lived in modern Dorset, south Wiltshire and south Somerset...

at Ham Hill

Ham Hill Country Park

Ham Hill is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest , Scheduled Ancient Monument, Iron Age hill fort, Roman site, Local Nature Reserve and country park, to the west of Yeovil in Somerset, England....

and Cadbury Castle

Cadbury Castle, Somerset

Cadbury Castle is an Iron Age hill fort in the civil parish of South Cadbury in the English county of Somerset. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and associated with King Arthur.-Background:...

were captured. Ham Hill probably had a temporary Roman occupation.
The massacre at Cadbury Castle

Cadbury Castle, Somerset

Cadbury Castle is an Iron Age hill fort in the civil parish of South Cadbury in the English county of Somerset. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and associated with King Arthur.-Background:...

seems to have been associated with the later Boudiccan Revolt of 60-61 AD. The county remained part of the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

until around 409 AD.

The Roman invasion, and possibly the preceding period of involvement in the internal affairs of the south of England, was inspired in part by the potential of the Mendip Hills

Mendip Hills

. A great deal of the attraction of the lead mines may have been the potential for the extraction of silver

Silver

.

Forts were set up at Bath and Ilchester

Ilchester

Ilchester is a village and civil parish, situated on the River Yeo or Ivel, five miles north of Yeovil, in the English county of Somerset. The parish, which includes the village of Sock Dennis and the old parish of Northover, has a population of 2,021...

. The lead and silver mines

Mining

at Charterhouse

Charterhouse Roman Town

Charterhouse Roman Town was a town in the Roman province of Britannia. Its site is located just to the west of the village of Charterhouse-on-Mendip in the English county of Somerset....

in the Mendip Hills

Mendip Hills

were run by the military

Military

A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

. The Romans established a defensive boundary along the new military road known the Fosse Way

Fosse Way

The Fosse Way was a Roman road in England that linked Exeter in South West England to Lincoln in Lincolnshire, via Ilchester , Bath , Cirencester and Leicester .It joined Akeman Street and Ermin Way at Cirencester, crossed Watling Street at Venonis south...

(from the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

fossa meaning ditch). The Fosse Way ran through Bath, Shepton Mallet

Shepton Mallet

, Ilchester

Ilchester

and south-west towards Axminster

Axminster

Axminster is a market town and civil parish on the eastern border of Devon in England. The town is built on a hill overlooking the River Axe which heads towards the English Channel at Axmouth, and is in the East Devon local government district. It has a population of 5,626. The market is still...

. The road from Dorchester ran through Yeovil

Yeovil

Yeovil is a town and civil parish in south Somerset, England. The parish had a population of 27,949 at the 2001 census, although the wider urban area had a population of 42,140...

to meet the Fosse Way at Ilchester

Ilchester

. Small towns and trading ports were set up, such as Camerton

Camerton, Somerset

Camerton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, south west of Bath, lying on the Cam Brook. The parish has a population of 660.-History:...

and Combwich

Combwich

Combwich is a village in the parish of Otterhampton within the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, between Bridgwater and the Steart Peninsula.The village lies on Combwich Reach as the River Parrett flows to the sea and was the site of an ancient ferry crossing. In the Domesday book it was known as...

. The larger towns decayed

Urban decay

Urban decay is the process whereby a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude...

in the latter part of the period, though the smaller ones appear to have decayed less. In the latter part of the period, Ilchester

Ilchester

seems to have been a "civitas" capital and Bath may also have been one. Particularly to the east of the River Parrett

River Parrett

The River Parrett flows through the counties of Dorset and Somerset in South West England, from its source in the Thorney Mills springs in the hills around Chedington in Dorset...

, villas

Roman villa

A Roman villa is a villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper class...

were constructed. However, only a few Roman sites have been found to the west of the river. The villas have produced important mosaics and artifacts. Cemeteries have been found outside the Roman towns of Somerset and by Roman temple

Roman temple

Ancient Roman temples are among the most visible archaeological remains of Roman culture, and are a significant source for Roman architecture. Their construction and maintenance was a major part of ancient Roman religion. The main room housed the cult image of the deity to whom the temple was...

s such as that at Lamyatt. Romano-British farming settlements, such as those at Catsgore and Sigwells

Sigwells

Sigwells is hamlet located in an area rich in archaeology remains, overlooking Cadbury Castle in Somerset, England.It was the target of research by the South Cadbury Environs Project, which produced significant Early Bronze Age and Middle and Late Iron Age archaeology...

, have been found in Somerset. There was salt

Salt

In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...

production on the Somerset Levels

Somerset Levels

near Highbridge

Highbridge, Somerset

Highbridge is a small market town situated on the edge of the Somerset Levels near the mouth of the River Brue. It is in the County of Somerset, and is approximately north west of Taunton, the county town of Somerset. Highbridge is in the District of Sedgemoor, being situated approximately north...

and quarry

Quarry

A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...

ing took place near Bath, where the Roman Baths gave their name to Bath.

Excavations carried out before the flood

Flood

A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...

ing of Chew Valley Lake

Chew Valley Lake

Chew Valley Lake is a large reservoir in the Chew Valley, Somerset, England, and the fifth-largest artificial lake in the United Kingdom , with an area of 1,200 acres...

also uncovered Roman remains, indicating agricultural and industrial activity from the second half of the 1st century until the 3rd century AD. The finds included a moderately large villa

Roman villa

A Roman villa is a villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper class...

at Chew Park, where wooden writing tablets (the first in the UK) with ink writing were found. There is also evidence from the Pagans Hill Roman Temple

Pagans Hill Roman Temple

The Pagans Hill Roman Temple was a Romano-British-style temple excavated on Pagans Hill at Chew Stoke in the English county of Somerset.-Excavations:...

at Chew Stoke

Chew Stoke

Chew Stoke is a small village and civil parish in the Chew Valley, in Somerset, England, about south of Bristol. It is at the northern edge of the Mendip Hills, a region designated by the United Kingdom as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and is within the Bristol/Bath green belt...

. In October 2001 the West Bagborough Hoard

West Bagborough Hoard

The West Bagborough Hoard is a hoard of 670 Roman coins and 72 pieces of hacksilver found in October 2001 by metal detectorist James Hawkesworth near West Bagborough in Somerset, England.-Discovery, excavation and valuation:...

of 4th century Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

silver

Silver

was discovered in West Bagborough

West Bagborough

West Bagborough is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated north of Taunton in the Taunton Deane district. The village has a population of 394....

. The 681 coins included two denarii from the early 2nd century and 8 Miliarense

Miliarense

A miliarense was the only fairly regularly minted silver coin issued by the late Roman and Byzantine Empires. It was struck with variable fineness, generally with a weight between 3.8 and 6.0 grams. The miliarense was struck from the beginning of the 4th century under Constantine I with a...

and 671 Siliqua

Siliqua

The siliqua is the modern name given to small, thin, Roman silver coins produced from 4th century and later. When the coins were in circulation, the Latin word siliqua was a unit of weight defined as one-twentyfourth of the weight of a Roman solidus .The term siliqua comes from the siliqua graeca,...

all dating to the period AD 337 – 367. The majority were struck in the reigns of emperors Constantius II

Constantius II

Constantius II , was Roman Emperor from 337 to 361. The second son of Constantine I and Fausta, he ascended to the throne with his brothers Constantine II and Constans upon their father's death....

and Julian

Didius Julianus

Didius Julianus , was Roman Emperor for three months during the year 193. He ascended the throne after buying it from the Praetorian Guard, who had assassinated his predecessor Pertinax. This led to the Roman Civil War of 193–197...

and derive from a range of mints including Arles

Arles

Arles is a city and commune in the south of France, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the former province of Provence....

and Lyon

Lyon

Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

s in France, Trier

Trier

Trier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....

in Germany and Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

.

In April 2010, the Frome Hoard

Frome Hoard

The Frome Hoard is a hoard of 52,503 Roman coins found in April 2010 by metal detectorist Dave Crisp near Frome in Somerset, England. The coins were contained in a ceramic pot in diameter, and date from AD 253 to 305. Most of the coins are made from debased silver or bronze...

, one of the largest-ever hoards of Roman

Roman Britain

Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...

coins discovered in Britain, was found by a metal detectorist. The hoard of 52,500 coins dated from the 3rd century AD and was found buried in a field near Frome

Frome

Frome is a town and civil parish in northeast Somerset, England. Located at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills, the town is built on uneven high ground, and centres around the River Frome. The town is approximately south of Bath, east of the county town, Taunton and west of London. In the 2001...

, in a jar 14 inches (35.6 cm) below the surface. The coins were excavated by archaeologists from the Portable Antiquities Scheme

Portable Antiquities Scheme

The Portable Antiquities Scheme is a voluntary programme run by the United Kingdom government to record the increasing numbers of small finds of archaeological interest found by members of the public...

Sub-Roman period

This is the period from about 409 AD to the start of Saxon political control, which was mainly in the late 7th century, though they are said to have captured the Bath area in 577 AD. Initially the Britons of Somerset seem to have continued much as under the Romans but without the imperial taxation and markets. There was then a period of civil war

Civil war

A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....

in Britain though it is not known how this affected Somerset. The Western Wandsdyke

Wansdyke (earthwork)

Wansdyke is a series of early medieval defensive linear earthworks in the West Country of England, consisting of a ditch and a running embankment from the ditch spoil, with the ditching facing north. It runs at least from Maes Knoll in historic Somerset, a hillfort at the east end of Dundry Hill...

may have been constructed in this period but archaeological data shows that it was probably built during the 5th or 6th century. This area became the border between the Romano-British

Romano-British

Romano-British culture describes the culture that arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest of AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, a people of Celtic language and...

Celt

s and the West Saxons

Anglo-Saxons

following the Battle of Deorham

Battle of Deorham

The Battle of Deorham or Dyrham was fought in 577 between the West Saxons under Ceawlin and Cuthwine and the Britons of the West Country. The location, Deorham, is usually taken to refer to Dyrham in South Gloucestershire. The battle was a major victory for the West Saxons, who took three important...

in 577 AD. The ditch is on the north side, so presumably it was used by the Celts as a defence against Saxons

Anglo-Saxons

encroaching from the upper Thames Valley

Thames Valley

The Thames Valley Region is a loose term for the English counties and towns roughly following the course of the River Thames as it flows from Oxfordshire in the west to London in the east. It includes parts of Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, North Hampshire, Surrey and west London...

. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...

, the Saxon Cenwalh

Cenwalh of Wessex

Cenwalh, also Cenwealh or Coenwalh, was King of Wessex from c. 643 to c. 645 and from c. 648 unto his death, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in c. 672.-Penda and Anna:...

achieved a breakthrough against the British

Brython

The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...

Celtic tribes, with victories at Bradford-on-Avon (in the Avon Gap in the Wansdyke) in 652 AD, and further south at the Battle of Peonnum

Battle of Peonnum

The Battle of Peonnum was fought approximately AD 660 between the West Saxons under Cenwalh and the Britons of what is now Somerset. It was a decisive victory for the Saxons, who gained control of Somerset as far west as the River Parrett...

(at Penselwood

Penselwood

Penselwood is a village and civil parish in the English county of Somerset. It is located north east of Wincanton, south east of Bruton, west of Mere, and north west of Gillingham. The south-east of the parish borders Zeals and Stourhead in Wiltshire, and Bourton in Dorset...

) in 658 AD, followed by an advance west through the Polden Hills

Polden Hills

The Polden Hills in Somerset, England are a long, low ridge, extending for , and separated from the Mendip Hills, to which they are nearly parallel, by a marshy tract, known as the Somerset Levels...

to the River Parrett

River Parrett

The River Parrett flows through the counties of Dorset and Somerset in South West England, from its source in the Thorney Mills springs in the hills around Chedington in Dorset...

.

The Saxon advance from the east seems to have been halted by battles between the British and Saxons, for example; at the siege of Badon Mons Badonicus (which may mave been in the Bath region e.g. at Solsbury Hill

Solsbury Hill

), or Bathampton Down

Bathampton Down

Bathampton Down, is a flat limestone plateau in Bathampton overlooking Bath, and the River Avon, Somerset, England.There is evidence of man's activity at the site since the Mesolithic period including Bathampton Camp, an Iron Age hillfort or stock enclosure...

. During the 5th, 6th and 7th centuries, Somerset was probably partly in the Kingdom of Dumnonia

Dumnonia

Dumnonia is the Latinised name for the Brythonic kingdom in sub-Roman Britain between the late 4th and late 8th centuries, located in the farther parts of the south-west peninsula of Great Britain...

, partly in the land of the Durotriges

Durotriges

The Durotriges were one of the Celtic tribes living in Britain prior to the Roman invasion. The tribe lived in modern Dorset, south Wiltshire and south Somerset...

and partly in that of the Dobunni

Dobunni

. The boundaries between these is largely unknown, but may have been similar to those in the Iron Age

Iron Age

. Various "tyrants" seem to have controlled territories from reoccupied hill forts. There is evidence of an elite at hill forts such as Cadbury Castle

Cadbury Castle, Somerset

Cadbury Castle is an Iron Age hill fort in the civil parish of South Cadbury in the English county of Somerset. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and associated with King Arthur.-Background:...

and Cadbury Camp

Cadbury Camp

; for example, there is imported pottery

Pottery

Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...

. Cemeteries are an important source of evidence for the period and large ones have been found in Somerset, such as that at Cannington

Cannington, Somerset

Cannington is a village and civil parish north-west of Bridgwater in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. It lies on the west bank of the River Parret, and contains the hamlet of Edstock.-History:...

, which was used from the Roman to the Saxon period. The towns of Somerset seem to have been little used during that period but there continued to be farming on the villa sites and at the Romano-British villages.

There may have been effects from plague

Bubonic plague

Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...

and volcanic eruption during this period as well as marine transgression into the Levels

Somerset Levels

.

The language spoken during this period is thought to be Southwestern Brythonic, but only one or two inscribed stones survive in Somerset from this period. However, a couple of curse tablets found in the baths at Bath may be in this language. Some place names in Somerset seem to be Celtic in origin and may be from this period or earlier, e.g. Tarnock. Some river names, such as Parrett, may be Celtic or pre-Celtic. The religion of the people of Somerset in this period is thought to be Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

but it was isolated from Rome until after the Council of Hertford

Council of Hertford

The Council of Hertford was a synod of the Christian Church in England held in 673. It was convened at Hertford by Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury...

in 673 AD when Aldhelm was asked to write a letter to Geraint

Geraint

Geraint is a character from Welsh folklore and Arthurian legend, a king of Dumnonia and a valiant warrior. He may have lived during or shortly prior to the reign of the historical Arthur, but some scholars doubt he ever existed...

of Dumnonia and his bishops. Some church sites in Somerset are thought to date from this period, e.g., Llantokay Street

Street

A street is a paved public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, but is more often paved with a hard, durable...

.

Most of what is known of the history of this period comes from Gildas

Gildas

Gildas was a 6th-century British cleric. He is one of the best-documented figures of the Christian church in the British Isles during this period. His renowned learning and literary style earned him the designation Gildas Sapiens...

's On the Ruin of Britain, which is thought to have been written in Durotrigan territory, possibly at Glastonbury.

The earliest fortification of Taunton

Taunton

Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. The town, including its suburbs, had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001. It is the largest town in the shire county of Somerset....

started for King Ine of Wessex

Ine of Wessex

Ine was King of Wessex from 688 to 726. He was unable to retain the territorial gains of his predecessor, Cædwalla, who had brought much of southern England under his control and expanded West Saxon territory substantially...

and Æthelburg, in or about the year 710 AD. However, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

this was destroyed 12 years later.

Early Mediaeval

This is the period from the late 7th century (for most of Somerset) to 1066, though for part of the 10th and 11th centuries England was under Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

control. Somerset, like Dorset

History of Dorset

Dorset is a rural county in south west England. Its archaeology documents much of the history of southern England.-Pre-Roman:The first known settlement of Dorset was by Mesolithic hunters, who returned to Britain at a time when it was still attached to Europe by a land-bridge, around 12,500 BC...

to the south, held the West Saxon advance from Wiltshire/Hampshire back for over a century, remaining a frontier between the Saxons and the Romano-British Celts.

The Saxons

Saxons

The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...

conquered Bath following the Battle of Deorham

Battle of Deorham

in 577, and the border was probably established along the line of the Wansdyke

Wansdyke (earthwork)

to the north of the Mendip Hills

Mendip Hills

. Then Cenwalh of Wessex

Cenwalh of Wessex

Cenwalh, also Cenwealh or Coenwalh, was King of Wessex from c. 643 to c. 645 and from c. 648 unto his death, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in c. 672.-Penda and Anna:...

broke through at Bradford-on-Avon in 652, and the Battle of Peonnum

Battle of Peonnum

possibly at Penselwood

Penselwood

in 658, advancing west through the Polden Hills

Polden Hills

The Polden Hills in Somerset, England are a long, low ridge, extending for , and separated from the Mendip Hills, to which they are nearly parallel, by a marshy tract, known as the Somerset Levels...

to the River Parrett

River Parrett

The River Parrett flows through the counties of Dorset and Somerset in South West England, from its source in the Thorney Mills springs in the hills around Chedington in Dorset...

. In 661 the Saxons may have advanced into what is now Devon as a result of a battle fought at Postesburh, possibly Posbury

Posbury

Posbury Hill Fort is an unexcavated Iron Age Hill fort, located three miles from Crediton, Devon. It consists today of an incomplete earthwork partly enclosing a hilltop 180 metres above sea level...

near Crediton.

Then in the period 681–85 Centwine of Wessex

Centwine of Wessex

Centwine was King of Wessex from circa 676 to 685 or 686, although he was perhaps not the only king of the West Saxons at the time.The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that Centwine became king circa 676, succeeding Æscwine...

conquered King Cadwaladr

Cadwaladr

Cadwaladr ap Cadwallon was King of Gwynedd . Two devastating plagues happened during his reign, one in 664 and the other in 682, with himself a victim of the second one. Little else is known of his reign...

and "advanced as far as the sea", but it is not clear where this was. It is assumed that the Saxons occupied the rest of Somerset about this time. The Saxon rule was consolidated under King Ina

Ine of Wessex

, who established a fort at Taunton

Taunton

Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. The town, including its suburbs, had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001. It is the largest town in the shire county of Somerset....

, demolished by his wife in 722. It is sometimes said that he built palaces at Somerton

Somerton

Somerton is a small town and civil parish in the South Somerset district of the English county of Somerset. It gave its name to the county of Somerset, was briefly, around the start of the 14th century, the county town, and around 900 AD was possibly the capital of Wessex...

and South Petherton

South Petherton

South Petherton is a small country town and civil parish on the River Parrett in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England. It is east of Ilminster and north west of Crewkerne. It had a population of approximately 3,200 in 2002...

but this does not seem to be the case. He fought against Geraint

Geraint

in 710. In 705 the diocese of Sherborne

Sherborne

Sherborne is a market town in northwest Dorset, England. It is sited on the River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The A30 road, which connects London to Penzance, runs through the town. The population of the town is 9,350 . 27.1% of the population is aged 65 or...

was formed, taking in Wessex

Wessex

The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...

west of Selwood

Selwood, Somerset

Selwood used to be a village but is now part of the suburbs of Frome. It is a civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. The parish includes the villages of East and West Woodlands, Rodden and the hamlet of Alder Row.-History:...

. Saxon kings granted land in Somerset by charter from the 7th century onward. The way and extent to which the Britons survived under the Saxons is a debatable matter. However, King Ina's

Ine of Wessex

laws make provision for Britons. Somerset originally formed part of Wessex and latter became a separate "shire". Somersetshire seems to have been formed within Wessex during the 8th century though it is not recorded as a name until later. Mints were set up at times in various places in Somerset in the Saxon period, e.g., Watchet

Watchet

Watchet is a harbour town and civil parish in the English county of Somerset, with an approximate population of 4,400. It is situated west of Bridgwater, north-west of Taunton, and east of Minehead. The parish includes the hamlet of Beggearn Huish...

.

Somerset played an important part in defeating the spread of the Danes in the 9th century. Viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

raids took place for instance in 987 and 997 at Watchet

Watchet

and the Battle of Cynwit. King Alfred

Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...

was driven to seek refuge from the Danes at Athelney

Athelney

Athelney is located between the villages of Burrowbridge and East Lyng in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. The area is known as the Isle of Athelney, because it was once a very low isolated island in the 'very great swampy and impassable marshes' of the Somerset Levels. Much of the...

before defeating them at the Battle of Ethandun in 878, usually considered to be near Edington, Wiltshire

Edington, Wiltshire

Edington is a small village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about five miles east of Westbury.The parish includes two principal settlements, Edington village and Tinhead, which lies between the main village and Coulston and contains the parish's only surviving public house, The Paulet Arms...

, but possibly the village of Edington

Edington, Somerset

Edington is a rural village, situated on the north side of the Polden Hills in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England.Either side of it lie the villages of Chilton Polden and Catcott, and north of it is the small village of Burtle...

in Somerset. Alfred established a series of forts and lookout posts linked by a military road, or Herepath

Herepath

A Herepath or Herewag is a military road in England, typically dating from the ninth century CE.This was a time of war between the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England and Viking invaders from Denmark...

, so his army could cover Viking movements at sea. The Herepath has a characteristic form which is familiar on the Quantocks: a regulation 20 m wide track between avenues of trees growing from hedge laying

Hedge laying

Hedge laying is a country skill, typically found in the United Kingdom and Ireland, which, through the creation and maintenance of hedges, achieves the following:* the formation of livestock-proof barriers;...

embankments. The Herepath ran from the ford on the River Parrett

River Parrett

The River Parrett flows through the counties of Dorset and Somerset in South West England, from its source in the Thorney Mills springs in the hills around Chedington in Dorset...

at Combwich

Combwich

, past Cannington hill fort to Over Stowey

Over Stowey

Over Stowey is a small village and civil parish in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, South West England. It sits in the foothills of the Quantock Hills, just below Nether Stowey and north-west of Bridgwater...

, where it climbed the Quantocks along the line of the current Stowey road, to Crowcombe

Crowcombe

Crowcombe is a village and civil parish under the Quantock Hills in Somerset, England, south east of Watchet, and from Taunton in the Taunton Deane district...

Park Gate. Then it went south along the ridge, to Triscombe Stone. One branch may have led past Lydeard Hill and Buncombe Hill, back to Alfred's base at Athelney. The main branch descended the hills at Triscombe, then along the avenue to Red Post Cross, and west to the Brendon Hills

Brendon Hills

The Brendon Hills are composed of a lofty ridge of hills in the East Lyn Valley area of western Somerset, England. The terrain is broken by a series of deeply incised streams and rivers running roughly southwards to meet the River Haddeo, a tributary of the River Exe.The hills are quite heavily...

and Exmoor

Exmoor

. A peace treaty with the Danes was signed at Wedmore

Treaty of Wedmore

The Peace of Wedmore is a term used by historians for an event referred to by the monk Asser in his Life of Alfred, outlining how in 878 the Viking leader Guthrum was baptised and accepted Alfred as his adoptive father. Guthrum agreed to leave Wessex and a "Treaty of Wedmore" is often assumed by...

and the Danish king Guthrum the Old

Guthrum the Old

Guthrum , christened Æthelstan, was King of the Danish Vikings in the Danelaw. He is mainly known for his conflict with Alfred the Great.-Guthrum, founder of the Danelaw:...

was baptised at Aller

Aller, Somerset

Aller is a village and parish in Somerset, England, situated west of Somerton on the A372 road towards Bridgwater in the South Somerset district. The village has a population of 374...

. Burh
Burh
A Burh is an Old English name for a fortified town or other defended site, sometimes centred upon a hill fort though always intended as a place of permanent settlement, its origin was in military defence; "it represented only a stage, though a vitally important one, in the evolution of the...

s (fortified places) had been set up by 919, such as Lyng

Lyng, Somerset

Lyng is a civil parish in Somerset, England, comprising the villages of West Lyng and East Lyng and the hamlet of Bankland.-History:The name derives from the Old English hlenc, meaning hill....

. The Alfred Jewel

Alfred Jewel

The Alfred Jewel is an Anglo-Saxon ornament dating from the late 9th century, discovered in 1693.It was made in the reign of King Alfred the Great and is inscribed "AELFRED MEC HEHT GEWYRCAN", meaning "Alfred ordered me made"...

, an object about 2.5 inch long, made of filigree gold, cloisonné

Cloisonné

Cloisonné is an ancient technique for decorating metalwork objects, in recent centuries using vitreous enamel, and in older periods also inlays of cut gemstones, glass, and other materials. The resulting objects can also be called cloisonné...

-enamelled and with a rock crystal covering, was found in 1693 at Petherton Park, North Petherton

North Petherton

North Petherton is a small town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on the edge of the eastern foothills of the Quantocks, and close to the edge of the Somerset Levels.The town has a population of 5,189...

. Believed to have been owned by Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great

it is thought to have been the handle for a pointer that would have fit into the hole at its base and been used while reading a book.

Monasteries and minster

Minster (cathedral)

Minster is an honorific title given to particular churches in England, most famously York Minster. The term minster is first found in royal foundation charters of the 7th century; and, although it corresponds to the Latin monasterium or monastery, it then designated any settlement of clergy living...

churches were set up all over Somerset, with daughter churches from the minsters in manors. There was a royal palace at Cheddar

Cheddar

Cheddar is a large village and civil parish in the Sedgemoor district of the English county of Somerset. It is situated on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills, north-west of Wells. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Nyland and Bradley Cross...

, which was used at times in the 10th century to host the Witenagemot

Witenagemot

The Witenagemot , also known as the Witan was a political institution in Anglo-Saxon England which operated from before the 7th century until the 11th century.The Witenagemot was an assembly of the ruling class whose primary function was to advise the king and whose membership was...

, and there is likely to have been a "central place" at Somerton

Somerton

, Bath, Glastonbury and Frome

Frome

since the kings visited them. The towns of Somerset seem to have been in occupation in this period though evidence for this is limited because of subsequent buildings on top of remains from this period. Agriculture flourished in this period, with a re-organisation into centralised villages in the latter part in the east of the county.

In the period before the Norman Conquest, Somerset came under the control of the Danish Godwin

Godwin, Earl of Wessex

Godwin of Wessex , was one of the most powerful lords in England under the Danish king Cnut the Great and his successors. Cnut made him the first Earl of Wessex...

family. There seems to have been some Danish settlement at Thurloxton

Thurloxton

Thurloxton is a village and civil parish north east of Taunton, and south west of Bridgwater on the south-eastern slopes of the Quantock Hills in the Sedgemoor district of the county of Somerset, in England...

and Spaxton

Spaxton

Spaxton is a small village and civil parish on the Quantocks in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, South West England.-History:Spaxton was part of the hundred of Cannington....

, judging from the place-names. After the Norman Conquest, the county was divided into 700 fiefs

Fiefdom

A fee was the central element of feudalism and consisted of heritable lands granted under one of several varieties of feudal tenure by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the...

, and large areas were owned by the crown, with fortifications such as Dunster Castle

Dunster Castle

Dunster Castle is a former motte and bailey castle, now a country house, in the village of Dunster, Somerset, England. The castle lies on the top of a steep hill called the Tor, and has been fortified since the late Anglo-Saxon period. After the Norman conquest of England in the 11th century,...

used for control and defence.

This period of Somerset's history is well documented, for example in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

and Asser

Asser

Asser was a Welsh monk from St David's, Dyfed, who became Bishop of Sherborne in the 890s. About 885 he was asked by Alfred the Great to leave St David's and join the circle of learned men whom Alfred was recruiting for his court...

's Life of Alfred.

Later Mediaeval

This is the period from 1066 to around 1500. The "county" of Somerset was a Norman creation. Following the defeat of the Saxons

Saxons

by the Normans

Normans

in 1066, various castles were set up in Somerset by the new lords such as that at Dunster

Dunster Castle

, and the manors was awarded to followers of William the Conquerer such as William de Moyon

William de Moyon

William de Moyon or William de Moion was seigneur of Moyon and Sheriff of Somerset in 1086. William is mentioned in the Domesday Book where he is shown to control a large number of manors in Somerset centred on Dunster Castle. Manors he controlled included Minehead, West Quantoxhead and Combe...

and Walter of Douai

Walter of Douai

Walter of Douai was a Norman knight, probably at the Battle of Hastings, and a major landowner in South West England after the Norman Conquest. He is given various names and titles in different sources including: Walter de Douai. Douai is sometimes written as Dowai...

. Somerset does not seem to have played much part in the civil war in King Stephen's

Stephen of England

Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...

time, but Somerset lords were main players in the murder of Thomas Becket

Thomas Becket

Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion...

.

A good picture of the county in 1086 is given by Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

, though there is some difficulty in identifying the various places since the "hundreds" are not specified. The total population given for the county, which had different boundaries to those today, was 13,399, however this only included the heads of households, so with their families this may have been around 67,000. Farming seems to have prospered for the next three centuries but was severely hit by the Black Death

Black Death

The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...

which in 1348 arrived in Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

and quickly spread through Somerset, causing widespread mortality, perhaps as much as 50% in places. It re-occurred, resulting in a change in feudal practices since the manpower was no longer so available.

Reclamation of land from marsh in the Somerset Levels

Somerset Levels

increased, largely under monastic influence. Crafts and industries also flourished, the Somerset woollen industry being one of the largest in England at this time. "New towns" were founded in this period in Somerset, i.e. Newport, but were not successful. Coal mining

Coal mining

on the Mendips

Mendip Hills

was an important source of wealth while quarry

Quarry

ing also took place, an example is near Bath.

The towns grew, again often by monastic instigation, during this period and fairs were started. The church was very powerful at this period, particularly Glastonbury Abbey

Glastonbury Abbey

Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. The ruins are now a grade I listed building, and a Scheduled Ancient Monument and are open as a visitor attraction....

. After their church burnt down, the monks there "discovered" the tomb of "King Arthur" and were able rebuild their church. There were over 20 monasteries in Somerset at this period including the priory at Hinton Charterhouse

Hinton Charterhouse

Hinton Charterhouse is a small village and civil parish in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority, Somerset, England. The parish, which includes the village of Midford, has a population of 477....

which was founded in 1232 by Ela, Countess of Salisbury who also founded Lacock Abbey

Lacock Abbey

Lacock Abbey in the village of Lacock, Wiltshire, England, was founded in the early 13th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, as a nunnery of the Augustinian order.- History :...

. Many parish churches were re-built in this period. Between 1107 and 1129 William Giffard

William Giffard

William Giffard was the Lord Chancellor of England of William II and Henry I, from 1093 to 1101.Giffard was the brother of Walter Giffard earl of Buckingham. He also held the office of Dean of Rouen prior to his election as bishop. On 3 August 1100 he became bishop of Winchester by nomination of...

the Chancellor of King Henry I

Henry I of England

Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...

, converted the bishop's hall in Taunton into Taunton Castle

Taunton Castle

Taunton Castle is a castle built to defend the town of Taunton, Somerset, England.It has origins in the Anglo Saxon period and was later the site of a priory. The Normans then built a stone structured castle, which belonged to the Bishops of Winchester...

. It was his successor, Henry of Blois

Henry of Blois

Henry of Blois , often known as Henry of Winchester, was Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey from 1126, and Bishop of Winchester from 1129 to his death.-Early life and education:...

, who transformed the manor-house here into a mighty castle in 1138. Bridgwater Castle

Bridgwater Castle

Bridgwater Castle was a castle in the town of Bridgwater, Somerset, England.-Early history:The castle was built in 1202 by William Brewer, like several other castle-builders of the period, an exceptionally wealthy man. He was granted the lordship of the Manor of Bridgwater by King John in 1201, and...

was built in 1202 by William Brewer

William Brewer (justice)

William Brewer was a prominent administrator and justice in England during the reigns of Richard I, King John, and Henry III...

. It passed to the king in 1233 and in 1245 repairs were ordered to its motte and towers. During the 11th century Second Barons' War

Second Barons' War

The Second Barons' War was a civil war in England between the forces of a number of barons led by Simon de Montfort, against the Royalist forces led by Prince Edward , in the name of Henry III.-Causes:...

against Henry III

Henry III of England

Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...

, Bridgwater was held by the barons against the King. In the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

the town and the castle were held by the Royalists

Cavalier

Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...

under Colonel Sir Francis Wyndham. Eventually, with many buildings destroyed in the town, the castle and its valuable contents were surrendered to the Parliamentarians

Roundhead

"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...

. The castle itself was deliberately destroyed in 1645.

During the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

sheep farming for the wool trade came to dominate the economy of Exmoor. The wool was spun into thread on isolated farms and collected by merchants to be woven, fulled, dyed and finished in thriving towns such as Dunster

Dunster

Dunster is a village and civil parish in west Somerset, England, situated on the Bristol Channel coast south-southeast of Minehead and northwest of Taunton. The village has a population of 862 .The village has numerous restaurants and three pubs...

. The land started to be enclosed and from the 17th century onwards larger estates developed, leading to establishment of areas of large regular shaped fields. During this period a Royal Forest

Royal forest

A royal forest is an area of land with different meanings in England, Wales and Scotland; the term forest does not mean forest as it is understood today, as an area of densely wooded land...

and hunting ground was established, administered by the Warden. The Royal Forest was sold off in 1818.

In the medieval period the River Parrett

River Parrett

The River Parrett flows through the counties of Dorset and Somerset in South West England, from its source in the Thorney Mills springs in the hills around Chedington in Dorset...

was used to transport Hamstone

Hamstone

Hamstone is the colloquial name given to stone from Ham Hill, Somerset, England. Hamstone is a Jurassic limestone from the Toarcian, or Upper Lias, stage. It is a well cemented medium to coarse grained limestone characterised by its honey-gold colour and marked bedding planes. The stone contains...

from the quarry at Ham Hill, Bridgwater was part of the Port of Bristol

Port of Bristol

The Port of Bristol comprises the commercial, and former commercial, docks situated in and near the city of Bristol in England. The Port of Bristol Authority was the commercial title of the Bristol City, Avonmouth, Portishead and Royal Portbury Docks when they were operated by Bristol City Council,...

until the Port of Bridgwater was created in 1348, covering 80 miles (128.7 km) of the Somerset coast line, from the Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

border to the mouth of the River Axe. Historically, the main port on the river was at Bridgwater; the river being bridged at this point, with the first bridge being constructed in 1200 AD. Quays were built in 1424; with another quay, the Langport slip, being built in 1488 upstream of the Town Bridge. A Customs House was sited at Bridgwater, on West Quay; and a dry dock

Dry dock

A drydock is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform...

, launching slips and a boat yard on East Quay. The river was navigable, with care, to Bridgwater Town Bridge by 400 tonne vessels. By trans-shipping into barges at the Town Bridge the Parrett was navigable as far as Langport

Langport

Langport is a small town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated west of Somerton in the South Somerset district. The town has a population of 1,067. The parish includes the hamlets of Bowdens and Combe...

and (via the River Yeo

River Yeo (South Somerset)

The River Yeo, also known as the River Ivel or River Gascoigne, is a tributary of the River Parrett in north Dorset and south Somerset, England....

) to Ilchester

Ilchester

Early Modern

This is the period from around 1500 to 1800. In the 1530s, the monasteries were dissolved

Dissolution of the Monasteries

The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...

and their lands bought from the king by various important families in Somerset. By 1539, Glastonbury Abbey

Glastonbury Abbey

Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. The ruins are now a grade I listed building, and a Scheduled Ancient Monument and are open as a visitor attraction....

was the only monastery left, its abbot Richard Whiting

Richard Whiting (the Blessed Richard Whiting)

Blessed Richard Whiting was an English clergyman and the last Abbot of Glastonbury. He presided over Glastonbury Abbey at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII of England, and was executed for unclear reasons in 1539...

was then arrested and executed on the orders of Thomas Cromwell

Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex

Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, , was an English statesman who served as chief minister of King Henry VIII of England from 1532 to 1540....

. From the Tudor

Tudor period

to the Georgian

Georgian era

The Georgian era is a period of British history which takes its name from, and is normally defined as spanning the reigns of, the first four Hanoverian kings of Great Britain : George I, George II, George III and George IV...

times, farming specialised and techniques improved, leading to increases in population, although no new towns seem to have been founded. Large country houses such as at Hinton St George

Hinton St George

Hinton St George is a village and parish in Somerset, England, situated outside of Crewkerne, south west of Yeovil in the South Somerset district. The village has a population of 404....

and Montacute House

Montacute House

Montacute House is a late Elizabethan country house situated in the South Somerset village of Montacute. This house is a textbook example of English architecture during a period that was moving from the medieval Gothic to the Renaissance Classical; this has resulted in Montacute being regarded as...

were built at this time.

The Bristol Channel floods of 1607

Bristol Channel floods, 1607

The Bristol Channel floods, which occurred on 30 January 1607 , resulted in the drowning of a large number of people and the destruction of a large amount of farmland and livestock...

are believed to have affected large parts of the Somerset Levels

Somerset Levels

with flooding up to 8 feet (2 m) above sea level. In 1625, a House of Correction was established in Shepton Mallet

Shepton Mallet

and, today, HMP Shepton Mallet

Shepton Mallet (HM Prison)

HMP Shepton Mallet, sometimes known as Cornhill, is a prison located in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England. It is the United Kingdom's oldest operating prison.Shepton Mallet is a Category C Lifer Prison and holds 186 prisoners...

is England's oldest prison

Prison

A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...

still in use.

During the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

, Somerset was largely Parliamentarian

Roundhead

, although Dunster

Dunster

was a Royalist stronghold. The county was the site of important battles between the Royalists

Cavalier

Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...

and the Parliamentarians

Roundhead

, notably the Battle of Lansdowne

Battle of Lansdowne

The English Civil War battle of Lansdowne was fought on 5 July 1643, near Bath, southwest England. Although the Royalists under Lord Hopton forced the Parliamentarians under Sir William Waller to retreat from their hilltop position, they suffered so many casualties themselves and were left so...

in 1643 and the Battle of Langport

Battle of Langport

The Battle of Langport was a Parliamentarian victory late in the English Civil War which destroyed the last Royalist field army and gave Parliament control of the West of England, which had hitherto been a major source of manpower, raw materials and imports for the Royalists...

in 1645. Taunton Castle

Taunton Castle

had fallen into ruin by 1600 but it was repaired during the Civil War. The castle changed hands several times during 1642-45 along with the town. During the Siege of Taunton

Siege of Taunton

The Siege of Taunton occurred during the English Civil War.Taunton Castle changed hands several times during the great Civil War of 1642-45 but only along with the town....

it was defended by Robert Blake

Robert Blake (admiral)

Robert Blake was one of the most important military commanders of the Commonwealth of England and one of the most famous English admirals of the 17th century. Blake is recognised as the chief founder of England's naval supremacy, a dominance subsequently inherited by the British Royal Navy into...

, from July 1644 to July 1645. After the war, in 1662, the keep was demolished and only the base remains. This war resulted in castles being destroyed to prevent their re-use.

In 1685, the Duke of Monmouth

James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth

James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, 1st Duke of Buccleuch, KG, PC , was an English nobleman. Originally called James Crofts or James Fitzroy, he was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the eldest illegitimate son of Charles II and his mistress, Lucy Walter...

led the Monmouth Rebellion

Monmouth Rebellion

The Monmouth Rebellion,The Revolt of the West or The West Country rebellion of 1685, was an attempt to overthrow James II, who had become King of England, King of Scots and King of Ireland at the death of his elder brother Charles II on 6 February 1685. James II was a Roman Catholic, and some...

in which Somerset people fought against James II

James II of England

James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...

. The rebels landed at Lyme Regis

Lyme Regis

Lyme Regis is a coastal town in West Dorset, England, situated 25 miles west of Dorchester and east of Exeter. The town lies in Lyme Bay, on the English Channel coast at the Dorset-Devon border...

and travelled north hoping to capture Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

and Bath, puritan soldiers damaged the west front of Wells Cathedral

Wells Cathedral

Wells Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who lives at the adjacent Bishop's Palace....

, tore lead from the roof to make bullets, broke the windows, smashed the organ and the furnishings, and for a time stabled their horses in the nave. They were defeated in the Battle of Sedgemoor

Battle of Sedgemoor

The Battle of Sedgemoor was fought on 6 July 1685 and took place at Westonzoyland near Bridgwater in Somerset, England.It was the final battle of the Monmouth Rebellion and followed a series of skirmishes around south west England between the forces of James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth and the...

at Westonzoyland

Westonzoyland

Westonzoyland is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is situated on the Somerset Levels, south east of Bridgwater.-History:The name of the parish derives from its location on the "island" of Sowy, an area of slightly higher ground on the Somerset Levels between the River Cary and...

, the last battle fought on English soil. The Bloody Assizes

Bloody Assizes

The Bloody Assizes were a series of trials started at Winchester on 25 August 1685 in the aftermath of the Battle of Sedgemoor, which ended the Monmouth Rebellion in England....

which followed saw the losers being sentenced to death or transportation

Penal transportation

Transportation or penal transportation is the deporting of convicted criminals to a penal colony. Examples include transportation by France to Devil's Island and by the UK to its colonies in the Americas, from the 1610s through the American Revolution in the 1770s, and then to Australia between...

.

The Society of Friends

Religious Society of Friends

The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...

established itself in Street

Street, Somerset

Street is a small village and civil parish in the county of Somerset, England. It is situated on a dry spot in the Somerset Levels, at the end of the Polden Hills, south-west of Glastonbury. The 2001 census records the village as having a population of 11,066...

in the mid-17th century, and among the close-knit group of Quaker families were the Clarks: Cyrus started a business in sheepskin rugs, later joined by his brother James, who introduced the production of woollen slipper

Slipper

A slipper or houseshoe is a semi-closed type of indoor/outdoor shoe, consisting of a sole held to the wearer's foot by a strap running over the toes or instep. Slippers are soft and lightweight compared to other types of footwear. They are mostly made of soft or comforting materials that allow a...

s and, later, boot

Boot

A boot is a type of footwear but they are not shoes. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle and extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearly distinguishable from the rest of the sole, even if the two are made of one piece....

s and shoe

Shoe

A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot while doing various activities. Shoes are also used as an item of decoration. The design of shoes has varied enormously through time and from culture to culture, with appearance originally being tied to function...

s. C&J Clark

C&J Clark

C. and J. Clark International Ltd, trading as Clarks, is a British, international shoe manufacturer and retailer based in Street, Somerset, England...

still has its headquarters in Street, but shoes are no longer manufactured there. Instead, in 1993, redundant factory buildings were converted to form Clarks Village

Clarks Village

Clarks Village is a designer outlet shopping complex at Street in the English county of Somerset. The centre includes more than 90 shops. There are also coffee shops, refreshment stalls and a dining area shared by fast food chains , mostly selling goods at a discount to high street prices.It is...

, the first purpose-built factory outlet in the United Kingdom.

The 18th century was largely one of peace and declining industrial prosperity in Somerset. The Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...

in the Midlands and Northern England spelt the end for most of Somerset's cottage industries. However, farming continued to flourish, with the Bath and West of England Agricultural Society being founded in 1777 to improve methods. John Billingsley

John Billingsley (agriculturist)

John Billingsley was an agricultural pioneer in 18th century Somerset, England.The writer of the 1794 Survey of Somerset, Billingsley was a leading agriculturalist who was one of the founders of the Bath and West Society, known today as the Royal Bath and West of England Society...

conducted a survey of the county's agriculture in 1795 but found that methods could still be improved.

Arthur Wellesley

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...

took his title, Duke of Wellington from the town of Wellington

Wellington, Somerset

Wellington is a small industrial town in rural Somerset, England, situated south west of Taunton in the Taunton Deane district, near the border with Devon, which runs along the Blackdown Hills to the south of the town...

. He is commemorated on a nearby hill with a large, spotlit obelisk, known as the Wellington Monument

Wellington Monument, Somerset

The Wellington Monument is a high triangular tower located on the highest point of the Blackdown Hills, south of Wellington, Somerset, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II* listed building....

.

In north Somerset, mining in the Somerset coalfield

Somerset coalfield

The Somerset Coalfield included pits in the North Somerset, England, area where coal was mined from the 15th century until 1973.It is part of a wider coalfield which covered northern Somerset and southern Gloucestershire. It stretched from Cromhall in the north to the Mendip Hills in the south, and...

was an important industry, and in an effort to reduce the cost of transporting the coal the Somerset Coal Canal

Somerset Coal Canal

The Somerset Coal Canal was a narrow canal in England, built around 1800 from basins at Paulton and Timsbury via Camerton, an aqueduct at Dunkerton, Combe Hay, Midford and Monkton Combe to Limpley Stoke where it joined the Kennet and Avon Canal...

was built; part of it was later converted into a railway. Other canals included the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal

Bridgwater and Taunton Canal

The Bridgwater and Taunton Canal is a canal in the south-west of England between Bridgwater and Taunton, opened in 1827 and linking the River Tone to the River Parrett. There were a number of abortive schemes to link the Bristol Channel to the English Channel by waterway in the 18th and early 19th...

, Westport Canal

Westport Canal

The Westport Canal was built in the late 1830s to link Westport and Langport in Somerset, England. It was part of a larger scheme involving improvements to the River Parrett above Burrow Bridge. Langport is the point at which the River Yeo joins the River Parrett and the intention was to enable...

, Grand Western Canal

Grand Western Canal

The Grand Western Canal ran between Taunton in Somerset and Tiverton in Devon in the United Kingdom. The canal had its origins in various plans, going back to 1796, to link the Bristol Channel and the English Channel by a canal, bypassing Lands End...

, Glastonbury Canal

Glastonbury Canal

The Glastonbury Canal ran for just over through two locks from Glastonbury to Highbridge in Somerset, England, where it entered the River Parrett and from there the Bristol Channel. The canal was authorised by Parliament in 1827 and opened in 1834. It was operated by The Glastonbury Navigation &...

and Chard Canal

Chard Canal

The Chard Canal was a tub boat canal in Somerset, England, that ran from the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal at Creech St. Michael, over four aqueducts, through three tunnels and four inclined planes to Chard. It was completed in 1842, was never commercially viable, and closed in 1868...

. The Dorset and Somerset Canal

Dorset and Somerset Canal

The Dorset and Somerset Canal was a proposed canal in the south west of England. The main line was intended to link Poole, in Dorset with the Kennet and Avon Canal near Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire. A branch was to go from the main line at Frome to the southern reaches of the Somerset coalfield at...

was proposed, but very little of it was ever constructed.

Late Modern

The 19th century saw improvements to Somerset's roads with the introduction of turnpikes and the building of canals and railways. The usefulness of the canals was short-lived, though they have now been restored for recreation. The railways were nationalised after the Second World War, but continued until 1965, when smaller lines were scrapped; two were transferred back to private ownership as "heritage" lines.

In 1889, Somerset County Council

Somerset County Council

Somerset County Council is the county council of Somerset in the South West of England, an elected local government authority responsible for the most significant local government services in most of the county.-Area covered:...

was created, replacing the administrative functions of the Quarter Sessions

Quarter Sessions

The Courts of Quarter Sessions or Quarter Sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the United Kingdom and other countries in the former British Empire...

.

The population of Somerset has continued to grow since 1800, when it was 274,000, particularly in the seaside towns such as Weston-super-Mare

Weston-super-Mare

. Some population decline occurred earlier in the period in the villages, but this has now been reversed, and by 1951 the population of Somerset was 551,000.

Chard

Chard, Somerset

Chard is a town and civil parish in the Somerset county of England. It lies on the A30 road near the Devon border, south west of Yeovil. The parish has a population of approximately 12,000 and, at an elevation of , it is the southernmost and highest town in Somerset...

claims to be the birthplace of powered flight

Powered flight

Powered flight is flight achieved using onboard power to generate propulsive thrust and/or lift. Birds and insects use wings, in a variety of ways, to achieve powered flight. Man has developed several forms of powered aircraft. The term powered flight is also sometimes used excluding the natural...

, as it was here in 1848 that the Victorian aeronautical pioneer John Stringfellow

John Stringfellow

John Stringfellow was born in Sheffield, England and is known for his work on the Aerial Steam Carriage with William Samuel Henson....

first demonstrated that engine-powered flight was possible through his work on the Aerial Steam Carriage

Aerial Steam Carriage

The Aerial Steam Carriage, also named Ariel, was a flying machine patented in 1842 that was supposed to carry passengers into the air. It was, in practice, incapable of flight since it had insufficient power from its heavy steam engine to fly. A more successful model was built in 1848 which was...

. North Petherton

North Petherton

was the first town in England (and one of the few ever) to be lit by acetylene

Acetylene

Acetylene is the chemical compound with the formula C2H2. It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne. This colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is unstable in pure form and thus is usually handled as a solution.As an alkyne, acetylene is unsaturated because...

gas lighting, supplied by the North Petherton Rosco Acetylene Company. Street lights were provided in 1906. Acetylene was replaced in 1931 by coal gas

Syngas

Syngas is the name given to a gas mixture that contains varying amounts of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Examples of production methods include steam reforming of natural gas or liquid hydrocarbons to produce hydrogen, the gasification of coal, biomass, and in some types of waste-to-energy...

produced in Bridgwater, as well as by the provision of an electricity

Electricity

Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...

supply.

Around the 1860s, at the height of the iron and steel era, a pier

Pier

A pier is a raised structure, including bridge and building supports and walkways, over water, typically supported by widely spread piles or pillars...

and a deep-water dock

Dock (maritime)

A dock is a human-made structure or group of structures involved in the handling of boats or ships, usually on or close to a shore.However, the exact meaning varies among different variants of the English language...

were built, at Portishead

Portishead, Somerset

Portishead is a coastal town on the Severn Estuary within the unitary authority of North Somerset, which falls within the ceremonial county of Somerset England. It has a population of 22,000, an increase of over 3,000 since the 2001 census, with a growth rate of 40 per cent, considerably in excess...

, by the Bristol & Portishead Pier and Railway

Portishead Railway

The Portishead Railway was a branch line railway running from Portishead in Somerset to the Great Western Main Line in Bristol, England. It was constructed in the 1860s by the Bristol & Portishead Pier and Railway, which was incorporated to build a pier and a broad gauge link to the Bristol and...

to accommodate the large ships that had difficulty in reaching Bristol Harbour

Bristol Harbour

Bristol Harbour is the harbour in the city of Bristol, England. The harbour covers an area of . It has existed since the 13th century but was developed into its current form in the early 19th century by installing lock gates on a tidal stretch of the River Avon in the centre of the city and...

. The Portishead power station

Portishead power station

Portishead Power Station refers to a series of two coal and oil-fired power stations. They were built in the dock area of Portishead in Somerset, South West England....

s were coal-fed power station

Power station

A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....

s built next to the dock. Construction work started on Portishead "A" power station in 1926. It began generating electricity in 1929 for the Bristol Corporation's

Bristol

Electricity Department. In 1951, Albright and Wilson

Albright and Wilson

Albright and Wilson was founded in 1856 as a United Kingdom manufacturer of potassium chlorate and white phosphorus for the match industry. For much of its first 100 years of existence, phosphorus-derived chemicals formed the majority of its products....

built a chemical works on the opposite side of the dock from the power stations. The chemical works produced white phosphorus

Phosphorus

Phosphorus is the chemical element that has the symbol P and atomic number 15. A multivalent nonmetal of the nitrogen group, phosphorus as a mineral is almost always present in its maximally oxidized state, as inorganic phosphate rocks...

from phosphate

Phosphate

A phosphate, an inorganic chemical, is a salt of phosphoric acid. In organic chemistry, a phosphate, or organophosphate, is an ester of phosphoric acid. Organic phosphates are important in biochemistry and biogeochemistry or ecology. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in...

rock imported, through the docks, into the UK. The onset of new generating capacity at Pembroke

Pembroke Power Station

Pembroke B Power Station is a 2,000 MWe natural gas-fired power station currently under construction near Pembroke in Wales. The new power station is being built on the site of the former oil-fired power station which closed in 1997 and demolished in 2000....

(oil-fired) and Didcot

Didcot Power Station

Didcot Power Station refers to a combined coal and oil power plant and a natural-gas power plant that supply the National Grid. They are situated immediately adjoining one another in the civil parish of Sutton Courtenay, next to the town of Didcot in Oxfordshire , in the UK...

(coal-fired) in the mid-1970s brought about the closure of the older, less efficient "A" Station. The newer of the two power stations ("B" Station) was converted to burn oil

Oil

An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....

when the Somerset coalfields closed. and it has now been developed into a marina and residential area.

During the First World War hundreds of Somerset soldiers were killed, and war memorials were put up in most of the towns and villages; only a few villages escaped casualties. There were also casualties – though much fewer – during the Second World War, who were added to the memorials. The county was a base for troops preparing for the 1944 D-Day

D-Day

D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...

landings, and some Somerset hospitals still date partly from that time. The Royal Ordnance Factory

Royal Ordnance Factory

Royal Ordnance Factories was the collective name of the UK government's munitions factories in and after World War II. Until privatisation in 1987 they were the responsibility of the Ministry of Supply and later the Ministry of Defence....

ROF Bridgwater

Royal Ordnance Factory Bridgwater was a factory which produced high explosives for munitions. It was located between the villages of Puriton and Woolavington in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, UK; but was always known as ROF Bridgwater, after the nearest town...

was constructed early in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

for the Ministry of Supply. It was designed as an Explosive ROF

Explosive ROF

An Explosive ROF was a UK Government-owned Royal Ordnance Factory , which specialised in manufacturing explosives during and after World War II...

, to produce RDX

RDX

RDX, an initialism for Research Department Explosive, is an explosive nitroamine widely used in military and industrial applications. It was developed as an explosive which was more powerful than TNT, and it saw wide use in WWII. RDX is also known as cyclonite, hexogen , and T4...

, which was then a new experimental high-explosive. It obtained water supplies from two sources via the Somerset Levels

Somerset Levels

: the artificial Huntspill River

River Huntspill

The River Huntspill is an artificial river, in the Somerset Levels, in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. It was built in 1940 to supply process water to the armaments factory at Puriton, and has resulted in reduced flooding of the lower Brue Valley.-History:The concept for the Huntspill...

which was dug during the construction of the factory and also from the King's Sedgemoor Drain

King's Sedgemoor Drain

King's Sedgemoor Drain is an artificial drainage channel which diverts the River Cary in Somerset, England along the southern flank of the Polden Hills, to discharge into the River Parrett at Dunball near Bridgwater. As the name suggests, the channel is used to help drain the peat moors of King's...

, which was widened at the same time. The Taunton Stop Line

Taunton Stop Line

The Taunton Stop Line was a World War II defensive line in south west England. It was designed "to stop an enemy's advance from the west and in particular a rapid advance supported by armoured fighting vehicles which may have broken through the forward defences."The Taunton Stop Line was one of...

was set up to resist a potential German invasion, and the remains of its pill boxes

Bunker

A military bunker is a hardened shelter, often buried partly or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks...

can still be seen, as well as others along the coast. A decoy town was constructed on Black Down

Black Down, Somerset

Black Down is the highest hill in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, in south-western England. Black Down lies just a few miles eastward of the Bristol Channel at Weston-super-Mare, and provides a view over the Chew Valley...

, intended to represent the blazing lights of a town which had neglected to follow the black-out regulations. Sites in the county housed Prisoner of War camps including: Norton Fitzwarren

Norton Fitzwarren

Norton Fitzwarren is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated north west of Taunton in the Taunton Deane district. The village has a population of 2,325.-History:...

, Barwick

Barwick, Somerset

Barwick is a village and parish in Somerset, England, situated south of Yeovil in the South Somerset district and on the border with Dorset. The parish, which includes the village of Stoford has a population of 1,289.-History:...

, Brockley

Brockley, Somerset

Brockley is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. The parish is within the Unitary authority of North Somerset, about south of Nailsea, and includes the village of Chelvey. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 271.-History:...

, Goathurst

Goathurst

Goathurst is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Somerset, around 3 miles from the town of Bridgwater. The parish includes the hamlets of Andersfield and Huntstile.-History:Goathurst was part of the hundred of Andersfield....

and Wells

Wells

Wells is a cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. Although the population recorded in the 2001 census is 10,406, it has had city status since 1205...

. Various airfields were built or converted from civilian use including: RNAS Charlton Horethorne (HMS Heron II), RAF Weston-super-Mare

RAF Weston-super-Mare

RAF Weston-super-Mare was a Royal Air Force station on a civilian airfield in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England.It was set up as a municipal civilian airport in the 1930s before being taken over by the RAF in World War II for training and technical services. It was also the site of an aircraft...

, RNAS Yeovilton (HMS Heron), Yeovil/Westland Airport

Yeovil/Westland Airport

Yeovil Aerodrome , sometimes known as Yeovil/Westland , is located in Yeovil, Somerset, England, west of the town centre....

, RAF Weston Zoyland

RAF Weston Zoyland

thumb|C-47s of the 306th Troop Carrier SquadronRAF Station Weston Zoyland is a former World War II airfield in Somerset, England. The airfield is located approximately east-southeast of Bridgwater; about west-southwest of London...

, RAF Merryfield

RAF Merryfield

RAF Station Merryfield is a former Second World War airfield at the village of Ilton near Ilminster in southwest Somerset, England. The name comes from the ruins of Merryfield House. The airfield is located approximately north of Chard, about southwest of London...

, RAF Culmhead

RAF Culmhead

RAF Culmhead is an ex-Royal Air Force airbase, situated at Churchstanton on the Blackdown Hills in Somerset, England.It had 3 tarmac runways that are now in poor condition and the control towers are currently derelict...

and RAF Charmy Down

RAF Charmy Down

RAF Station Charmy Down is a former World War II airfield in Somerset, England. The airfield is located approximately north-northeast of Bath; about west of London...

.

Exmoor was one of the first British National Parks, designated in 1954, under the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act. and is named after its main river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

. It was expanded in 1991 and in 1993 Exmoor was designated as an Environmentally Sensitive Area

Environmentally Sensitive Area

An Environmentally Sensitive Area is a type of designation for an agricultural area which needs special protection because of its landscape, wildlife or historical value. The scheme was introduced in 1987...

. The Quantock Hills

Quantock Hills

were designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...

(AONB) in 1956, the first such designation in England under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949

National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949

The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which created the National Parks Commission which later became the Countryside Commission and then the Countryside Agency, which became Natural England when it merged with English Nature in...

. The Mendip Hills

Mendip Hills

followed with AONB designation in 1972.

Hinkley Point A nuclear power station

Hinkley Point A nuclear power station

Hinkley Point A nuclear power station was a Magnox power station located on a site in Somerset on the Bristol Channel coast, west of the River Parrett estuary.-History:...

was a Magnox

Magnox

Magnox is a now obsolete type of nuclear power reactor which was designed and is still in use in the United Kingdom, and was exported to other countries, both as a power plant, and, when operated accordingly, as a producer of plutonium for nuclear weapons...

power station

Power station

A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....

constructed between 1957 and 1962 and operating until ceasing generation in 2000. Hinkley Point B

Hinkley Point B nuclear power station

Hinkley Point B is a nuclear power station near Bridgwater, Somerset, on the Bristol Channel coast of south west England.-History:The construction of Hinkley Point B, which was undertaken by a consortium known as The Nuclear Power Group , started in 1967. The reactors were supplied by TNPG and the...

is an Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor (AGR) which was designed to generate 1250 MW of electricity (MWe). Construction of Hinkley Point B started in 1967. In September 2008 it was announced, by Electricité de France

Électricité de France

Électricité de France S.A. is the second largest French utility company. Headquartered in Paris, France, with €65.2 billion in revenues in 2010, EDF operates a diverse portfolio of 120,000+ megawatts of generation capacity in Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.EDF is one of...

(EDF), that a third, twin-unit European Pressurized Reactor

European Pressurized Reactor

The EPR is a third generation pressurized water reactor design. It has been designed and developed mainly by Framatome , Electricité de France in France, and Siemens AG in Germany...

(EPR) reactor known as Hinkley Point C

Hinkley Point C nuclear power station

Hinkley Point C nuclear power station is a proposed development for a new nuclear power station in Somerset, England.In September 2008 it was announced, by Electricité de France the new owners of Hinkley Point B, that a third, twin-unit European Pressurised Reactor reactor is planned for Hinkley...

is planned, to replace Hinkley Point B which is due for closure in 2016.

Somerset today has only two small cities, Bath and Wells

Wells

, and only small towns in comparison with other areas of England. Tourism

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

is a major source of employment along the coast, and in Bath and Cheddar for example. Other attractions include Exmoor

Exmoor

, West Somerset Railway

West Somerset Railway

The West Somerset Railway is a railway line that originally linked and in Somerset, England.It opened in 1862 and was extended from Watchet to by the Minehead Railway in 1874. Although just a single track, improvements were needed in the first half of the twentieth century to accommodate the...

, Haynes Motor Museum and the Fleet Air Arm Museum

Fleet Air Arm Museum

The Fleet Air Arm Museum is located north of Yeovil, and south of Bristol. It has an extensive collection of military and civilian aircraft, as well as models of Royal Navy ships, especially aircraft carriers. Some of the museum has interactive displays...

as well as the churches and the various National Trust

National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty

The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...

and English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

properties in Somerset.

Agriculture continues to be a major business, if no longer a major employer because of mechanisation. Light industries take place in towns such as Bridgwater

Bridgwater

and Yeovil

Yeovil

Yeovil is a town and civil parish in south Somerset, England. The parish had a population of 27,949 at the 2001 census, although the wider urban area had a population of 42,140...

. The towns of Taunton

Taunton

Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. The town, including its suburbs, had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001. It is the largest town in the shire county of Somerset....

and Shepton Mallet

Shepton Mallet

manufacture cider

Cider

, although the number of apple orchards has reduced.

In the late 19th century the boundaries of Somerset were slightly altered, but the main change came in 1974 when the county of Avon

Avon (county)

Avon was, from 1974 to 1996, a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in the west of England.The county was named after the River Avon, which runs through the area. It was formed from parts of the historic counties of Gloucestershire and Somerset, together with the City of Bristol...

was set up. The northern part of Somerset was removed from the administrative control of Somerset County Council

Somerset County Council

. On abolition of the county of Avon in 1996, these areas became separate administrative authorities, "North Somerset

North Somerset

North Somerset is a unitary authority in England. Its area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset but it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters is in the town hall in Weston-super-Mare....

" and "Bath and North East Somerset

Bath and North East Somerset

Bath and North East Somerset is a unitary authority that was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the County of Avon. It is part of the Ceremonial county of Somerset...

". The Department for Communities and Local Government

Department for Communities and Local Government

The Department for Communities and Local Government is the UK Government department for communities and local government in England. It was established in May 2006 and is the successor to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, established in 2001...

was considering a proposal by Somerset County Council to change Somerset's administrative structure by abolishing the five districts to create a Somerset unitary authority. The changes were planned to be implemented no later than 1 April 2009. However, support for the county council's bid was not guaranteed and opposition among the district council and local population was strong; 82% of people responding to a referendum organised by the five district councils rejected the proposals. It was confirmed in July 2007 that the government had rejected the proposals for unitary authorities in Somerset, and that the present two-tier arrangements of Somerset County Council and the district councils will remain.

External links

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Palaeolithic and Mesolithic

Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages

Roman

Sub-Roman period

Early Mediaeval

Later Mediaeval

Early Modern

Late Modern

See also

External links