The Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society was founded in 1849. The Society bought 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...

 in 1874, and leases it to 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:...

 to house the Museum of Somerset. A substantial proportion of the items held by the Museum were originally collected by the Society. Since it opened in 2010, the Society's office and library have been located at the Somerset Heritage Centre, alongside the County Council's Heritage Service.

The Society has published an annual journal, the Proceedings, since 1851 which contains scholarly papers on research into the history, archaeology and ecology of Somerset

Somerset

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...

. It also occasionally publishes books, most recently a transcription of Edmund Rack's Survey of Somerset, a comprehensive survey of the county carried out in the late eighteenth century.

Professor Mick Aston

Mick Aston

Professor Michael Antony 'Mick' Aston is a prominent English archaeologist. As an academic, he has taught at a number of universities across the United Kingdom, and has helped popularise the discipline amongst the British public by appearing as the resident academic on the Channel 4 television...

, well-known due to his involvement with the Time Team

Time Team

Time Team is a British television series which has been aired on Channel 4 since 1994. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Tony Robinson, each episode features a team of specialists carrying out an archaeological dig over a period of three days, with Robinson explaining...

archaeology programmes on Channel 4

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

, is a member and Past President of the Society, and regularly contributes papers to the Proceedings.