Somerset - Wikipedia. Somerset (i) is a county in South West England which borders Gloucestershire and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south- east and Devon to the south- west. It is bounded to the north and west by the Severn Estuary and the Bristol Channel, its coastline facing southeastern Wales. Its traditional border with Gloucestershire is the River Avon. There is evidence of human occupation from Paleolithic times, and of subsequent settlement in the Roman and Anglo- Saxon periods. The county played a significant part in the consolidation of power and rise of King Alfred the Great, and later in the English Civil War and the Monmouth Rebellion. The city of Bath is famous for its substantial Georgian architecture and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Toponymy. Adopted as the motto in 1. Anglo- Saxon Chronicle. Somerset was a part of the Anglo- Saxon kingdom of Wessex, and the phrase refers to the wholehearted support the people of Somerset gave to King Alfred in his struggle to save Wessex from Viking invaders. For example, an Anglo- Saxon charter of 6. Creechborough Hill as . Some modern names are Brythonic in origin, such as Tarnock, while others have both Saxon and Brythonic elements, such as Pen Hill. Bones from Gough's Cave have been dated to 1. BC, and a complete skeleton, known as Cheddar Man, dates from 7. BC. The county remained part of the Roman Empire until around AD 4. Roman occupation of Britain came to an end. By AD 6. 00 they had established control over much of what is now England, but Somerset was still in native British hands. The British held back Saxon advance into the south- west for some time longer, but by the early eighth century King Ine of Wessex had pushed the boundaries of the West Saxon kingdom far enough west to include Somerset. Somerset contains HM Prison Shepton Mallet, which was England's oldest prison still in use prior to its closure in 2. Farming continued to flourish, however, and the Bath and West of England Society for the Encouragement of Agriculture, Arts, Manufactures and Commerce was founded in 1. Ascott’s Best Rate Guarantee promises you the lowest publicly available internet rates every time you book directly through any Ascott website. As winter fast approaches, Somerset County Council’s highways team are already monitoring weather forecasts each day ready to react when temperatures plummet. Somerset and Yorkshire are taking the battle to Middlesex at the top of Division One – it’s just a pity that this entertaining format is being replaced next season. Aims to give information about Somerset and its facilities, and to show some of the things to do and see around the county. Apply for a job with Somerset County; Locate frequently called county numbers; Find out about Superior Court and jury duty; View the Somerset County seal and flag. Guide to Somerset ancestry, family history and genealogy parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records. The population was 6,277 at the 2010 census. The borough is surrounded. Despite this, 2. 0 years later John Billingsley conducted a survey of the county's agriculture in 1. Further west, the Brendon Hills were mined for iron ore in the late 1. Get the latest news from the BBC in Somerset: Local website with breaking news, sport, weather and travel from the area plus in-depth features, analysis. Search 75 Rental Properties in Somerset, New Jersey. Find Somerset apartments, condos, town homes, single family homes and much more on Trulia. Located in the heart of the Gold Coast, Somerset College is one of Australia's leading independent Primary and Secondary education providers. West Somerset Mineral Railway to Watchet Harbour for shipment to the furnaces at Ebbw Vale. During the Second World War the county was a base for troops preparing for the D- Day landings. Some of the hospitals which were built for the casualties of the war remain in use. The Taunton Stop Line was set up to repel a potential German invasion. The remains of its pill boxes can still be seen along the coast, and south through Ilminster and Chard. They were designed to mimic the geometry of . Burning bales of straw soaked in creosote were used to simulate the effects of incendiary bombs dropped by the first wave of Pathfinder night bombers; meanwhile, incendiary bombs dropped on the correct location were quickly smothered, wherever possible. Drums of oil were also ignited to simulate the effect of a blazing city or town, with the aim of fooling subsequent waves of bombers into dropping their bombs on the wrong location. The River Avon formed much of the border with Gloucestershire, except that the hundred of Bath Forum, which straddles the Avon, formed part of Somerset. Bristol began as a town on the Gloucestershire side of the Avon, however as it grew it extended across the river into Somerset. In 1. 37. 3 Edward III proclaimed . The largest urban areas in terms of population are Bath, Weston- super- Mare, Taunton, Yeovil and Bridgwater. Examples include Axbridge on the River Axe, Castle Cary on the River Cary, North Petherton on the River Parrett, and Ilminster, where there was a crossing point on the River Isle. Midsomer Norton lies on the River Somer; while the Wellow Brook and the Fosse Way. Roman road run through Radstock. Chard is the most southerly town in Somerset, and at an altitude of 1. These landscapes are the limestonekarst and lias of the north, the clayvales and wetlands of the centre, the oolites of the east and south, and the Devoniansandstone of the west. The central and western Mendip Hills was designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1. To the south- west of the Somerset Levels are the Quantock Hills which was England's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty designated in 1. The Somerset Coalfield is part of a larger coalfield which stretches into Gloucestershire. To the north of the Mendip hills is the Chew Valley and to the south, on the clay substrate, are broad valleys which support dairy farming and drain into the Somerset Levels. Caves and rivers. These both feed and drain the flat levels and moors of mid and west Somerset. The Parrett is tidal almost to Langport, where there is evidence of two Roman wharfs. The fields in the distance are the Somerset Levels. The Somerset Levels (or Somerset Levels and Moors as they are less commonly but more correctly known) are a sparsely populated wetland area of central Somerset, between the Quantock and Mendip hills. They consist of marine clay levels along the coast, and the inland (often peat based) moors. The Levels are divided into two by the Polden Hills; land to the south is drained by the River Parrett while land to the north is drained by the River Axe and the River Brue. The total area of the Levels amounts to about 6. Approximately 7. 0% of the area is grassland and 3. Before it was drained, much of the land was under a shallow brackish sea in winter and was marsh land in summer. Drainage began with the Romans, and was restarted at various times: by the Anglo- Saxons; in the Middle Ages by the Glastonbury Abbey, during 1. Pumping and management of water levels still continues. It too was reclaimed by draining. At Burnham- on- Sea, for example, the tidal range of a spring tide is more than 1. The island of Steep Holm in the Bristol Channel is within the ceremonial county and is now administered by North Somerset Council. The coastal area between Minehead and the eastern extreme of the administrative county's coastline at Brean Down is known as Bridgwater Bay, and is a National Nature Reserve. In the west, the coastline is high and dramatic where the plateau of Exmoor meets the sea, with high cliffs and waterfalls. Seasonal temperature variation is less extreme than most of the United Kingdom because of the adjacent sea temperatures. The summer months of July and August are the warmest with mean daily maxima of approximately 2. In winter mean minimum temperatures of 1 . Annual sunshine rates are slightly less than the regional average of 1,6. Most the rainfall in the south- west is caused by Atlantic depressions or by convection. Most of the rainfall in autumn and winter is caused by the Atlantic depressions, which is when they are most active. In summer, a large proportion of the rainfall is caused by sun heating the ground leading to convection and to showers and thunderstorms. Average rainfall is around 7. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, and June to August the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the south- west. Population growth in the county is higher than the national average. Bridgwater was developed during the Industrial Revolution as the area's leading port. The River Parrett was navigable by large ships as far as Bridgwater. Cargoes were then loaded onto smaller boats at Langport Quay, next to the Bridgwater Bridge, to be carried further up river to Langport. Bridgwater, in the 1. Agusta. Westland manufactures helicopters in Yeovil. A Royal Ordnance Factory, ROF Bridgwater was built at the start of the Second World War, between the villages of Puriton and Woolavington. The site was decommissioned and closed in July 2. It has been announced twice, in 2. Thales Optics' Taunton site. Other high- technology companies include the optics company Gooch and Housego, at Ilminster. There are Ministry of Defence offices in Bath, and Norton Fitzwarren is the home of 4. Commando Royal Marines. The Royal Naval Air Station in Yeovilton, is one of Britain's two active Fleet Air Arm bases and is home to the Royal Navy's Lynx helicopters and the Royal Marines Commando Westland Sea Kings. Around 1,6. 75 service and 2,0. Yeovilton and key activities include training of aircrew and engineers and the Royal Navy's Fighter Controllers and surface- based aircraft controllers. The towns of Taunton and Shepton Mallet are involved with the production of cider, especially Blackthorn Cider, which is sold nationwide, and there are specialist producers such as Burrow Hill Cider Farm and Thatchers Cider. Gerber Products Company in Bridgwater is the largest producer of fruit juices in Europe, producing brands such as . During the 1. 93. Levels. Largely due to the displacement of baskets with plastic bags and cardboard boxes, the industry has severely declined since the 1. By the end of the 2. Burrowbridge, Westonzoyland and North Curry. Street developed as a centre for the production of woollen slippers and, later, boots and shoes, with C. Clark establishing its headquarters in the town. C& J Clark's shoes are no longer manufactured there as the work was transferred to lower- wage areas, such as China and Asia. C& J Clark also had shoe factories, at one time at Bridgwater, Minehead, Westfield and Weston super Mare to provide employment outside the main summer tourist season, but those satellite sites were closed in the late 1. Street. Martens shoes were also made in Somerset, by the Northampton- based R. Griggs Group, using redundant skilled shoemakers from C& J Clark; that work has also been transferred to Asia. Quarries at Doulting supplied freestone used in the construction of Wells Cathedral. Bath stone is also widely used. Ralph Allen promoted its use in the early 1. Hans Price in the 1. It was mined underground at Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines, and as a result of cutting the Box Tunnel, at locations in Wiltshire such as Box.
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