Somerset
( or ) is a county in South West England. The county town is Taunton, which is in the south of the county. The ceremonial county of Somerset borders the counties of 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 coast of the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the River Severn. The traditional northern border of the county is the River Avon, but the administrative boundary has crept southwards, with the creation and expansion of the City of Bristol, and latterly the county of Avon and its successor Unitary Authorities in the north.
Somerset is a rural county of rolling hills such as the Mendip Hills, Quantock Hills and Exmoor National Park, and large flat expanses of land including the Somerset Levels. There is evidence of human occupation from Neolithic times, and subsequent settlement in the Roman and Saxon periods. Later, the county played a significant part in the consolidation of power and rise of King Alfred the Great, the English Civil War and the Monmouth Rebellion.
Agriculture is a major business in the county. Farming of sheep and cattle, including for wool and the county's famous cheeses, are traditional and contemporary, as is the more unusual cultivation of willow for basketry. Apple orchards were once plentiful, and to this day Somerset is known for the production of strong cider. Unemployment is lower than the national average, and the largest employment sectors are retail, manufacturing, tourism, and health and social care. Population growth in the county is higher than the national average.
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SOMERSET TICKETS
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Toponymy
The name derives from
Old English Sumors?te
, which is short for
Sumortuns?te
, meaning "the people living at or dependent upon Sumortun".
[1] The first known use of the name
Somersæte
was in 845, after the region fell to the Saxons.
[2]
Sumortun is modern
Somerton and may mean "summer settlement", a
farmstead occupied during the summer but abandoned in the winter.
[3] However, Somerton is not down on the levels—lower ground, where only summer occupation was possible because of flooding—but on a hill where winter occupation would have been feasible. An alternative suggestion is that the name derives from
Seo-mere-saetan
meaning "settlers by the sea lakes".
[4]
The people of Somerset are first mentioned in the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle's entry for 845 AD, in the
inflected form "Sumursætum", but the county is first mentioned in the entry for 1015 using the same name. The archaic county name
Somersetshire
is first mentioned in the Chronicle's entry for 878. Although "Somersetshire" had been in common use as an alternative name for the county, it went out of fashion in the late 19th century, and is no longer used. This is possibly due to the adoption of "Somerset" as the official name for the county through the establishment of the County Council in 1889. However, as with other counties not ending in "shire", this
suffix was superfluous, as there was no need to differentiate between the county and a town within it.
The Old English name continues to be used in the
motto of the county,
Sumors?te ealle
, meaning "all the people of Somerset". Adopted as the motto in 1911, the phrase is taken from the
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 the
Viking invaders.
[5] [6] [7]
Somerset is
Gwlad yr Haf
in Welsh,
Gwlas an Hav
in Cornish and
Bro an Hañv
in Breton, which all mean 'Land of Summer'.
Somerset settlement names are mostly Anglo-Saxon in origin, but a few hill names include
Celtic elements. For example, an
Anglo-Saxon charter of 682 concerning Creechborough Hill defines it as "the hill the British call
Cructan
and we call
Crychbeorh
"
[8] [9] (we being the Anglo-Saxons). Some modern names are
Brythonic in origin, such as
Tarnock, while others have both Saxon and Brythonic elements, such as
Pen Hill.
[10]
History
The caves of the
Mendip Hills were settled during the
Palaeolithic period onward and contain extensive archaeological sites such as those at
Cheddar Gorge. Bones from
Gough's Cave have been dated to 12,000 BC while a complete skeleton, known as Cheddar man, dates from
7150 BC. Examples of cave art have been found in caves such as
Aveline's Hole. Occupation of some caves continued until modern times, including
Wookey Hole.
The
Somerset Levels—specifically the
dry points such as
Glastonbury and
Brent Knoll— also have a long history of settlement, and are known to have been settled by
Mesolithic hunters.
[11] [12] Travel in the area was helped by the construction of the world's oldest known engineered roadway, the
Sweet Track, which dates from
3807 BC or
3806 BC.
[13] [14]
There are numerous
Iron Age hill forts, some of which, like
Cadbury Castle [15]
and
Ham Hill, were later reoccupied in the
Early Middle Ages. The exact age of the
henge monument at
Stanton Drew stone circles is unknown, but it is believed to be
Neolithic.
[16]
On the authority of the future emperor
Vespasian, as part of the ongoing expansion of the Roman presence in Britain, the
Second Legion Augusta invaded Somerset from the south-east in AD 47. The county remained part of the
Roman Empire until around AD 409, when the Roman occupation of Britain came to an end.
[17]
A variety of Roman remains have been found, including
Pagans Hill Roman Temple in
Chew Stoke,
[18]
Low Ham Roman Villa and the
Roman Baths which gave their name to the city of
Bath.
[19]
After the Romans left, Britain was invaded by Anglo-Saxon peoples, who had established control over much of what is now England by A.D. 600 but Somerset was still in British hands. The native British held back Saxon advance in the southwest 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.
[20] The Saxon royal palace in
Cheddar was used several times in the 10th century to host the
Witenagemot.
[21] After the
Norman Conquest, the county was divided into 700
fiefs, and large areas were owned by the crown,
with fortifications such as
Dunster Castle used for control and defence. Somerset contains
HMP Shepton Mallet, England's oldest prison still in use, which opened in 1610.
[22] In the
English Civil War Somerset was largely
Parliamentarian.
[23] In 1685 the
Monmouth Rebellion was played out in Somerset and neighbouring Dorset.
[24] The rebels landed at
Lyme Regis and travelled north, hoping to capture
Bristol and
Bath, but they were defeated in the
Battle of Sedgemoor at
Westonzoyland, the last
pitched battle fought in England.
[25] Arthur Wellesley took his title,
Duke of Wellington from the town of
Wellington;
[26] he is commemorated on a nearby hill by a large, spotlit
obelisk, known as the
Wellington Monument.
The 18th century was largely one of peace in Somerset, but the
Industrial Revolution in the Midlands and Northern England spelled the end for most of Somerset's cottage industries. 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 1777 to improve farming methods.
[27] Despite this, 20 years later
John Billingsley conducted a survey of the county's agriculture in 1795 and found that agricultural methods could still be improved.
[28] Coal mining was an important industry in north Somerset during the 18th and 19th centuries, and by 1800 it was based around
Radstock.
[29] The
Somerset coalfield reached its peak production by the 1920s, but all the pits have now been closed, the last in 1973.
[30] Most of the surface buildings have been removed, and apart from a winding wheel outside
Radstock Museum, little evidence of their former existence remains. Further west, the
Brendon Hills were mined for
iron ore in the late 19th century; this was taken by rail to Watchet Harbour for shipment to the furnaces at
Ebbw Vale
Many Somerset soldiers died during the
First World War, with the
Somerset Light Infantry suffering nearly 5,000 casualties.
[31] War memorials were put up in most of the county's towns and villages; only nine, described as the
Thankful Villages, had none of their residents killed. 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.
[32]
A number of decoy towns were constructed in Somerset in World War II to protect Bristol and other towns, at night. They were designed to mimic the geometry of "blacked out" streets, railway lines, and
Bristol Temple Meads railway station, to encourage bombers away from these targets.
[33] One, on the
radio beam flight path to
Bristol, was constructed on
Beacon Batch.
[ [34] It was laid out by Shepperton Film Studios, based on aerial photographs of the city's railway marshalling yards.][ The decoys were fitted with dim red lights, simulating activities like the stoking of steam locomotives. 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 Chew Magna decoy town was hit by half-a-dozen bombs on 2 December 1940, and over a thousand incendiaries on 3 January 1941.][ The following night the Uphill decoy town, protecting Weston-super-Mare's airfield, was bombed; a herd of dairy cows was hit, killing some and severely injuring others.][
]
Cities and towns
Somerton took over from Ilchester as the county town in the late thirteenth century, [35] but it declined in importance and the status of county town transferred to Taunton about 1366. [36] The county has two cities, Bath and Wells, and only a small number of towns. In many cases there are villages which are larger than their neighbouring towns; the village of Cheddar, for example, has three times the population of the nearby town of Axbridge. Many settlements developed because of their strategic importance in relation to geographical features, such as river crossings or valleys in ranges of hills. 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 Fosseway Roman road run through Radstock, which, along with Midsomer Norton, is now designated as a part of Norton Radstock. Chard is the most southerly town in Somerset, and at an altitude of it is also the highest. [37]
Physical geography
Geology
Much of the landscape of Somerset falls into types determined by the underlying geology. These landscapes are the limestone karst and lias of the north, the clay vales and wetlands of the centre, the oolites of the east and south, and the Devonian sandstone of the west. [38]
To the north-east of the Somerset Levels, the Mendip Hills are moderately high limestone hills. The central and western Mendip Hills was designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1972 and covers 198 km2 (76 squ mi). [39] The main habitat on these hills is calcareous grassland, with some arable agriculture. 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
thumb in an artificial channel draining farmland near Glastonbury
There is an extensive network of caves, including Wookey Hole, underground rivers, and gorges, including Cheddar Gorge and Ebbor Gorge. [40] The county has many rivers, including the Axe, Brue, Cary, Parrett, Sheppey, Tone and Yeo. These both feed and drain the flat levels and moors of mid and west Somerset.[
]
Levels and moors
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 [42]
and broadly corresponds to the administrative district of Sedgemoor but also includes the south west of Mendip district. Approximately 70% of the area is grassland and 30% is arable.
The North Somerset Levels basin, north of the Mendips, covers a smaller geographical area than the Somerset Levels; and forms a coastal area around Avonmouth. It too was reclaimed by draining.[ [44] It is mirrored, across the Severn Estuary, in Wales, by a similar low-lying area: the Caldicot and Wentloog Levels.][
]
In the far west of the county, running into Devon, is Exmoor, a high Devonian sandstone moor, which was designated as a national park in 1954, under the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act. [45]
The highest point in Somerset is Dunkery Beacon on Exmoor, with an altitude of 519 metres (1703 ft). [46] Over 100 sites in Somerset have been designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest.
thumb from Steep Holm
Coastline
The 64 km (40 mi) coastline of the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary forms part of the northern border of Somerset.
Climate
Along with the rest of South West England, Somerset has a temperate maritime climate which is generally wetter and milder than the rest of the country. The annual mean temperature is about 10°C and shows a seasonal and a diurnal variation, but the range is less than in most other parts of the UK due to the modifying effect of the sea. January is the coldest month with mean minimum temperatures between 1-2°C. July and August are the warmest months in the region with mean daily maxima around 21°C.
The south-west of England has a favoured location with respect to the Azores high pressure when it extends its influence north-eastwards towards the UK, particularly in summer. Convective cloud often forms inland however, especially near hills, reducing the number of hours of sunshine. The average annual sunshine totals around 1,600 hours.
Rainfall tends to be associated with Atlantic depressions or with convection. The Atlantic depressions are more vigorous in autumn and winter and most of the rain which falls in those seasons in the south-west is from this source. Average rainfall is 700 mm in the low-lying parts of central Somerset while the Mendip Hills have more than 1,100 mm and the Bath-Bristol area has about 800-900 mm of rainfall a year [51]. About 8–15 days of snowfall is typical. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, with June to August having the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the south-west. [52]
Economy and industry
Somerset has few industrial centres, but it does have a variety of light industry and high technology businesses, along with traditional agriculture and an increasingly important tourism sector, resulting in an unemployment rate of 2.5%. [53] Bridgwater was developed during the Industrial Revolution as the West Country'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; [54] or they could turn off at Burrowbridge and then travel via the River Tone to Taunton.[ The Parrett is now only navigable as far as Dunball Wharf. Bridgwater, in the 19th and 20th centuries, was a centre for the manufacture of bricks and clay roof tiles, and later cellophane, but those industries have now closed.][ With its good links to the motorway system, Bridgwater has developed as a distribution hub for companies such as Argos, Toolstation and Gerber Juice. AgustaWestland manufactures helicopters in Yeovil, [55] and Normalair Garratt, builder of aircraft oxygen systems, is also based in the town. [56] Many towns have encouraged small-scale light industries, such as Crewkerne's Ariel Motor Company, one of the UK's smallest car manufacturers.
]
Somerset is an important supplier of defence equipment and technology. A Royal Ordnance Factory, ROF Bridgwater was built at the start of the Second World War, between the villages of Puriton and Woolavington, [57] to manufacture explosives. s of |Somerset-coa.png}}portal