The Somerset Portal
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Somerset (/ˈsʌmərsɪt, -sɛt/ ⓘ SUM-ər-sit, -set; archaically Somersetshire /ˈsʌmərsɪt.ʃɪər, -sɛt-, -ʃər/ SUM-ər-sit-sheer, -set-, -shər) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east and the north-east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. The largest settlement is the city of Bath, and the county town is Taunton.
Somerset is a predominantly rural county, especially to the south and west, with an area of 4,171 km2 (1,610 sq mi) and a population of 965,424. After Bath (101,557), the largest settlements are Weston-super-Mare (82,418), Taunton (60,479), and Yeovil (49,698). Wells (12,000) is a city, the second-smallest by population in England. For local government purposes the county comprises three unitary authority areas: Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, and Somerset.
The centre of Somerset is dominated by the Levels, a coastal plain and wetland, and the north-east and west of the county are hilly. The north-east contains part of the Cotswolds AONB, all of the Mendip Hills AONB, and a small part of Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB; the west contains the Quantock Hills AONB, a majority of Exmoor National Park, and part of the Blackdown Hills AONB. The main rivers in the county are the Avon, which flows through Bath and then Bristol, and the Axe, Brue, and Parrett, which drain the Levels.
There is evidence Paleolithic human occupation in Somerset, and the area was subsequently settled by the Celts, Romans and Anglo-Saxons. The county played a significant part in Alfred the Great's rise to power, and later the English Civil War and the Monmouth Rebellion. In the later medieval period its wealth allowed its monasteries and parish churches to be rebuilt in grand style; Glastonbury Abbey was particularly important, and claimed to house the tomb of King Arthur and Guinevere. The city of Bath is famous for its Georgian architecture, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The county is also the location of Glastonbury Festival, one of the UK's major music festivals. (Full article...)
Selected article
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Selected biography -
John Wemyss "Jake" Seamer (23 June 1913 – 16 April 2006) was an amateur cricketer who played for Oxford University and Somerset either side of the Second World War. A bespectacled cricketer, Seamer was a right-handed batsman who played with a defensive streak to his game which was rarely seen among amateur batsmen of his time. He was described as a leg break googly bowler, but in truth he rarely bowled at all, and claimed just four first-class wickets.
Seamer played the best of his cricket while at Oxford University. All four of his first-class centuries were made for the university side, and his average for Oxford was 35.30, significantly higher than his career average of 20.35. He made his highest score against Free Foresters in his second year, during which he accrued 858 runs, more than double he managed in any other season. On completion of his studies at Oxford, Seamer joined the Sudan Political Service, which limited his first-class cricket appearances to periods of leave. He was named as one of three amateurs to captain Somerset in 1948, leading the team during June and July. That season was his last for Somerset, and he made only one further first-class appearance. He became a district commissioner in the Sudan, and after leaving the service, he taught at Marlborough College and was twice mayor of Marlborough. (Full article...)Districts of Somerset
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- Somerset (Unitary)
- North Somerset (Unitary)
- Bath and North East Somerset (Unitary)
Subcategories
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Related portals
Selected images
Selected settlement
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Co-ordinates 51°12′26″N 2°39′07″W / 51.2073°N 2.6519°W
Wells is a small cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. Although the population, recorded in the 2001 census, is only 10,406, it has had city status since 1205. It is the second-smallest city in England, following the City of London, though St David's in Wales is the smallest city in the UK.
The name Wells derives from the three wells dedicated to Saint Andrew, one in the market place and two within the grounds of the Bishop's Palace and cathedral. There was a small Roman settlement around the wells but its importance grew under the Saxons when King Ine of Wessex founded a minster church in 704, around which the settlement grew. Wells became a trading centre and involved in cloth making before its involvement in both the English Civil War and the Monmouth Rebellion during the 17th century. In the 19th century transport infrastructure improved with stations on three different railway lines.
The cathedral and the associated religious and architectural history have made Wells a tourist destination, which provides much of the employment. The city has a variety of sporting and cultural activities, and houses several schools including The Blue School, a state coeducational comprehensive school originally founded in 1654 and the independent Wells Cathedral School, which was founded in 909, and is one of the five established musical schools for school-age children in Britain. The historic architecture of the city has also been used as a location for several films and television programmes. (Full article...)
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's "Did You Know" archives:
- ... that medieval Perpendicular Gothic Somerset Towers typically feature pinnacles, lacy tracery windows and bell openings, gargoyles, arches, buttresses, merlons, and external stair turrets?
- ... that Gants Mill is an historic watermill now generating hydroelectric power from the River Brue?
- ... that the village of Selworthy was rebuilt by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland in 1828 as a Model village for the aged and infirm of his Holnicote Estate?
- ... that Midford Castle was built in the shape of the ace of clubs (♣)?
- ... that Porlock Bay in England contains a submerged forest?
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WikiProjects
Nearby projects: WikiProject Bristol, WikiProject Devon, WikiProject Dorset, WikiProject Wiltshire
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Recognised content
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Featured articles
Ælfheah of Canterbury
Bath, Somerset
Battle of Babylon Hill
Battle of Marshall's Elm
Margaret Bondfield
Robert Burnell
Chew Stoke
Equestrian statue of Edward Horner
Exmoor
Ham Wall
Herbie Hewett
Kennet and Avon Canal
Mells War Memorial
Mendip Hills
Lionel Palairet
Porlock Stone Circle
River Parrett
Sieges of Taunton
Somerset County Cricket Club in 1891
Somerset County Cricket Club in 2009
Somerset Levels
Sweet Track
Marcus Trescothick
Wells Cathedral
Withypool Stone Circle
Featured lists
List of ecclesiastical parishes in the Diocese of Bath and Wells
Works of Keith Floyd
Grade I listed buildings in Bath and North East Somerset
Grade I listed buildings in Mendip
Grade I listed buildings in North Somerset
Grade I listed buildings in Sedgemoor
Grade I listed buildings in South Somerset
Grade I listed buildings in Taunton Deane
Grade I listed buildings in West Somerset
Grade II* listed buildings in North Somerset
List of civil parishes in Somerset
List of English Heritage properties in Somerset
List of locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal
List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Avon
List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Somerset
List of Somerset County Cricket Club Twenty20 players
List of Somerset County Cricket Club grounds
List of Somerset County Cricket Club players with 100 or more first-class or List A appearances
List of churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust in Southwest England
List of hillforts and ancient settlements in Somerset
List of local nature reserves in Somerset
List of scheduled monuments in North Somerset
List of scheduled monuments in Sedgemoor
List of scheduled monuments in South Somerset
Grade II* listed buildings in Mendip
List of museums in Somerset
List of national nature reserves in Somerset
List of National Trust properties in Somerset
Scheduled monuments in Bath and North East Somerset
Scheduled monuments in Mendip
Scheduled monuments in Taunton Deane
Scheduled monuments in West Somerset
Grade II* listed buildings in Sedgemoor
Grade II* listed buildings in Taunton Deane
Grade II* listed buildings in West Somerset
Featured topics
Grade I listed buildings in Somerset
Scheduled monuments in Somerset
Good articles
A303 road
1754 Taunton by-election
1887 Taunton by-election
The Abbot's Fish House, Meare
Agapemonites
William Arnold (settler)
Ashton Court
Ashton Court Festival
Athelm
River Avon, Bristol
Avon Gorge
Herbert E. Balch
Barrington Court
E. W. Bastard
Bath Abbey
Bath Assembly Rooms
Beckford's Tower
Berhtwald
Birnbeck Pier
Bishop's Palace, Wells
Blackdown Hills
Blagdon Lake
John Braham (RAF officer)
Brean Down
HMS Bridgewater (L01)
Bridgwater and Taunton Canal
Bridgwater Bay
Bridgwater
Brislington House
Bruton Dovecote
Buildings and architecture of Bath
Burnham-on-Sea
Mike Burns (cricketer)
Buro Happold
Burrow Mump
Burton Pynsent House
Jos Buttler
Jenson Button
Cadbury Camp
Cadbury Castle, Somerset
Chard, Somerset
Cheddar Gorge
Cheddar, Somerset
Chew Magna
St Andrew's Church, Chew Stoke
Claverton Pumping Station
Cleeve Abbey
Clevedon
Clevedon Court
Clevedon Pier
Cleveland Pools
Clifton Suspension Bridge
Climate of south-west England
Coleridge Cottage
The Crescent, Taunton
Crewkerne
Cricket at the 1900 Summer Olympics
Crook Peak to Shute Shelve Hill
Dolebury Warren
Dovecot at Blackford Farm
Dunkery Hill
Dunstan
Dunster Butter Cross
Dunster Castle
Dunster
Dunster Working Watermill
Ebbor Gorge
Exmoor pony
Farleigh Hungerford Castle
Reginald Fitz Jocelin
Savaric FitzGeldewin
Henry Fownes Luttrell (died 1780)
Harry Fox (sportsman)
Frome
Fyne Court
Gallox Bridge, Dunster
Edith Garrud
Geography of Somerset
Geology of Somerset
Gisa (bishop of Wells)
Eleanor Glanville
Glastonbury Abbey
Glastonbury Canal
Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury
Glastonbury Lake Village
Glastonbury Tor
Grade I listed buildings in Somerset
Grand Western Canal
HM Prison Shepton Mallet
Hestercombe House
James Hill (British Army officer)
Sidney Hill
History of Somerset
Holnicote Estate
Hot Fuzz
Jocelin of Wells
John of Tours
Keynsham
King Alfred's Tower
King John's Hunting Lodge, Axbridge
Scott Laird
Leigh Court
Leigh Woods National Nature Reserve
Long Ashton railway station
Lyfing (archbishop of Canterbury)
Lytes Cary
Masonic Hall, Taunton
Midsomer Norton
Minehead
Monmouth Rebellion
Montacute House
Muchelney Abbey
Nailsea Court
Nailsea
Nailsea and Backwell railway station
Nettlecombe Court
Stephen Newton
Tom Nichols (footballer)
Nunney Castle
Pill railway station
PinkPantheress
Portishead, Somerset
Massey Poyntz
The Priest's House, Muchelney
Prior Park Landscape Garden
Prior Park
Pulteney Bridge
Quantock Hills
Radstock
River Brue
River Tone
Robert of Bath
Roman Baths (Bath)
Royal Crescent
Ted Sainsbury
St Catherine's Court
Sand Point and Middle Hope
Scheduled monuments in Somerset
Jake Seamer
Shepton Mallet
Sigeric (archbishop)
Sir Bevil Grenville's Monument
Solsbury Hill
Somerset Coal Canal
Somerset Coalfield
Somerset County Cricket Club in 1882
Somerset County Cricket Club in 1885
Somerton, Somerset
South West Coast Path
Stanton Drew stone circles
Steep Holm
Stembridge Mill, High Ham
Stoke sub Hamdon Priory
Ston Easton Park
Stoney Littleton Long Barrow
Street, Somerset
Sutton Court
Sydney Gardens
St Joseph's Convent, Taunton
Taunton
Taunton Unitarian Chapel
Team Bath F.C.
Theatre Royal, Bath
Tintinhull Garden
Treasurer's House, Martock
Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard
The Tribunal, Glastonbury
Tyntesfield
Vicars' Close, Wells
Walton and Ivythorn Hills
Watchet
Wellington Monument, Somerset
Wellington, Somerset
Hugh of Wells
Wells, Somerset
West Hendford Cricket Ground
West Pennard Court Barn
West Somerset Mineral Railway
Westhay Moor
Weston-super-Mare
Westonzoyland Pumping Station Museum
Edward Wickham
Maisie Williams
Woodspring Priory
Wookey Hole Caves
Worle railway station
Worlebury Camp
Wulfhelm
Yarn Market, Dunster
Yatton railway station
Yeovil
Good topics
English Heritage properties in Somerset
National Trust properties in Somerset
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