SEDGEMOOR

Sedgemoor District
Sedgemoor ''Shown within Somerset''
Geography
Status:	District
Region:	South West England
Admin. County:	Somerset
Area: - Total	Ranked 88th 564.36 km²
Admin. HQ:	Bridgwater
ONS code:	40UC
Demographics
Population: - Total () - Density	Ranked / km²
Ethnicity:	98.9% White
Politics
Sedgemoor District Council http://www.sedgemoor.gov.uk/
Leadership:	Leader & Cabinet
Executive:
MPs:	David Heathcoat-Amory, Ian Liddell-Grainger

'Sedgemoor' is a local government district of Somerset in England.
A low lying area of land close to sea level between the Quantock and Mendip hills, historically largely marsh (or moor) and contains the bulk of the area also known as the Somerset Levels, including the World's oldest known engineered roadway, the Sweet Track.
The district was formed on April 1, 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by a merger of the municipal borough of Bridgwater, the Burnham-on-Sea urban district, Bridgwater Rural District and part of Axbridge Rural District.

Contents

Place-name meaning

Notable towns

Villages

Rivers

Battles

Industries

External links

Place-name meaning

Sedgemoor does ''not'' mean "sedge moor", but is instead "marsh of a man called Sicga" from the Old Norse personal name Sicga and Old English mor "moor". The name was recorded as ''Secgamere'' in 1165.

Notable towns

★ Bridgwater - the administrative center

★ Burnham on Sea

★ North Petherton
Highbridge

Villages

★ Cheddar

★ Puriton

★ Westonzoyland

Rivers

★ River Parrett

★ River Brue

★ River Huntspill

★ King's Sedgemoor Drain

Battles

★ Battle of Sedgemoor

Industries

Light industry now predominates, but traditional trades include peat extraction, willow crafts and cider making can still be found, in addition to livestock farming. The River Parrett provides a source of eels (anguilla anguilla) and elvers during January through to May.
However also notable is the new Isleport trading estate at Highbridge which houses many global businesses such as Geest(Isleport Foods) who make yoghurts under franchise to Ski & Muller, etc, Brake Brothers who supply the catering trade, BFP wholseale who supply dry goods to bakeries etc, Woodbury & Haines who supply furniture globally, Polybeam Limited who supply GRP radio masts to customers such as Marconi, and also AT&T whose centre there controls all internet cable traffic to and from the US
Industry in Bridgwater has also seen major growth recently with the opening of "Express Park" which houses Gerber Foods (global fruit juice supplier), NHS logistics depot and Eddie Stobart depot. Also south of Bridgwater at Huntworth is located the phenominally sized Somerfield depot which supplies their Somerfield and former Kwik Save stores from Gloucester to Penzance!

External links

★ Sedgemoor District Council

★ Sedgemoor Tourism Association

★ Somerset by the Sea (tourism website)

★ BBC Somerset