'Somerset' is a
county in the south-west of
England. The
county town is
Taunton. 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 also partly bounded to the north and west by the coast of the
Bristol Channel and the
estuary of the
River Severn.
Somerset is a
rural county of rolling hills such as the
Mendip Hills and
Exmoor National Park, downland, and large flat expanses of land including the
Somerset Levels.
Administration
The
ceremonial county of Somerset consists of a
non-metropolitan county and two
unitary authorities. The
districts of Somerset are
West Somerset,
South Somerset,
Taunton Deane,
Mendip and
Sedgemoor. The two administratively independent unitary authorities, which were established on
1 April 1996 following the break up of the
county of Avon, are
North Somerset and
Bath and North East Somerset. These unitary authorities include areas that were once part of Somerset before the creation of Avon in 1974.
The
Department for Communities and Local Government is considering a proposal by Somerset County Council to change Somerset's administrative structure by abolishing the five districts to create a Somerset unitary authority. The changes are planned to be implemented no later than
1 April 2009.
[1][2]
However, support for the county council's bid is not guaranteed and opposition among the district council and local population is strong, with 82% of people responding to a referendum organized by the five district councils rejecting the proposals.
[3]
Etymology
The name is pronounced as though spelled 'Summerset'. The name derives from
Old English ''Sumorsǣte'', which is short for ''Sumortūnsǣte'' = "the people living at or dependent upon Sumortūn.
[4]
''Sumortūn'' is modern
Somerton and means "summer settlement", a
farmstead tended during the summer but not occupied in winter.
[5] However, Somerton is not down on the moors where only summer occupation was possible because of flooding but on a hill where winter occupation would have been feasible.
The name continues in the
motto of the county, 'Sumorsaete ealle', meaning 'all the people of Somerset' in
Old English.
History
:''For the full article see
History of Somerset''
The
Somerset Levels, and specifically the
dry points such as
Glastonbury and
Brent Knoll, have a long history of settlement, and are known to have been settled by
Mesolithic hunters.
[6]
The caves of the
Mendip Hills were settled during the
Neolithic period and contain extensive
archaeological sites such as the
caves of Cheddar Gorge. There are numerous
Iron Age Hill Forts, some of which were later reused in the
Dark Ages, such as
Cadbury Castle.
[7]
Somerset, like
Dorset to the south, held the
Saxon invasion back for over a century, remaining a frontier between the Saxons and the Romano-British Celts. The first known use of the name ''Somersæte'' was in
845 after the region fell to the Saxons. After the
Norman Conquest the county was divided into 700
fiefs, and large areas were owned by the crown.
In the
English Civil War Somerset was largely
Parliamentarian. In
1685 the
Monmouth Rebellion was played out in Somerset and neighbouring Dorset. The rebels landed at
Lyme Regis and travelled north hoping to capture
Bristol and
Bath, but were defeated at the
Battle of Sedgemoor.
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.
Somerset contains
England's oldest
prison still in use, in the small town of
Shepton Mallet, and the world's oldest known engineered
roadway, the
Sweet Track.
Geology, landscape and ecology
Main articles: Geology of Somerset
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. To the north east of the
Somerset Levels, the
Mendip Hills are moderately high, often mountain
limestone hills with an extensive network of
caves and underground
rivers and a number of
gorges, famously
Cheddar Gorge. of the central and western Mendip Hills was designated an
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1972. The main
habitat on these hills is
calcareous grassland, with some
arable agriculture. To the north of the hills is the
Chew Valley and to the south, on the clay substrate, are a number of broad valleys which support
dairy farming and drain into the
Somerset Levels. This expanse of flat land, stretching up to inland, is only a few feet above sea level. Before it was drained, much of the land was under a shallow brackish sea in winter and a marsh in summer. Drainage started in
Roman times, restarting in
Saxon times and is continuing now. According to legend
Joseph of Arimathea sailed across the levels to
Glastonbury, a dry point near the eastern edge of the 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. The highest point in Somerset is
Dunkery Beacon on Exmoor, with an altitude of . Over 100 sites have been designated as
Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Somerset.
The coastline of the
Bristol Channel and
Severn estuary forms part of the northern border of Somerset. The Bristol Channel has one of the largest tidal ranges in the world, at
Burnham-on-Sea, for example, the tidal range of a spring tide is over . Proposals for the construction of a
Severn Barrage aim to harness this energy. The main coastal towns of today are, from the west to the north east,
Minehead,
Watchet, Burnham-on-Sea,
Weston-super-Mare,
Clevedon and
Portishead. The coastal area between Minehead and the eastern extreme of the administrative county’s coastline at Brean Down is known as Bridgwater Bay, which is a
National Nature Reserve.
[8]
North of that, the coast forms Weston Bay and Sand Bay, then the Mouth of the Severn.
[9]
In the mid and north of the county the coastline is low as the flat wetlands of the levels meet the sea. In the west the coastline is high and dramatic as the plateau of Exmoor meets the sea with high
cliffs and
waterfalls.
8
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.
8
The
Somerset coalfield in the north of the county is part of a larger coalfield which stretches into
Gloucestershire.
Climate
Along with the rest of
South West England, Somerset has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than the rest of
England. The annual mean temperature is approximately 10 °C and shows a
seasonal and a
diurnal variation, but due to the modifying effect of the sea the range is less than in most other parts of the UK. January is the coldest month with mean minimum temperatures between 1 and 2 °C. July and August are the warmest months in the region with mean daily maxima around 21 °C.
The number of hours of bright
sunshine is controlled by the length of day and by cloudiness. In general December is the dullest month and June the sunniest. 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, especially near hills, and acts to reduce sunshine amounts. The average annual sunshine totals around 1600 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. In summer, convection caused by solar surface heating sometimes forms shower
clouds and a large proportion of rainfall falls from showers and
thunderstorms at this time of year. Average rainfall is around 31–35 inches (800–900 mm). 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.
[10]
Economy and industry
The
Dunster Yarn Market was built in 1609 for the trading of local cloth
Somerset has few industrial centres.
Bridgwater was developed during the
Industrial Revolution as the West Country's leading port.
Yeovil is important in the manufacture of
helicopters. Many towns have developed small-scale
light industries, such as
Crewkerne's
Ariel Motor Company, Ltd, one of the UK's smallest car manufacturers.
Agriculture continues to be a major business in the county, if no longer a major employer.
Apple orchards were once plentiful, and to this day Somerset is linked to the production of strong
cider, arguably more so than any other part of the world. The towns of
Taunton and
Shepton Mallet are involved with the production of cider, especially
Blackthorn Cider, which is sold nationwide.
Much of the county is scenic and unspoilt. Tourism is a major industry in the county, estimated in
2001 to support around 23,000 people.
[11]
Attractions include its coastal towns, part of the
Exmoor National Park, the
West Somerset Railway (a
heritage railway), and the museum of the
Fleet Air Arm at
RNAS Yeovilton. The town of
Glastonbury is famous for its mythical associations, and open-air
rock festival (actually in
Pilton), while the
Cheddar Gorge is famous for
caves open to visitors, as well as its locally produced
cheese.
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of the non-metropolitan county of Somerset at current basic prices
published (pp.240-253) by ''Office for National Statistics'' with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
| Year | Regional Gross Value Added[12] | Agriculture[13] | Industry[14] | Services[15] |
|---|
| 1995 | '4,601' | 298 | 1,608 | 2,695 |
| 2000 | '5,872' | 199 | 1,936 | 3,737 |
| 2003 | '6,586' | 215 | 1,956 | 4,416 |
Culture
Somerset has traditions of art, music and literature.
Wordsworth and
Coleridge wrote while staying in
Nether Stowey,
Alfoxden and
Porlock in the west of the county. The writer
Evelyn Waugh spent his last years in the village of
Combe Florey. Traditional folk music, both song and dance, was important in the agricultural communities. Somerset songs were collected by
Cecil Sharp and incorporated into a number of works including
Holst's ''
A Somerset Rhapsody''. Halsway Manor near
Williton is an international centre for folk music. The tradition continues today with groups such as
The Wurzels.
The
Glastonbury Festival of Performing Arts takes place most years in
Pilton, near
Shepton Mallet, attracting over 100,000 music and culture lovers from around the world, and world-famous entertainers.
The annual circuit of
West Country Carnivals is held in a variety of Somerset towns during the autumn, forming a major regional festival, and the largest light festival in Europe.
See also:
★
Music of Somerset
Settlements
Palladian Pulteney Bridge and the weir at Bath
The West Somerset Railway
The original
county town of Somerset was
Somerton, but in recent years that role has been transferred to
Taunton. The county has two cities,
Bath and
Wells.
'Main settlements'
:''For the complete list of settlements see
List of places in Somerset''
Place names
Somerset settlement names are mostly Anglo-Saxon in origin. A few hill names include
Brythonic elements, for example a charter of 682 concerning Creechborough Hill defines it as "the hill the British call ''Cructan'' and we call ''Crychbeorh''". A few modern names are Brythonic in origin, such as Tarnock, while a few others have both Saxon and Brythonic elements such as Penhill.
Many of the river names are Brythonic, while a few may be pre-British such as Parret (earlier Pedred).
Places of interest
:''For the complete list of places of interest see ''
See also
★
West Country dialects
★
Music of Somerset
★
BBC Somerset Sound
★
List of places in Somerset
★
Villages in Somerset
★
★
West Country Carnival
★
List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Somerset
★
Somerset County Cricket Club
References
1. A unitary council for Somerset
2. Proposals for future unitary structures: Stakeholder consultation
3. Residents reject Unitary Council bid
4. The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, , Victor (Ed.), Watts, Cambridge University Press, , ISBN 0-521-36209-1
5. Mesolithic hunters and fishermen
6. Somerset
7. Mendip Hills An Archaeological Survey of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
8. Somerset Topography
9.
10. About south-west England
11. Employers in Somerset
12. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
13. includes hunting and forestry
14. includes energy and construction
15. includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
★
Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911,
"Somersetshire".
External links
★
Somerset County Council
★
BBC Somerset
★
Rode First School, Somerset
★
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