Somerton is a town and civil parish in the English area of Somerset. It offered its name to the region and also was quickly, around the begin of the 14th century, the county town, and around 900 was perhaps the resources of Wessex. It has held an once a week market since the Middle Ages, and the major square with its market cross is today an eye-catching place for site visitors. Situated on the River Cary, about 8.8 miles (14.2 km) north-west of Yeovil, Somerton has its very own town council serving a population of 4,697 as of 2011. Locals are typically described locally as Somertonians. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Etsome, Hurcot, Catsgore, and also Catcombe. The background of Somerton go back to the Anglo-Saxon age, when it was a crucial political and commercial centre. After the Norman conquest of England the value of the community declined, despite being the county town of Somerset in the late thirteenth century and very early fourteenth century. Having actually lost county town status, Somerton then ended up being a market town in the Middle Ages, whose economy was supported by transport systems making use of the River Parrett, as well as later on rail transportation by means of the Great Western Railway, and also by light sectors including handwear cover making and gypsum mining. In the centre of Somerton the wide market square, with its octagonal roofed market cross, is bordered by old houses, while nearby is the 13th century Church of St Michael and All Angels. Somerton additionally had relate to Muchelney Abbey in the Middle Ages. The BBC drama The Monocled Mutineer was shot in Somerton from 1985 to 1986.