Somerton
Somerton is a town and civil parish in the English area of Somerset. It provided its name to the area and also was briefly, around the start of the 14th century, the county town, and around 900 was potentially the capital of Wessex. It has actually held a regular market because the Middle Ages, and also the main square with its market cross is today an eye-catching place for visitors. Situated on the River Cary, about 8.8 miles (14.2 km) north-west of Yeovil, Somerton has its own community council serving a population of 4,697 as of 2011. Homeowners are often described locally as Somertonians. The civil parish includes the districts of Etsome, Hurcot, Catsgore, and also Catcombe. The history of Somerton go back to the Anglo-Saxon era, when it was an important political and business centre. After the Norman conquest of England the relevance of the community decreased, in spite of being the county town of Somerset in the late thirteenth century and also early fourteenth century. Having lost county town condition, Somerton after that came to be a market community in the Middle Ages, whose economic climate was sustained by transport systems using the River Parrett, as well as later rail transport using the Great Western Railway, as well as by light markets including handwear cover production and plaster mining. In the centre of Somerton the broad market square, with its octagonal roofed market cross, is bordered by old houses, while close by is the 13th century Church of St Michael and All Angels. Somerton likewise had links with Muchelney Abbey in the Middle Ages. The BBC drama The Monocled Mutineer was shot in Somerton from 1985 to 1986.