Somerton is a community as well as civil parish in the English region of Somerset. It gave its name to the area and was briefly, around the start of the 14th century, the county town, and around 900 was perhaps the funding of Wessex. It has held a regular market since the Middle Ages, as well as the primary square with its market cross is today an eye-catching place for site visitors. Located on the River Cary, roughly 8.8 miles (14.2 kilometres) north-west of Yeovil, Somerton has its own town council offering a population of 4,697 as of 2011. Citizens are typically referred to locally as Somertonians. The civil parish consists of the communities of Etsome, Hurcot, Catsgore, and also Catcombe. The background of Somerton go back to the Anglo-Saxon period, when it was a crucial political as well as industrial centre. After the Norman conquest of England the importance of the town declined, in spite of being the county town of Somerset in the late thirteenth century and also very early fourteenth century. Having actually lost county town standing, Somerton after that became a market community in the Middle Ages, whose economic climate was sustained by transportation systems using the River Parrett, as well as later rail transport through the Great Western Railway, and by light markets consisting of glove making and also plaster mining. In the centre of Somerton the large market square, with its octagonal roofed market cross, is bordered by old homes, while nearby is the 13th century Church of St Michael and All Angels. Somerton additionally had relate to Muchelney Abbey between Ages. The BBC drama The Monocled Mutineer was filmed in Somerton from 1985 to 1986.