Somerton is a community and civil parish in the English area of Somerset. It provided its name to the county and also was briefly, around the beginning of the 14th century, the county town, and around 900 was perhaps the capital of Wessex. It has held an once a week market given that the Middle Ages, as well as the primary square with its market cross is today an attractive location for visitors. Located on the River Cary, approximately 8.8 miles (14.2 km) north-west of Yeovil, Somerton has its very own community council serving a population of 4,697 since 2011. Citizens are typically described locally as Somertonians. The civil parish includes the communities of Etsome, Hurcot, Catsgore, as well as Catcombe. The history of Somerton go back to the Anglo-Saxon period, when it was a crucial political and industrial centre. After the Norman conquest of England the value of the community decreased, in spite of being the county town of Somerset in the late thirteenth century and also early fourteenth century. Having shed county town condition, Somerton after that ended up being a market community in the Middle Ages, whose economic climate was supported by transportation systems making use of the River Parrett, and later on rail transportation via the Great Western Railway, as well as by light industries consisting of glove production as well as plaster mining. In the centre of Somerton the broad 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 in the Middle Ages. The BBC drama The Monocled Mutineer was filmed in Somerton from 1985 to 1986.