Somerton is a community and also civil parish in the English county of Somerset. It provided its name to the area as well as was briefly, around the beginning of the 14th century, the county town, and also around 900 was perhaps the capital of Wessex. It has actually held an once a week market since the Middle Ages, and also the primary square with its market cross is today an attractive location for visitors. Situated on the River Cary, about 8.8 miles (14.2 kilometres) north-west of Yeovil, Somerton has its very own town council serving a population of 4,697 since 2011. Residents are typically described in your area as Somertonians. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Etsome, Hurcot, Catsgore, and Catcombe. The history of Somerton dates back to the Anglo-Saxon age, when it was an essential political and also commercial centre. After the Norman occupation of England the value of the community decreased, in spite of being the county town of Somerset in the late thirteenth century and early fourteenth century. Having actually shed county town condition, Somerton after that came to be a market town in the Middle Ages, whose economic climate was sustained by transportation systems making use of the River Parrett, as well as later rail transportation using the Great Western Railway, as well as by light sectors consisting of glove making and gypsum mining. In the centre of Somerton the large market square, with its octagonal roofed market cross, is surrounded by old residences, while close by is the 13th century Church of St Michael and All Angels. Somerton also had relate to Muchelney Abbey in the Middle Ages. The BBC drama The Monocled Mutineer was filmed in Somerton from 1985 to 1986.