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Somerton is a small town and civil parish in the English county of Somerset. It gave its name to the county, and was briefly, around the start of the 14th century, the county town, and around 900 AD was possibly the capital of Wessex. It has held a weekly market since the Middle Ages, and the main square with its market cross is today an attractive location for visitors. Situated on the River Cary, approximately north-west of Yeovil, Somerton has its own town council serving a population of 4,697 as of 2011. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Etsome and Hurcot. The history of Somerton dates back to the Anglo-Saxon era, when it was an important political and commercial centre. After the Norman conquest of England the importance of the town declined, despite being the county town of Somerset in the late thirteenth century and early fourteenth century. Having lost county town status, Somerton then became a market town in the Middle Ages, whose economy was supported by transport systems using the River Parrett, and later rail transport via the Great Western Railway, and by light industries including glove making and gypsum mining. In the centre of Somerton the wide market square, with its octagonal roofed market cross, is surrounded by old houses, while close by is the 13th century Church of St Michael and All Angels. Somerton also had links with Muchelney Abbey in the Middle Ages. The BBC drama ''The Monocled Mutineer'' was filmed in Somerton from 1985 to 1986. == History == The earliest reference to the town is in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', which records that in 733 the King of Wessex, Æthelheard lost control of Somerton to Æthelbald, King of Mercia.〔 Somerton was the site of the 949 meeting of the witan, a form of Anglo-Saxon parliament. The town returned to West Saxon royal control in the ninth century, and it was listed in the ''Domesday Book'' of 1086 as "Sumertone". The name may come from Old English for "sea-lake enclosure", "summer town" or "summer farmstead". The Somerton name was extended to the people in the area it controlled, and this area became known as Somerset, although Somerton soon ceased to be the most important settlement and never grew into a large town.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 url=http://www.somerton.co.uk/index.php?id=24 )〕 The parish was the largest in the Hundred of Somerton.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 url=http://www.somerton.co.uk/index.php?id=24 )〕 It was, briefly, the county town of Somerset from the late thirteenth century into the early fourteenth century. A building referred to as "Somerset castle" is believed to have been built around 1280 as a county gaol,〔 with a visitor in 1579 describing the remaining portion as "an old tower embattled about castle-like". It was owned by Sir Ralph Cromwell between 1423 and 1433. Details are vague and visible remains have vanished, so its status as a castle and its very existence is in doubt, with one writer, D.J.C. King, feeling that people were confusing it with Somerton Castle in Lincolnshire.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Somerton Castle )〕 The Abbots of Muchelney Abbey held the Rectorship of the parish church of Somerton during the Middle Ages. They built a tithe barn, to house the tithes of crops and produce paid by the parish to the town's Rector.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 url=http://www.somertonmuseum.org.uk/index.php?table=subcat&idnum=45 )〕 The Abbey was dissolved in 1539 during the English Reformation, and the tithes and the tithe barn passed into the ownership of Bristol Cathedral. In the 20th century the barn was converted into private housing.〔 Glove making was a major industry in the town in the early nineteenth century, along with the production of rope and twine. The Somerton Brewery, owned by a local landowner named Thomas Templeman, was first recorded under the Tithe Apportionment Act of 1841.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 url=http://www.somerton.co.uk/index.php?id=111 )〕 The brewery became a large producer in Somerset until its final closure around 1935.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 url=http://www.somerton.co.uk/page/brewery/108/ )〕 Before the National Insurance and the Health Service was introduced, Somerton Men's Club acted as a local provident society within the area.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 url=http://www.visitoruk.com/historydetail.php?id=30905&cid=592&f=Glastonbury )〕 Gypsum was extracted by hand at the Hurcott open-cast mine from the Victorian era up until it closed down in 1953.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Alabaster mine )〕 In 1906, a railway station opened on the Castle Cary Cut-Off which was built by the Great Western Railway. Whilst the line still remains in use, the station was closed in 1962. When the Marconi Company built the radio stations known as the Imperial Wireless Chain for the Post Office during 1925–26, they also established their own transmitting station at Dorchester with a receiving station away at Somerton.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Dorchester Radio Station )〕 Somerton was hit by four Luftwaffe bombs on the morning of 29 September 1942 during the Second World War. The bombs were aimed at the Cow and Gate milk factory and it was largely destroyed. Ten nearby houses were badly damaged. Nine people were killed and thirty seven injured.〔Hawkins, Mac (1996) ''Somerset at War, 1930–1945'', Hawk Editions, p 76〕 A memorial at the dairy site commemorates those killed.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 url=http://www.somerton.co.uk/page/memorial_gardens/127 )〕 The factory later became a district council depot, and was recently bought by the town council for possible use as the site of a new town hall. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Somerton」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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