In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Somerton like this:
SOMERTON, a small town, a parish, a sub-district, and a hundred, in Somerset. The town stands on an eminence adjacent to the river Cary, 5 miles ENE of Langport r. station; was a residence of the West Saxon kings, and gave name to Somersetshire; suffered devastation by the Danes in 877; had anciently a castle, in which King John of France was confined; is now a seat of petty-sessions; and has a post-office‡ under Taunton, a banking office, two chief inns, a town hall, an ancient market cross, a recent police station, a decorated English church, three dissenting chapels, an endowed school with £30 a year, a national school, alms houses with £50 a year, charities £59, a weekly market on Tuesday, and nine annual fairs.—The parish includes the tythings of S.-Borough, S.-Earl, and Hurcott, and the hamlets of S.-Door, Catsgore, Highbrooks, and Midney. ...
Acres, 6,925. Real property, £11,973. Pop., 2,206. Houses, 480. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Bath and Wells. Value, £279.* Patron, the Earl of Ilchester. -The sub-district contains nine parishes, and is in Langport district. Acres, 20,744. Pop., 5,797. Houses, 1,266.-The hundred comprises 24,917 acres. Pop., 5,929. Houses, 1,271.
Somerton through time
Somerton is now part of South Somerset district. Click here for graphs and data of how South Somerset has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Somerton itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Somerton in South Somerset | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/13227
Date accessed: 26th April 2024
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