X-Nico

69 unusual facts about Somerset


Abbey104

Abbey104 (formerly known as Radio Sherborne) is a community radio station broadcasting on 104.7 FM to Sherborne and the surrounding areas in Dorset and Somerset.

Ann Street Barry

Ann Street Barry (1734 – 29 November 1801), second wife of Spranger Barry, was born in Bath, England in 1734, the daughter of an apothecary.

Barnstaple Priory

Juhel endowed it with part of the demesne land of Barnstaple Castle as well as with the manors of Pilton and Pilland, members of the barony, which were contiguous and situated immediately to the north across the River Yeo.

Bartholomew Clerke

He was grandson of Richard Clerke, gentleman, of Livermere in Suffolk, and son of John Clerke of Wells, Somerset, by Anne, daughter and heiress of Henry Grantoft of Huntingdonshire.

Bath by-election, 1929

The Bath by-election, 1929 was a parliamentary by-election held on 21 March 1929 for the constituency of Bath in Somerset.

Bath Preservation Trust

The Bath Preservation Trust is an independent charity based in Bath, Somerset, England which exists to safeguard the historic character of the city of Bath, the only complete city in the UK that (along with its environs) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and to champion its sustainable future.

Battle of Lansdowne

On 3 July, skirmishes took place at Claverton and at Waller's positions south and east of Bath.

Brislington Brook

The other briefly enters Bath and North East Somerset, then enters a shallow valley, passing underneath Saltwell Viaduct, which carries the A37 Wells Road.

Bruton Abbey

It was subsequently refounded as a house of Augustinian canons in 1135, by William de Mohun, who later became the Earl of Somerset.

Bruton Parish Church

The name of the parish comes from the town of Bruton, in the English county of Somerset, which was the ancestral home to several leading colonial figures, notably Virginia's colonial secretary Thomas Ludwell and the Ludwell family, as well as that of the Royal Governor, Sir William Berkeley.

Cavendish Crescent, Bath

Cavendish Crescent in Bath, Somerset, is a Georgian crescent built in the early 19th century to a design by the architect John Pinch the elder.

Cephalanthera rubra

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the species was recorded from single sites in Somerset, Sussex and Kent, and a second Hampshire site (in the upper Test Valley).

Church of Holy Trinity, Burrington

The Church of the Holy Trinity in Burrington, Somerset, England, is from the 15th century and was restored in 1884.

Church of St Andrew, Backwell

The parish is part of the benefice of Backwell with Chelvey and Brockley within the deanery of Portishead.

Church of St Andrew, Chew Magna

The Church of St Andrew in Chew Magna, Somerset, England dates from the 12th century with a large 15th-century pinnacled sandstone tower, a Norman font and a rood screen that is the full width of the church.

Church of St Bridget, Chelvey

Bridget's Church in Chelvey, Brockley, Somerset, England dates from the 12th century, and has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building.

Church of St John the Baptist, Hinton Charterhouse

The parish is part of the benefice of Freshford, Limpley Stoke and Hinton Charterhouse within the archdeaconry of Bath.

Church of St Luke and St Andrew, Priston

The Church of St Luke and St Andrew in Priston, Somerset, England has a nave dating from the 12th century, on the site of an earlier Norman church.

Corston

Corston, Somerset, village in the county of Somerset in the United Kingdom

Cossington

Cossington, Somerset is a village on the Polden Hills between Bridgwater and Street in Somerset

Cranmore chase

The winner of the race Benjamin was made a freeman of Batcombe and granted an annual stipend.

Crewkerne Castle

Crewkerne Castle (which is also known as Castle Hill or Croft Castle) was possibly a Norman motte and bailey castle on a mound that is situated north-west of the town of Crewkerne in Somerset, England.

Drayton, Queensland

Thomas Alford, an early settler in the area who built a house, general store, and post office in the area, named the town after his home village in Somerset.

Drepanopterus

The only other fully described valid species is Drepanopterus abonensis, from the Upper Devonian of Portishead, Somerset.

Easton Cowboys and Cowgirls

The club celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2012 with an international tournament at Berrow, Somerset, and hopes to have its own home ground in the future.

Eduserv Foundation

The Foundation was part of Eduserv, which is based in Bath, UK, and which continues to carry out research and innovation projects that build on the Foundation's work.

Eliza Maria Gillespie

Eliza Maria first attended the school of the Dominican Sisters at Somerset, Ohio, and completed her studies at the Visitation Convent at Georgetown, D.C., in 1844.

Frances Freeling Broderip

He was born at Wells, Somersetshire, in 1814, educated at Eton, and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he took his B.A. 1837, M.A. 1839, became rector of Cossington, Somersetshire, 1844, and died at Cossington on 10 April 1866.

Francis Hawley, 2nd Baron Hawley

He instead stood for election to the English House of Commons for Somerset in 1705 but was unsuccessful.

He succeeded his grandfather Lord Hawley in the barony in 1684, also inheriting large estates in Berkshire, Devon, Dorset and Somerset.

Geoffrey Ashe

Ashe has also helped demonstrate, through acting as secretary to a dig undertaken by Dr. Ralegh Radford in 1966-70, that Cadbury Castle in Somerset, identified as Camelot by the sixteenth-century antiquary John Leland, was actually refortified in the latter part of the fifth century, in works as yet unparalleled elsewhere in Britain at the time.

Goldcliff Priory

In 1334 the prior Phillip Gopillarius ("Philip de Gopylers") was charged—along with a monk, some clergy and fifty other persons from Newport, Nash, Goldcliff, Clevedon and Portishead—with stealing wine and other merchandise from a vessel wrecked at Goldcliff.

Great Pulteney Street

Great Pulteney Street is a grand thoroughfare that connects Bathwick on the east of the River Avon with the City of Bath, England via the Robert Adam designed Pulteney Bridge.

Guild of St George

(A generous benefactor, Mrs Greg, who became a companion in the 1930s, gifted to the Guild her own nature diaries and other precious items, and Green Pastures bungalow in Holcombe, near Bath (sold in 1962-3)).

Guildford Cathedral

Inside, the cathedral appears to be filled with light, with pale Somerset limestone pillars and white Italian marble floors.

Harriet Waylett

The daughter of a tradesman in Bath, Somerset, Harriet Cooke was born there on 7 February 1798; her uncle was a member of the Drury Lane Theatre company, and Sarah Cooke was her cousin.

Hebron Church, Long Ashton

Hebron Church in Long Ashton, North Somerset, near Bristol in England, was first founded in 1934 by Ernest Dyer.

Hugh Clifford, 2nd Baron Clifford of Chudleigh

Hugh Clifford, 2nd Baron Clifford of Chudleigh (1663–1730) was baptized on 21 December 1663 in Ugbrooke and died on 12 October 1730 in Cannington, Somerset, England.

Hundred of Taunton Deane

The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by a merger of the Municipal Borough of Taunton, Wellington Urban District, Taunton Rural District, and Wellington Rural District.

Jack Whicher

Detective Inspector Jonathan 'Jack' Whicher's fame had spread, and he was at the height of his powers when in July 1860 he was sent by Scotland Yard to assist the local police in the small village of Rode (then in Wiltshire) in investigating the murder of 3-year-old Francis Saville Kent.

Jenny Hansen

Jenny Hansen is an American gymnast from Somerset, Wisconsin.

Jordan James

Jordan James (born 24 May 1980 in Bath, Somerset, England) is a Welsh rugby league international Captain and player, who currently plays for Wales and for Salford of Super League, he has previously played for Crusaders, South Wales Scorpions, Swinton, Widnes, Castleford, Sheffield Eagles and Wigan.

KZJK

Although they were licensed to the west Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park, the tower was located far east of the Twin Cities, in Somerset, Wisconsin.

Laura Place, Bath

Laura Place Bathwick, Bath, Somerset, England, consists of four blocks of houses around an irregular quadrangle at the end of Pulteney Bridge.

London Tuesday

The front cover of both the CD and DVD editions of this album show a bearded figure in black, standing against a backdrop that has been identified by Jandek list members as being the city of Bath, Somerset in England.

Mid-Suffolk Light Railway

The Middy was short-listed as the location for the 1952 Ealing Studios film The Titfield Thunderbolt, but the Camerton and Limpley Stoke line south of Bath was used instead.

Mississinewa River

The dustjacket explains that this county is located “east of Spoon River, west of Winesburg, and slightly north of Raintree County.” Its county seat is the actual rural town of Somerset next to the Mississinewa (River) Reservoir.

New Brunswick Marconi Station

New Brunswick Marconi Station (40.51529° N 74.48895° W) was located at JFK Boulevard and Easton Avenue just a few minutes from the New Brunswick border in Somerset, New Jersey.

North Somerset Council election, 2011

The 2011 North Somerset Council election took place on 5 May 2011 to elect members of North Somerset Unitary Council in Somerset, England.

Octagon Chapel, Bath

The Octagon Chapel in Milsom Street, Bath, Somerset, England was built in 1767 and has been designated as a Grade II* listed building.

Peppin Merino

In March 1858, the Peppin brothers, who had emigrated from Dulverton, Somerset in England, purchased Wanganella Station, near Wanganella township in the Riverina district of New South Wales.

Purnell and Sons

Purnell and Sons was a small family printer based in Somerset which merged with other printers to become a large national publisher.

Rebellion of 1088

They were spread far and wide geographically from Kent, controlled by Bishop Odo, to Northumberland, controlled by Robert de Mowbray, to Gloucestershire and Somerset under Geoffrey de Montbray (Bishop of Coutances), to Norfolk with Roger Bigod, Roger of Montgomery at Shrewsbury in Shropshire, and a vast swathe of territory in the south-west, centre and south of England under Count Robert.

River Otter

The River Otter rises in the Blackdown Hills just inside the county of Somerset, England near Otterford, then flows south for some 32 km through East Devon to the English Channel at the western end of Lyme Bay, part of the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Permian and Triassic sandstone aquifer in the Otter Valley is one of Devon's largest groundwater sources, supplying drinking water to 200,000 people.

Soda fountain

Many civilizations believed that drinking and/or bathing in these mineral waters cured diseases, and large industries often sprang up around hot springs, such as Bath in England or the many onsen of Japan.

Somerset, Kentucky

In 2004, Somerset was featured on the television series City Confidential.

Somerset, Massachusetts

Stephen Rebello, writer and screenwriter known for such books as Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho and for the screenplay of Hitchcock (film) based on that book.

Somerton Tunnel

Not far from the west end of the tunnel, in Long Sutton, there is an old derelict building which is said to have been used as an explosives store for the GWR engineers at the time of construction.

Soo Line High Bridge

The Soo Line High Bridge is a steel deck arch bridge over the St. Croix River between Stillwater, Minnesota and Somerset, Wisconsin.

St Mary Magdalene's Church, Langridge

St Mary Magdalene's Church at Langridge in the parish of Charlcombe, Somerset, England dates from the 12th century and has been designated as a Grade I listed building.

St Nicholas' Church, Brockley

St Nicholas' Church in Brockley, Somerset, England dates from the 12th century, and has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II* listed building.

Strides Arcolab

USA - The company has a soft gelatin capsule plant at Somerset, New Jersey, USA.

The RiverBank

Locations have since been added in MarketPlace Foods and Somerset, Wisconsin and in Chisago City and Wyoming, Minnesota.

Thomas Linley the elder

Thomas Linley (17 January 1733 – 19 November 1795), English musician, was born in Badminton, Gloucestershire, and studied music in Bath, where he settled as a singing-master and conductor of the concerts.

Viscount Bridport

The 2nd Viscount represented West Somerset in Parliament as a Conservative.

West Somerset Council election, 2007

The 2007 West Somerset Council election took place on 3 May 2007 to elect members of West Somerset District Council in Somerset, England.

Who I Was Born to Be

In August 2013 Boyle performed the song during the opening ceremonies of the 2013 Special Olympics held at the Royal Crescent in Bath.

William Savery

At Bath, he met the English religious writer and philanthropist, Hannah More, and was introduced by her to the preeminent abolitionist of the time, William Wilberforce.

Wrinstone

Through her marriage to Simon de Raleigh, of Nettlecombe, Somerset, the Wrinstone manor passed to the de Raleighs, their descendants holding the manor for six generations.


Battle of Peonnum

The Saxons were victorious, and Cenwalh advanced west through the Polden Hills to the River Parrett, annexing eastern and central Somerset.

Bessie Blount

Elizabeth Blount, mistress of Henry VIII of England and mother of his son, Henry Fitzroy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset

Church of All Saints, Sutton Bingham

The Church of All Saints in Sutton Bingham in the civil parish of Closworth, Somerset, England dates from the 12th and 13th centuries and has been designated as a Grade I listed building.

Coal Measures Group

In those coalfields to the south of the former Wales-Brabant High i.e. the South Wales, Bristol, Somerset, Forest of Dean and concealed Oxfordshire and Kent coalfields, the corresponding group is the South Wales Coal Measures Group.

Cowick, Devon

By marriage the property passed to Amy Fraunceis (d.1703/4), daughter of John Fraunceis of Combe Flory, Somerset, and wife of Edmund Prideaux (1634-1702), MP, of Forde Abbey and from her to her daughter Katherine Prideaux, who had married in 1679 at Exeter Sir John Speke of Whitelackington, Somerset.

Dickie Burrough

Herbert Dickinson "Dickie" Burrough, born at Wedmore, Somerset, on 6 February 1909, and died at Padstow, Cornwall, on 9 April 1994, played 171 first-class cricket matches for Somerset in a career that last for 20 years from 1927.

Edward Somerset

Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worcester (1601?–1667), styled Lord Herbert of Ragland, English nobleman, son of Henry Somerset, 1st Marquess of Worcester

Elizabeth Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort

# Lady Henrietta Somerset (26 April 1748 – 24 July 1770, aged 22), married Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Baronet on 6 April 1769, no issue.

Frederick Baitup

Playing as a tailender, Baitup picked up eleven runs in the only innings in which he batted, as Somerset picked up an innings victory thanks to a century and a double-century from Jack MacBryan and Dar Lyon respectively.

Gazebo

Examples of such structures are the garden houses at Montacute House in Somerset, England.

George Hunt

George E. Hunt (1896–1959), medium-pace bowler who made over 200 appearances for Somerset

Highbury Hill, Clutton

Highbury Hill in Clutton, Somerset, England is the site of the earthwork remains of an Iron Age univallate hillfort.

International Tour de Toona

The event became the largest pro-am cycling event in North America and had stages spanning Blair, Cambria, Bedford, and Somerset Counties in Pennsylvania.

John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset

Somerset died in the Hospital of St Katharine's by the Tower.

Johnstone Street, Bath

Johnstone Street in the Bathwick area of Bath, Somerset, England was designed in 1788 by Thomas Baldwin, with some of the buildings being completed around 1805-1810 by John Pinch the elder.

Jon Callard

Callard taught physical education classes and sports classes at Downside School (Somerset) in the early to mid-1990s.

Jonathan Binns Were

Were was the third son of the late Nicholas Were, of Landcox, Somerset, and was born at Wellington, in that county.

KSJL

KYTY, a radio station (810 AM) licensed to serve Somerset, Texas, United States, which held the call sign KSJL from 1998 to 2007

Leonard Sharland

After ten years there he moved to a country parish as Rector of St Mary’s, Hardington Mandeville, near Yeovil, Somerset.

Liber Exoniensis

It contains a variety of administrative materials concerning the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire.

Locking Castle

Locking Castle was a castle that once stood on Carberry Hill near the site of RAF Locking in Locking in the North Somerset district of Somerset, England.

Lulsgate

Lulsgate Plateau, an outlier of the Mendip Hills in North Somerset, England

Margaret Beaufort

Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Stafford (c. 1427–1474), the daughter of Edmund Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset (second creation) and the mother of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham.

Neshanic

Neshanic Station, New Jersey, an unincorporated community within Branchburg Township, Somerset County

Paul Spencer Sochaczewski

Gary Braver, bestselling author of Skin Deep, said “Paul’s writing in The Sultan and the Mermaid Queen has the humanity of Somerset Maugham, the adventure of Joseph Conrad, the perception of Paul Theroux, and a self-effacing voice uniquely his own.”

Pelagosaurus

Pelagosaurus was originally described from a specimen from Normandy, but the holotype for P. typus was discovered north of the town of Ilminster in Somerset, England.

RAF Northleach

Glider Training School left RAF Stoke Orchard and RAF Northleach for good relocating to RAF Exeter, Devon and its satellite of RAF Culmhead, Somerset.

Raritan

Raritan Inc., a provider of KVM Switches and IT infrastructure management solutions, in Somerset, New Jersey

Reading to Taunton line

The next junction on the right is at Witham, where the old East Somerset Railway carries stone trains from Merehead Quarry and continues to Cranmore.

Seymour Clark

Clark, a local club cricketer in Weston and a locomotive driver with the Great Western Railway, was called into the Somerset side for five matches when regular wicketkeeper Wally Luckes was ill.

Somerset Holmes

Both Jones and Campbell feel strongly that the 1996 Geena Davis movie The Long Kiss Goodnight was an unauthorized, and unpaid for, theft of the Somerset Holmes idea.

Somerset Rebels

The Somerset management looked for a more solid line up given the greater emphasis on away wins and he was replaced by Jason Doyle who had spent the previous season at Elite League team Poole.

Somerset Space Walk

Funding for the project came from the Committee on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS), the initial advertising leaflet was paid for by the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) and there was also a small grant from Sustrans, who fund art installations along cyclepaths, to deal with maintenance requirements in the years before Somerset County Council took on that responsibility.

Somerset, New Jersey

Roy Hinson, first-round draft pick of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1983 who played for eight seasons in the NBA.

Somerset, Tasmania

The school follows the Accelerated Christian Education curriculum and is for students from kinder to grade 12.

South West Water

South West Water provides drinking water and waste water services throughout Cornwall and Devon and in small areas of Dorset and Somerset.

Stokeleigh Camp

It has been suggested that Stokeleigh was connected with the Wansdyke, a series of defensive linear earthworks, consisting of a ditch and an embankment running at least from Maes Knoll in Somerset, to the Savernake Forest near Marlborough in Wiltshire, however there is little evidence for this.

Westhay Heath

This is the only site in Somerset where the nationally rare Marsh Harrier (Circus areuginosus) breeds.

William Fitz Reynold

His name is listed in the Somerset region and is also one of the earliest recorded members of the Reynolds family.

WNTW

WLLI, a radio station (990 AM) licensed to serve Somerset, Pennsylvania, United States, which held the call sign WNTW from 2004 to 2013

World Horse Welfare

Horses needing attention are taken into one of charities four Recovery and Rehabilitation Centres, based in Norfolk, Somerset, Lancashire and Aberdeenshire.