X-Nico

58 unusual facts about 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.

Barbastelle

In Britain, only a few breeding roosts are known; Paston Great Barn in Norfolk, parts of Exmoor and the Quantock Hills in Devon and Somerset (see Tarr Steps), the Mottisfont woodland in Hampshire and Ebernoe Common in West Sussex.

Bath and District Saturday Football League

The B&DFL operates within a 12 mile radius of Bath and whilst the majority of its clubs are based in Bath there are teams from Keynsham and outer suburbs of Bristol as well as some of the smaller outlying villages around Bath.

Battle of Lansdowne

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

Brislington Brook

Brislington Brook rises in twin tributaries fed by springs on the northern slopes of Maes Knoll, at the eastern end of Dundry Hill, just north of the boundary between Somerset and Bristol.

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.

Cambridge Colts

The team are now in the Fifth Round (the last 16) where they have been drawn at home to Weston-Super-Mare from Somerset.

Cannington Court

Cannington Court in the village of Cannington, Somerset, England was built around 1138 as the lay wing of a Benedictine nunnery, founded by Robert de Courcy.

Cannington Nunnery

Cannington Nunnery was established around 1138 and dissolved in 1536 in Cannington, Somerset, England.

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 John the Baptist, Churchill

The Church of St John the Baptist in Churchill, Somerset, England, was largely built around 1360 and is 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 Peter, Englishcombe

The Church of St Peter in Englishcombe, Somerset, England was probably built by Robert de Gournay in the 12th century.

Clutton

Clutton, Somerset, a village in Bath and North East Somerset, England

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.

DeForest Soaries

Additionally, he is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset, New Jersey, a position he has held since November 1990.

Down Ampney

Down Ampney was notable in medieval times as one of the principal seats of the powerful Hungerford family (their principal seat was at Farleigh Hungerford, Somerset) and a number of elaborate family monuments survive in the village church.

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.

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.

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.

Flag of Wiltshire

The six portions are also represent the six surrounding counties of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, Dorset and Somerset.

Francis Hawley, 2nd Baron Hawley

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.

Gerry Sweeney

Subsequently Sweeney left football and worked as a postman in Portishead, Somerset.

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)).

Hendrick Fisher

His homestead and grave are currently located near St. Andrew Memorial Church on Easton Avenue west of Davidson Avenue in the Somerset section of Franklin Township.

Henry Kiddle

Henry Kiddle (15 January 1824 Bath, England - 1891) was a United States educator and had an interest in spiritualism.

Highbury Hill, Clutton

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

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.

James Lorimer Ilsley

He was born in Somerset, Nova Scotia, the son of Randel Ilsley and Catherine Caldwell.

Jenny Hansen

Jenny Hansen is an American gymnast from Somerset, Wisconsin.

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.

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, 2007

The 2007 North Somerset Council election took place on 3 May 2007 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.

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.

River Batherm

The River Batherm is a river which flows through Somerset and Devon in England.

River Pitt

The River Pitt, also known as the Piddy, is a short tributary of the River Brue in Somerset, England.

Saint Mary's Abbey, Colwich

When released in 1795, they settled in England, first in Dorset and then at Cannington in Somerset.

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

On April 16, 2012, the ID Channel featured it on the show Sins and Secrets.

Somerset, Kings County, Nova Scotia

Boardman Robinson (1876–1952) a well-known Canadian-American artist, illustrator and cartoonist of the early 20th century, was born in Somerset.

Somerset, Tasmania

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

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.

Stacey Tadd

Stacey Tadd (born 21 February 1989 in Bath, Somerset, England) is a British breaststroke swimmer.

Taunton Tramway

Despite plans to build a network to neighbouring towns including Wiveliscombe, Wellington and North Petherton it started small with a route from Taunton railway station to the town centre.

The Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Royal Benevolent Society

It was founded at the instigation of Mr John Rye, a philanthropic retired medical man of Bath, Somerset and his servant Mr Charles Gee Jones, a former Bristol Pilot and Landlord of the Pulteney Arms in Bath, following the tragic loss of life from the Clovelly fishing fleet in a severe storm in November 1838.

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.

Tolland, Connecticut

Alternatively, its name could have been taken after Tolland in Somerset, England.

Tone Dale House

Tone Dale House, also known as House of Fox, offers views of Somerset with the Quantock hills to the North, and Blackdown Hills to the south, upon which sits the Wellington monument, built in commemoration of the Duke of Wellington.

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.


AASC

Avon and Somerset Constabulary, the territorial police force covering Avon and Somerset, England

Arthur Bartholomew

Arthur Bartholomew (3 December 1833 Bruton, Somerset – 19 August 1909 Melbourne) was an English-born Australian engraver, lithographer and natural history illustrator.

Banks Creek, Queensland

It is now part of Somerset Region and lies adjacent to the Brisbane River to the west of Lake Manchester.

Barbara Paul Robinson

While on sabbatical from Debevoise & Plimpton, Ms. Robinson worked as a gardener for Rosemary Verey, at Barnsley House in Gloucestershire, England, and then for Penelope Hobhouse at the National Trust Garden, Tintinhull in Somerset, experiences she found life-transforming.

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.

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 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.

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.

East Somerset Railway

At this stage, the main traffic became the through trains from Yatton to Witham and the East Somerset Railway station in Wells closed, with Wells (Tucker Street) becoming the station for the city on the line.

Elizabeth Singer Rowe

Born in Ilchester, Somerset, England, she began writing at the age of twelve and when she was nineteen, began a correspondence with John Dunton, bookseller and founder of the Athenian Society.

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.

Ernest Greswell

Ernest Arthur Greswell, born at Cuddalore, Madras, India on 8 June 1885 and died at Minehead, Somerset, England on 15 January 1962, played first-class cricket for Somerset in 12 matches between 1903 and 1910.

Fiddleford

In the hamlet there is also the beautiful mill and weir and the Fiddleford Manor, one of the oldest buildings in Dorset, probably dating from around 1370 and built by William Latimer, Royal Sheriff of Somerset and Dorset.

Fred Pontin

He formed a company to buy an old disused camp at Brean Sands near Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset in 1946.

Gazebo

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

Ilchester Nunnery

Ilchester Nunnery, in Ilchester, Somerset, England, was founded around 1217-1220 as the "White Hall Hospital of the Holy Trinity", (Latin: Alba Aula, French: Blanche Halle/Blanchesale) after the gift of a house and other property by William "The Dane" of Sock Dennis manor, Ilchester (Norman-French: Le Deneis etc., Latinised to Dacus (the adjectival form of Dacia being mediaeval Latin for Denmark) modernised to "Dennis").

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.

Jacob Rees-Mogg

In his long speech on the Sustainable Livestock Bill, he recited poetry; spoke of the superior quality of Somerset eggs, and mentioned the fictional pig, the Empress of Blandings, who won silver at the Shropshire Show three years in a row, before moving on to talk about the sewerage system and the Battle of Agincourt.

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.

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.

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

Maiden Castle, Dorset

This was a characteristic of Vespasian's campaign in the region; there was military occupation at Cadbury Castle in Somerset, Hembury in Devon, and Hodd Hill in Dorset.

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.

Midsomer Murders

Many of the villages and small towns of the county have the word Midsomer in their name; this is inspired in part by the real county of Somerset, and specifically the town of Midsomer Norton.

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.

Neshanic

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

Oswald Samson

In-between his university appearances, Samson had hit the only century of his first-class cricket career for Somerset in the match against Gloucestershire at Gloucester; the century, 105, came after Gloucestershire had been dismissed for just 61, and Beaumont Cranfield and Len Braund bowled unchanged through the two Gloucestershire innings.

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.

Raritan

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

Ron Davenport

Ronald Donovan Davenport (born December 22, 1962 in Somerset, Bermuda) is a former professional American football fullback in the National Football League.

Russ McCool

He was born while his father was engaged as a professional cricketer for Somerset, but brought up in Australia where he attended schools in Woy Woy, New South Wales.

Somerset Hospital

Somerset Medical Center in Somerville, New Jersey, which was originally known as Somerset Hospital.

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.

TripleOne Somerset

Situated between Somerset Road and Devonshire Road, Group 2 Architects designed the PUB Building based on the concept of H-shaped block with a central service core and a naturally-ventilated lift lobby.

Union Meetinghouse

Mercer Union Meetinghouse, Mercer, Maine, listed on the NRHP in Somerset County

Ursina

Ursina, Pennsylvania, a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States.

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.

World Horse Welfare

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