Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the Bishops of Winchester. Parts of the inner ward house were turned into the Museum of Somerset and Somerset Military Museum. For the Second Cornish uprising of 1497, Perkin Warbeck brought an army of 6,000; most surrendered to Henry VII on 4 October 1497. On 20 June 1685 the Duke of Monmouth crowned himself King of England here in a rebellion, defeated at the Battle of Sedgemoor. Judge Jeffreys led the Bloody Assizes in the Castle's Great Hall. The Grand Western Canal reached Taunton in 1839 and the Bristol and Exeter Railway in 1842. Today it hosts Musgrove Park Hospital, Somerset County Cricket Club, is the base of 40 Commando, Royal Marines, and is home to the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office on Admiralty Way. The popular Taunton flower show has been held in Vivary Park since 1866, and on 13 March 2022, St Mary Magdalene parish church was elevated to the status of Taunton Minster.
West Somerset was a local government district in the English county of Somerset. The council covered a largely rural area, with a population of 34,900 in an area of 740 square kilometres (290 sq mi); it was the least populous non-unitary district in England. According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics in 2009, the population of West Somerset has the oldest average age in the United Kingdom at 52. The largest centres of population are the coastal towns of Minehead and Watchet (4,400).
Milverton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated in the valley of the River Tone 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 1,438. The parish includes the hamlet of Preston Bowyer.
Bishops Lydeard is a village and civil parish located in Somerset, England, 5 miles (8 km) north-west of Taunton in the district of Somerset West and Taunton. The civil parish encompasses the hamlets of East Lydeard, Terhill, and East Bagborough, and had a population of 2,839 persons as recorded in the 2011 census; this figure, however, includes the village of Cotford St Luke.
Comeytrowe is a civil parish in Somerset, England, situated in the south western suburbs of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The parish has a population of 5,463. The parish includes the area of Galmington.
Lydeard St Lawrence or St Lawrence Lydiard is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated 7 miles (11.3 km) north west of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 506. The parish includes the hamlets of Westowe, Hoccombe and Pyleigh, with its 16th century manor house.
Norton Fitzwarren is a village, electoral ward, and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated 2 miles (3.2 km) north west of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 3,046.
Trull is a village, electoral ward and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated near Taunton. The parish which includes Dipford has a population of 2,288.
West Monkton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated 2 miles (3.2 km) north east of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The parish includes the hamlets of Monkton Heathfield, Bathpool, and Burlinch and the western parts of Coombe and Walford, and had a population of 2,787 at the 2011 census.
Taunton Deane is a constituency in Somerset represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Rebecca Pow of the Conservative Party since 2015.
Taunton was a rural district in Somerset, England, from 1894 to 1974.
The Hundred of Taunton Deane was one of the 40 historical Hundreds in the ancient county of Somerset, England, dating from before the Norman conquest during the Anglo-Saxon era although exact dates are unknown. Each hundred had a 'fyrd', which acted as the local defence force and a court which was responsible for the maintenance of the frankpledge system. They also formed a unit for the collection of taxes. The role of the hundred court was described in the Dooms (laws) of King Edgar. The name of the hundred was normally that of its meeting-place.
Taunton Deane was a local government district with borough status in Somerset, England. It merged with West Somerset to form Somerset West and Taunton on 1 April 2019. Its council was based in Taunton. 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. Taunton Deane was granted borough status in 1975, enabling the mayoralty of Taunton to be continued, when other districts did not have mayors. The district was given the name of an alternate form of the Taunton Deane Hundred.
The 2017 Somerset County Council election took place on 4 May 2017 as part of the 2017 local elections in the United Kingdom. All 55 councillors were elected from 54 electoral divisions which each returned either one or two county councillors by first-past-the-post voting for a four-year term of office.
Somerset West and Taunton was a local government district in Somerset, England, from 2019 to 2023. It was established on 1 April 2019 by the Somerset West and Taunton Order 2018. The council replaced the Taunton Deane and West Somerset councils, which governed the same area from 1974.
The 2022 Somerset Council election took place on 5 May 2022. It was the inaugural election of the new unitary authority, Somerset Council, which replaced Somerset County Council on 1 April 2023. All 110 councillors were elected, representing the same divisions as the old county council, but with twice as many councillors representing each. The councillors elected first sat as members of the existing county council until its replacement by the new authority. The same councillors are now members of Somerset Council.
