Flame Azalea – Rhododendron calendulaceum

The Grand Western Canal ran between Tiverton in Devon and Taunton in Somerset. The canal had its origins in various plans, going back to 1796, to link the English Channel and the Bristol Channel by a canal, bypassing Lands End. An additional purpose of the canal was the supply of limestone and coal to lime kilns along with the removal of the resulting quicklime, which was used as a fertiliser and for building houses. This intended canal-link was never completed as planned, as the coming of the railways removed the need for its existence.

Construction was in two phases. A level section from Tiverton to Lowdwells on the Devon/Somerset border, opened in 1814, and was capable of carrying broad-beam barges, carrying up to 40 tons. The Somerset section, suitable for tub-boats, which were about 20 feet (6.1 m) long and capable of carrying eight tons, opened in 1839. It included an inclined plane and seven boat lifts, the earliest lifts to see commercial service in the UK. The lifts predated the Anderton Boat Lift by nearly 40 years.

The Devon section remains open, despite various threats to its future, and is now a designated country park, and allows some limited navigation. The Somerset section was closed in 1867, and is gradually disappearing from the landscape, although sections are now used as a footpath. It maintains a historical interest and has been subject to some archaeological excavations. (Full article...)

Henry John Patch (17 June 1898 – 25 July 2009), dubbed in his later years "the Last Fighting Tommy", was an English supercentenarian, briefly the oldest man in Europe, and the last surviving trench combat soldier of the First World War from any country. Patch was not the longest-surviving soldier of the First World War, but he was the fifth-longest-surviving veteran of any sort from the First World War, behind British veterans Claude Choules and Florence Green, Frank Buckles of the United States and John Babcock of Canada. At the time of his death, aged 111 years and 38 days, Patch was the third-oldest man in the world, behind Walter Breuning and Jiroemon Kimura. (Full article...)

1. Somerset (Unitary)
2. North Somerset (Unitary)
3. Bath and North East Somerset (Unitary)

Somerton
Co-ordinates 51°03′N 2°44′W / 51.05°N 2.74°W / 51.05; -2.74

Somerton is a small town and civil parish in the South Somerset district. It gave its name to the county of Somerset, 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 8.8 miles (14.2 km) north-west of Yeovil, the town has its own parish council serving a population of 4,706 as of 2002, and an acreage of 6,620 acres (2,680 ha) as of 1894. 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. A local legend has it that Ine, a Wessex king, was originally a farmer in Somerton. After the Norman conquest of England the importance of the town declined despite being the former county town of Somerset in the late thirteenth century and early fourteenth century. Despite losing 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. (Full article...)

From Wikipedia's "Did You Know" archives:

• ... that during World War II, Shepton Mallet (pictured), the oldest operating prison in Britain, was used as the protective storage of important government documents including the Magna Carta and Domesday Book?
• ... that the Shapwick Hoard, found by metal detecting cousins in 1998, contained the largest number of silver denarii ever found in Great Britain and was equivalent to ten years' pay for a Roman legionary?
• ... that the village of Sharpham in Somerset, is the birthplace of Elizabethan poet Sir Edward Dyer, writer Henry Fielding and cleric William Gould?
• ... that Simonsbath House was the only house in the Royal Forest of Exmoor for 150 years?
• ... that the only working, full sized, Caisson lock ever built, was on the Somerset Coal Canal at Combe Hay, Somerset in England between 1795 and 1805?

Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Article requests : Berwick, Common Moor, Neroche Forest, + all redlinks on sub lists of Grade II* listed buildings in Somerset & Scheduled Monuments in Somerset Add photos to Category:Wikipedia requested photographs in Somerset Cleanup : Articles requiring cleanup Stubs : Improve Stub-Class articles including Category:Somerset geography stubs & Category:Somerset building and structure stubs Verify : West Country dialects Other : Remove any spam links you find in the "External links" section of articles you edit. Consider replacement of external links by pointing to DMOZ. See Template:dmoz for more info. Check external links & refs using the Checklinks tool.

Main project: WikiProject Somerset Parent projects: WikiProject UK geography, WikiProject England

Nearby projects: WikiProject Bristol, WikiProject Devon, WikiProject Dorset, WikiProject Wiltshire