Everything about Taunton totally explained
Taunton is the
county town of
Somerset,
England. The
unparished area (or former
municipal borough) of Taunton has a
population of 88,241.
Suburbs of the town include
Bishop's Hull,
Staplegrove and
Galmington, giving a total population for the "Taunton Urban Area" of 102,304 according to the 2001 census, up 4.4% since 1991. It is the largest town in Somerset, and the site of
Musgrove Park Hospital.
It is home to the
County Cricket Ground where
Somerset County Cricket Club play and home to the
40 Commando,
Royal Marines. Central Taunton is part of the annual
West Country Carnival circuit. It hosts the famous
Taunton flower show, which has been held in Vivary Park since 1866. The
United Kingdom Hydrographic Office is located in Taunton on Admiralty Way.
History
The town name derives from "Town on the
River Tone" — or Tone Town. There was perhaps a
Romano-British village near the suburb of
Holway, and Taunton was a place of considerable importance in
Saxon times. King
Ine of Wessex threw up an earthen castle here about 700, and a monastery was founded before 904. The
bishops of Winchester owned the manor, and obtained the first charter for their "men of Taunton" from
King Edward in 904, freeing them from all royal and county tribute. At some time before the
Domesday Survey Taunton had become a borough with very considerable privileges, and a population of around 1,500 but it declined in importance and the status of county town transferred to Taunton about 1366.
Taunton Castle changed hands several times during the great
Civil War of 1642-45 but only along with the town. During the
Siege of Taunton it was defended by
Robert Blake, from July 1644 to July 1645. After the war, in 1662, the keep was demolished and only the base remains. In the autumn of 1685
Judge Jeffreys was based in Taunton during the
Bloody Assizes that followed the
Battle of Sedgemoor.
The town didn't obtain a charter of incorporation until 1627,
In 1839 the
Grand Western Canal reached Taunton aiding trade to the south.
In
World War II the
Bridgwater and Taunton Canal formed part of the
Taunton Stop Line, designed to prevent the advance of a German invasion.
Pillboxes can still be seen along its length.
Governance
Borough Council
Taunton is the main settlement and administrative centre of the
local government district of
Taunton Deane. The district was formed on
April 1,
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, perpetuating the
mayoralty of Taunton. The district was given the name of an alternate form of the
Taunton hundred.
Taunton Deane Borough Council consists of 55 councillors, of whom 20 are elected for
wards in the town of Taunton. The wards are: Blackbrook & Holway; Eastgate; Fairwater; Halcon; Lyngford; Manor & Wilton and Pyrland & Rowbarton. Eastgate ward returns two councillors, with the remaining wards each returning three. At the council elections in May 2007, 17
Liberal Democrats were elected and 3 members of the
Conservative Party.
County Council
Somerset County Council is based at County Hall in Taunton, and consists of 58 councillors. The town of Taunton is included in six electoral divisions, each returning a single county councillor: Taunton East; Taunton Fairwater; Taunton North; Taunton South; Taunton West and taunton and Trull (which also includes rural areas). Five councillors are members of the Liberal Democrats, and one is a Conservative.
United Kingdom Parliament
Taunton is a
county constituency represented in the
House of Commons of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one
Member of Parliament (MP) by the
first past the post system of election. Following the review of parliamentary representation in
Somerset, the
Boundary Commission for England has created a modified Taunton constituency with the name change
Taunton Deane, to reflect the district name. It is based on the town of Taunton but extends to include
Wellington, many small villages and parts of
Exmoor. Following a review of parliamentary representation in Somerset, this seat will be renamed
Taunton Deane at the next UK general election. The current MP is
Jeremy Browne, a member of the
Liberal Democrats.
European Parliament
Residents of Taunton also form part of the electorate for the
South West England constituency for elections to the
European Parliament.
Geography
Taunton lies on the
River Tone between the
Quantock,
Blackdown and
Brendon hills in an area known as the Vale of Taunton.
The Firepool area on the northern edge of Taunton town centre, adjacent to the main line railway station, currently includes a high proportion of vacant or undeveloped land. The Council is currently promoting a sustainable, high quality, employment-led mixed use development. The scheme also offers the opportunity to secure the development of a substantial number of residential units. These are intended to create more than 2,000 new homes in the town centre, at least 14,000 new homes across the whole of Taunton, 80,000m² of employment space, 50,000m² of new retail space and at least 7,000 jobs.
Geology
In the Taunton area
Permian (295-250 million years ago) red sandstones and
breccia outcrop, while rocks of
Triassic age (248-204 million years ago) underlie much of Somerset and form the solid geology to the
Somerset Moors and Levels. Other nearby areas including the cultural quarter, Tangier and the town centre retail area fall within the regeneration plans of Project Taunton.
Climate
Along with the rest of
South West England, Taunton has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than the rest of the country. The annual mean temperature is approximately and shows a seasonal and a
diurnal variation, but due to the modifying effect of the sea the range is less than in most other parts of the UK. January is the coldest month with mean minimum temperatures between and . July and August are the warmest months in the region with mean daily maxima around .
The south-west of England has a favoured location with respect to the
Azores high pressure when it extends its influence north-eastwards towards the UK, particularly in summer.
Convective cloud often forms inland however, especially near hills, reducing the number of hours of sunshine. The average annual sunshine totals around 1,600 hours.
Rainfall tends to be associated with Atlantic
depressions or with convection. The Atlantic depressions are more vigorous in autumn and winter and most of the rain which falls in those seasons in the south-west is from this source. Average rainfall is around –. About 8–15 days of snowfall is typical. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, with June to August having the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the south-west.
Demography
| Population Profile |
| UK Census 2001 |
Taunton Deane |
South West England |
England |
| Total population |
102,299 |
4,928,434 |
49,138,831 |
| Foreign born |
4.1 % |
9.4% |
9.2% |
| White |
98.4 % |
97.7% |
91% |
| Asian |
0.4 % |
0.7% |
4.6% |
| Black |
0.2 % |
0.4% |
2.3% |
| Christian |
75.9% |
74.0% |
72% |
| Muslim |
0.3% |
0.5% |
3.1% |
| Hindu |
0.1% |
0.2% |
1.1% |
| No religion |
15.7% |
16.8% |
15% |
| Over 75 years old |
9.5% |
9.3% |
7.5% |
| Unemployed |
2.4% |
2.6% |
3.3% |
Taunton
civil parish has a
population of 44,050.
Suburbs of the town include
Bishop's Hull,
Staplegrove and
Galmington, giving a total population for the "Taunton Urban Area" of 58,241 according to the 2001 census, up 4.4% since 1991.
The figures below are for the Taunton Deane area.
| Population since 1801 - Source: A Vision of Britain through Time |
| Year | 1801 |
1851 |
1901 |
1911 |
1921 |
1931 |
1941 |
1951 |
1961 |
1971 |
1981 |
1991 |
2001
|
| Population Taunton Deane | 33,139 |
51,844 |
53,759 |
55,666 |
56,161 |
56,661 |
62,745 |
69,492 |
75,320 |
81,639 |
84,795 |
95,791 |
102,304
|
Economy
Taunton has a low unemployment rate at 2.4% compared with the national average of 5.6%.
Taunton is home to the
United Kingdom Hydrographic Office which is an organisation within the
UK government responsible for providing
navigational and other
hydrographic information for national, civil and defence requirements. The UKHO is located in
Taunton, Somerset on Admiralty Way and has a workforce of approximately 850 staff. At the start of the
Second World War chart printing moved to Taunton but the main office didn't move until 1968.
Avimo is now part of Thales Optics. It has been announced twice, in 2006 and 2007, that manufacturing is to end at Thales Optics' Taunton site, but the
Trade Unions and Taunton Deane District Council are working to reverse or mitigate these decisions.
Taunton is also home to the
Debenhams Head Office based in Bedford House on Park Street.
Corporation Street, TA1 is noted for its large number of law and accountancy firms. Moreover, the street is home to
Defra.
Taunton is also involved with the production of
cider.
Landmarks
Gray's Almshouses on Fore street were founded by
Robert Gray in 1615 for poor single women. The red brick buildings bear the arms of Robert Gray, dated 1635, and another arms of the Merchant Tailors. A small room is used as chapel and has original benches and a painted ceiling. It has been designated by
English Heritage as a grade I
listed building.
The grounds of
Taunton Castle include the
Somerset County Museum and
The Castle Hotel.
Together with the municipal buildings they form a three-sided group of buildings just beyond an archway off Fore Street. The centre of the square is used as a car park, and a plain brick edifice of Mecca Bingo hall makes up the west side of it.
The area by the river north of the centre is surrounded by
Morrisons supermarket, retirement housing and the Brewhouse Theatre. Towards the centre, is the Dellers Wharf Nightclub, Bridge Street and Goodlands Park. Currently a regeneration programme is being executed, north of Bridge Street, which will include redeveloping the
County Cricket Ground. The area has hosted a concert by
Elton John in 2006.
Hankridge Farm is a retail park close to the M5 motorway, with large stores including
PC World and
Halfords. In addition, there's a 'Venue' on the park, with restaurants, the
Odeon cinema and Hollywood Bowl bowling.
The Old Market was a farmers market but this moved to the Firepool area. The Old Market is now a large indoor shopping centre in the centre.
The County Walk is an indoor shopping complex in the centre with an anchor supermarket,
Sainsburys.
Public parks
There are public parks dotted around Taunton, the most notable of which is Vivary Park, located near the centre of the town. It contains two main wide open spaces, as well as a war memorial, fountain, mini-golf course, tennis courts, a children's playground and located next to it's an 18 hole golf course. Flowing through the park is a tributary of the River Tone.
Goodlands Park, located in the centre of the town, is behind the
Debenhams department store and behind
Taunton Castle Hotel.
Transport
Taunton railway station is on the
Great Western Main Line and the
Cross-Country Route. It is served and operated by
First Great Western and served by
CrossCountry, with services to
Manchester,
Birmingham,
Cardiff,
Bristol,
London,
Exeter,
Plymouth and
Penzance, as well as the rest of the
West Country. The former railway route to
Minehead has become the heritage
West Somerset Railway, with a regular express bus service providing the normal link between Taunton and Minehead. Special rail events allow trains to run from Taunton along the heritage line to Minehead.
Taunton also has good road links, having the
M5 motorway junctions 25 and 26 close to the town, as well as other major roads such as the
A38 and A358.
Taunton Deane services are located between junctions 25 and 26 on the M5.
The nearest airports are
Exeter and
Bristol, both within an hour's car journey of Taunton.
Taunton's zone 1/2 services and most of the outer zone services are provided by
First, thewho have regular services on routes across the town.
The Taunton Coach and bus station is next to the Taunton Castle Hotel.
The Taunton Coach Station's coach operators include
National Express, whom run regular London and Heathrow coaches. Local coach operator Berrys of Taunton runs a number of day excursions and offers the London Superfast service from the Taunton & the West County to London every day.
Cooks Coaches operate the
Park and Ride scheme on the west side of the town called the 'Taunton Flyer', including a dedicated service to
Musgrove Park Hospital named the 'Musgrove Flyer'. There are plans to expand this service from the Motorway at Junction 25.
Webber Bus runs the number 15, providing an express service connecting Bridgwater with Taunton, calling at stops including the
Taunton Railway Station, Park Street,
Musgrove Park Hospital and SCAT.
Historically, Taunton was served by electric trams between 1901 - 1921. These trams ran from Rowbarton along Kingston Road (for the rail station), to Castle Hotel, Parade down to East Reach. However Taunton Tramways was closed following disagreements with the electricity bill after World War I.
Education
State secondary schools in Taunton include
Heathfield Community School,
The Castle School,
Bishop Fox's Community School and Ladymead Community School. State-funded Sixth Form teaching is provided by
Richard Huish College. The coeducational
independent schools in Taunton are
King's College,
Queen's College and
Taunton School. Further education is provided by
Somerset College of Arts and Technology.
Health Services
Taunton is within Somerset Primary Care Trust and is home to
Musgrove Park Hospital, within Taunton and Somerset Foundation NHS Trust. This is the main district hospital within Somerset apart from
Yeovil District Hospital. A Nuffield Hospital is also situated within the town, run privately by Nuffield Hospitals. The town is also home to several doctor's surgeries as well as a family planning clinic and occupational health centre.
Religious sites
The Mary Street
Unitarian Chapel, which dates from 1721, is located on Mary Street in Taunton.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, while living
Nether Stowey away, came to the chapel to preach on several occasions. Dr. Malachi Blake, who founded the Taunton and Somerset Hospital in East Reach, Taunton, was also a preacher at the chapel, attending in 1809 in celebration of the fiftieth year of
George the Third's reign. The Chapel still has the original interior including
Flemish oak pillars in the
Corinthian style. The
pews and
pulpit are also in oak, and there's an early 18th century
candelabra.
In the latter part of the 17th century, Taunton had two
dissenting places of worship: "Paul’s Meeting" and the Baptist Meeting. Paul’s Meeting was built at the top of Paul Street soon after 1672 on part of a bowling green behind the Three Cups Inn, now The County Hotel, and rapidly became one of the largest congregations in the county. After Mayor Timewell
sacked both Paul’s Meeting and the Baptist Meeting in 1683, the
dissenters were driven to worship in private houses on the outskirts of Taunton, where their assemblies were regularly raided by the Justices. Paul’s Meeting survived attempts to turn it into a workhouse and, with the coming of
William and Mary, followed by the
Toleration Act of 1689, was reopened. The Baptist Meeting became the Baptist New Meeting was registered in 1691 and rebuilt in 1721 as Mary Street Chapel.
The Parish church of St. Mary Magdalene, built of sandstone more in the South Somerset style, preserves an attractive painted interior, but its most notable aspect is its 15th and 16th century tower (rebuilt in the mid-19th century), which is one of the best examples in the country and a tall landmark. It was described by
Simon Jenkins, an acknowledged authority on English churches, as “the finest in England. It makes its peace with the sky not just with a coronet but with the entire crown jewels cast in red-brown stone.” The tower itself has 12 bells and a clock mechanism. Two of the hammers on the clock mechanism are not striking.
The Parish church of St. James is also located near the centre of Taunton quite close to St. Mary Magdalene. The oldest parts of St. James Church are early 14th Century and there are fragments of 15th Century glass in the West end. Like St. Mary's it also has a sandstone tower but built to a much less impressive design. The tower was also like St. Mary's rebuilt in the 19th century (in this case thought to be due to building defects in the original tower). The church backs onto the
Somerset County Ground and forms a familiar backdrop to the popular Cricket ground.
The church of St John was built in 1864 to designs by Sir
George Gilbert Scott.
Popular culture references
Taunton is mentioned in
The Remains of the Day by
Kazuo Ishiguro,
Scoop by
Evelyn Waugh and
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by
John le Carré. Taunton also features in
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish by
Douglas Adams.
Taunton has also made an appearance in a number of other British comedy series, including
Monty Python's Flying Circus,
Blackadder,
Men Behaving Badly,
Vic Reeves' Big Night Out, and also
The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer. Comedian
Bill Bailey also mentions the town in his stand-up DVD
Part Troll, claiming to have taken part in a teleportation experiment sponsored by Taunton Cider. Taunton was also mentioned in a 2007
Doctor Who episode, "
The Shakespeare Code".
Thomas Hardy created an imaginary Wessex and renamed Taunton as Toneborough in his books and poems. He called the area Outer Wessex.
Sport
Taunton is home to a number of sport clubs and venues.
The
County Ground was originally home to Taunton Cricket Club, which was formed in 1829 and playyed at The County Ground until 1977 before moving to Moorfields, Taunton in conjunction with Taunton Vale Hockey Club, after which it was solely used by
Somerset County Cricket Club. Somerset CCC was formed in
1875, but the club didn't achieve first class status until 1891. The County Ground has a capacity of 6,500 and the ends are called the River End and the Old Pavilion End, and one of the main stands is named after
Ian Botham. The ground houses the Somerset County Cricket shop and museum, which also has various conference rooms
Taunton Town F.C. are a
football club, who play at Wordsworth Drive in the town. They were formed in 1947 by a few local businessmen as
Taunton F.C., changing to the current name in 1968, and played their first friendly fixture in 1948. For most of their history, Taunton were members of the Western League. They spent a six-season spell in the
Southern League from 1977, and after a further period in the Western League, returned to the
Southern League in 2002, after winning the
FA Vase in 2001. After the latest re-organisation of the
English football league system, the club are currently members of the Southern League Division One South & West.
Somerset Vikings are a
Rugby League Club who were formed at the beginning of 2003 as part of the
RFL's plans to develop the game further beyond the traditional areas in the north of England. Initially the side was made up of a mixture of
Royal Marines based in Taunton and
Exeter together with a number of local rugby union players keen to try the 13-man code. The Vikings play at Hyde Park which is the home of the
Taunton Rugby union club, which was formed in 1874.
The
Taunton Tigers is a semi-professional
basketball team competing in the
English Basketball League Men's Division 1. The team play all their home games at Wellsprings Leisure Centre, which has a capacity of 500 seats.
Taunton Racecourse is close to the
Blackdown Hills and about from the centre of Taunton. Although racing had been held in the area previously, the first race at the present site was held on
21 September 1927. The stands are called the Orchard Stand and the Paddock Stand which provide catering facilities and are used for meetings and conferences on days when racing isn't taking place.
There is an oval motor racing circuit at Smeatharpe which is close to the Somerset/Devon border, it's frequently referred to as the Taunton Banger racing circuit although it's around 11 miles from central Taunton.
Notable residents
The following people were born or have lived in Taunton:
Twinning
Taunton is
twinned with:
Lisieux
KoenigslutterFurther Information
Get more info on 'Taunton'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://taunton.totallyexplained.com">Taunton Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
