Visit Somerset Places

Welcome to Visit Somerset Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Somerset

  

Somerset Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Somerset

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Somerset history

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Prehistory

Mendip Hills were settled during the Palaeolithic period, and contain extensive archaeological sites such as those at Cheddar Gorge . Somerset Levels also have a long history of settlement, and are known to have been settled by Mesolithic hunters . Travel in the area was facilitated by the construction of one of the world’s oldest known engineered roadways .

Roman invasion

The Second Legion Augusta invaded Somerset from the south-east in 47 CE . The county remained part of the Roman Empire until around 409 CE . A variety of Roman remains have been found, including the Roman Baths that gave their name to the city of Bath .

Saxon and Norman invasions

After the Romans left, Britain was invaded by Anglo-Saxon peoples . By 600 CE they had established control over much of what is now England, but Somerset was still in native British hands . The nature of relations between the Britons and the Saxons in Somerset is not entirely clear .

The 17th–19th centuries

Somerset contains HM Prison Shepton Mallet, which was England’s oldest prison still in use prior to its closure in 2013 . In the English Civil War Somerset was largely Parliamentarian, with key engagements being the Sieges of Taunton and the Battle of Langport . Coal mining was an important industry in north Somerset during the 18th and 19th centuries .

20th century

Many Somerset soldiers died during the First World War, with the Somerset Light Infantry suffering nearly 5,000 casualties . During the Second World War the county was a base for troops preparing for the D-Day landings . The Taunton Stop Line was set up to repel a potential German invasion .

Somerset culture & places

In Arthurian legend, Avalon became associated with Glastonbury Tor when monks at Glastonbury Abbey claimed to have discovered the bones of King Arthur and his queen. What is more certain is that Glastonbury was an important religious centre by 700 and claims to be “the oldest above-ground Christian church in the World” situated “in the mystical land of Avalon”. The claim is based on dating the founding of the community of monks at AD 63, the year of the legendary visit of Joseph of Arimathea, who was supposed to have brought the Holy Grail. During the Middle Ages there were also important religious sites at Woodspring Priory and Muchelney Abbey. The present Diocese of Bath and Wells covers Somerset – with the exception of the Parish of Abbots Leigh with Leigh Woods in North Somerset – and a small area of Dorset. The Episcopal seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells is now in the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew in the city of Wells, having previously been at Bath Abbey. Before the English Reformation, it was a Roman Catholic diocese; the county now falls within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clifton. The Benedictine monastery Saint Gregory’s Abbey, commonly known as Downside Abbey, is at Stratton-on-the-Fosse, and the ruins of the former Cistercian Cleeve Abbey are near the village of Washford. Somerset has traditions of art, music and literature. Wordsworth and Coleridge wrote while staying in Coleridge Cottage, Nether Stowey. The novelist John Cowper Powys (1872–1963) lived in the Somerset village of Montacute from 1885 until 1894 and his novels Wood and Stone (1915) and A Glastonbury Romance (1932) are set in Somerset. The writer Evelyn Waugh spent his last years in the village of Combe Florey. Traditional folk music, both song and dance, was important in the agricultural communities. Somerset songs were collected by Cecil Sharp and incorporated into works such as Holst’s A Somerset Rhapsody. Halsway Manor near Williton is an international centre for folk music. The tradition continues today with groups such as The Wurzels specialising in Scrumpy and Western music. The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts takes place most years in Pilton, near Shepton Mallet, attracting over 170,000 music and culture lovers from around the world to see world-famous entertainers. The Big Green Gathering which grew out of the Green fields at the Glastonbury Festival is held in the Mendip Hills between Charterhouse and Compton Martin each summer. The annual Bath Literature Festival is one of several local festivals in the county; others include the Frome Festival and the Trowbridge Village Pump Festival, which, despite its name, is held at Farleigh Hungerford in Somerset. The annual circuit of West Country Carnivals is held in a variety of Somerset towns during the autumn, forming a major regional festival, and the largest Festival of Lights in Europe. The county has several museums; those at Bath include the American Museum in Britain, the Museum of Bath Architecture, the Herschel Museum of Astronomy, the Jane Austen Centre, and the Roman Baths. Other visitor attractions which reflect the cultural heritage of the county include: Claverton Pumping Station, Dunster Working Watermill, the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton, Nunney Castle, The Helicopter Museum in Weston-super-Mare, King John’s Hunting Lodge in Axbridge, Blake Museum Bridgwater, Radstock Museum, Museum of Somerset in Taunton, the Somerset Rural Life Museum in Glastonbury, and Westonzoyland Pumping Station Museum. Somerset has 11,500 listed buildings, 523 scheduled monuments, 192 conservation areas, 41 parks and gardens including those at Barrington Court, Holnicote Estate, Prior Park Landscape Garden and Tintinhull Garden, 36 English Heritage sites and 19 National Trust sites, including Clevedon Court, Fyne Court, Montacute House and Tyntesfield as well as Stembridge Tower Mill, the last remaining thatched windmill in England. Other historic houses in the county which have remained in private ownership or used for other purposes include Halswell House and Marston Bigot. A key contribution of Somerset architecture is its medieval church towers. Jenkins writes, “These structures, with their buttresses, bell-opening tracery and crowns, rank with Nottinghamshire alabaster as England’s finest contribution to medieval art.” Bath Rugby play at the Recreation Ground in Bath, and the Somerset County Cricket Club are based at the County Ground in Taunton. The county gained its first Football League club in 2003, when Yeovil Town won promotion to Division Three as Football Conference champions. They had achieved numerous FA Cup victories over football League sides in the past 50 years, and since joining the elite they have won promotion again—as League Two champions in 2005. They came close to yet another promotion in 2007, when they reached the League One playoff final, but lost to Blackpool at the newly reopened Wembley Stadium. Yeovil achieved promotion to the Championship in 2013 after beating Brentford in the playoff final. Horse racing courses are at Taunton, Bath and Wincanton. In addition to English national newspapers the county is served by the regional Western Daily Press and local newspapers including The Weston & Somerset Mercury, the Bath Chronicle, Chew Valley Gazette, Somerset County Gazette, Clevedon Mercury Mendip Times, and the West Somerset Free Press. Television and radio are provided by BBC Points West and BBC Somerset, Heart West Country, The Breeze (Yeovil & South Somerset) Yeovil, and HTV, now known as ITV Wales & West Ltd, but still commonly referred to as HTV. The Flag of Somerset, representing the ceremonial county, has been registered with the Flag Institute following a competition in July 2013.

Somerset toponymy

Somerset’s name derives from Old English Sumorsæte, short for Sumortūnsǣte, meaning “the people living at or dependent on Sumortūn (Somerton)” An alternative suggestion is Seo-mere-saetan meaning “settlers by the sea lakes” The first known use of Somersæte is in the law code of King Ine who was the Saxon King of Wessex.

You can visit Somerset places with Walkfo Somerset to hear history at Somerset’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Somerset has 22 places to visit in our interactive Somerset map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Somerset, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Somerset places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Somerset & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 22 audio facts unique to Somerset places in an interactive Somerset map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Somerset Places Map
22 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Somerset historic spots	Somerset tourist destinations	Somerset plaques	Somerset geographic features
Walkfo Somerset tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Somerset

  

Best Somerset places to visit

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Somerset has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Somerset’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Somerset’s information audio spots:

Visit Somerset plaques