X-Nico

69 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.

Anthony Dominic Fahy

Between 1834 to 1836 he lived and worked with his Dominican brothers in the Saint Joseph Convent, in Somerset, Ohio.

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.

Barnstaple Priory

Juhel endowed it with part of the demesne land of Barnstaple Castle as well as with the manors of Pilton and Pilland, members of the barony, which were contiguous and situated immediately to the north across the River Yeo.

Bartholomew Clerke

He was grandson of Richard Clerke, gentleman, of Livermere in Suffolk, and son of John Clerke of Wells, Somerset, by Anne, daughter and heiress of Henry Grantoft of Huntingdonshire.

Bath Abbey Cemetery

The Anglican Bath Abbey Cemetery, officially dedicated as the Cemetery of St Peter and St Paul (the patron saints that Bath Abbey is dedicated to), was laid out by noted cemetery designer and landscape architect John Claudius Loudon (1783–1843) in 1843 on a picturesque hillside site overlooking Bath, Somerset, England.

Bath by-election, 1929

The Bath by-election, 1929 was a parliamentary by-election held on 21 March 1929 for the constituency of Bath in Somerset.

Battle of Lansdowne

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

Brislington Brook

The other briefly enters Bath and North East Somerset, then enters a shallow valley, passing underneath Saltwell Viaduct, which carries the A37 Wells Road.

Cannington Nunnery

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

Cephalanthera rubra

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the species was recorded from single sites in Somerset, Sussex and Kent, and a second Hampshire site (in the upper Test Valley).

Church of Holy Trinity, Burrington

The Church of the Holy Trinity in Burrington, Somerset, England, is from the 15th century and was restored in 1884.

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 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.

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.

Corston

Corston, Somerset, village in the county of Somerset in the United Kingdom

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.

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.

Drepanopterus

The only other fully described valid species is Drepanopterus abonensis, from the Upper Devonian of Portishead, Somerset.

Eduserv Foundation

The Foundation was part of Eduserv, which is based in Bath, UK, and which continues to carry out research and innovation projects that build on the Foundation's work.

Frances Freeling Broderip

He was born at Wells, Somersetshire, in 1814, educated at Eton, and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he took his B.A. 1837, M.A. 1839, became rector of Cossington, Somersetshire, 1844, and died at Cossington on 10 April 1866.

Francis Hawley, 2nd Baron Hawley

He instead stood for election to the English House of Commons for Somerset in 1705 but was unsuccessful.

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.

German hospital ship Ophelia

The British renamed the ship SS Huntley and used it for transporting fuel from Portishead to Boulogne.

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)).

Guildford Cathedral

Inside, the cathedral appears to be filled with light, with pale Somerset limestone pillars and white Italian marble floors.

Harriet Waylett

The daughter of a tradesman in Bath, Somerset, Harriet Cooke was born there on 7 February 1798; her uncle was a member of the Drury Lane Theatre company, and Sarah Cooke was her cousin.

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 Fane of Brympton

Henry Fane (1669–1726) of Brympton, Somerset was a great-grandson of Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland and father of Thomas Fane, 8th Earl of Westmorland.

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.

Jack Whicher

Detective Inspector Jonathan 'Jack' Whicher's fame had spread, and he was at the height of his powers when in July 1860 he was sent by Scotland Yard to assist the local police in the small village of Rode (then in Wiltshire) in investigating the murder of 3-year-old Francis Saville Kent.

Jenny Hansen

Jenny Hansen is an American gymnast from Somerset, Wisconsin.

Johnstone Street, Bath

Johnstone Street in the Bathwick area of Bath, Somerset, England was designed in 1788 by Thomas Baldwin, with some of the buildings being completed around 1805-1810 by John Pinch the elder.

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.

Liber Exoniensis

It contains a variety of administrative materials concerning the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire.

London Tuesday

The front cover of both the CD and DVD editions of this album show a bearded figure in black, standing against a backdrop that has been identified by Jandek list members as being the city of Bath, Somerset in England.

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.

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.

Purnell and Sons

Purnell and Sons was a small family printer based in Somerset which merged with other printers to become a large national publisher.

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.

Rebellion of 1088

They were spread far and wide geographically from Kent, controlled by Bishop Odo, to Northumberland, controlled by Robert de Mowbray, to Gloucestershire and Somerset under Geoffrey de Montbray (Bishop of Coutances), to Norfolk with Roger Bigod, Roger of Montgomery at Shrewsbury in Shropshire, and a vast swathe of territory in the south-west, centre and south of England under Count Robert.

River Otter

The River Otter rises in the Blackdown Hills just inside the county of Somerset, England near Otterford, then flows south for some 32 km through East Devon to the English Channel at the western end of Lyme Bay, part of the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Permian and Triassic sandstone aquifer in the Otter Valley is one of Devon's largest groundwater sources, supplying drinking water to 200,000 people.

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.

Somerset, Kentucky

In 2004, Somerset was featured on the television series City Confidential.

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, Massachusetts

Stephen Rebello, writer and screenwriter known for such books as Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho and for the screenplay of Hitchcock (film) based on that book.

Somerset, Ohio

The village of Somerset was established in 1810 by settlers from Somerset, Pennsylvania at the spot on Zane's Trace located midway between Lancaster and Zanesville.

Somerset, Tasmania

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

Somerton Tunnel

Not far from the west end of the tunnel, in Long Sutton, there is an old derelict building which is said to have been used as an explosives store for the GWR engineers at the time of construction.

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.

St Nicholas' Church, Brockley

St Nicholas' Church in Brockley, Somerset, England dates from the 12th century, and has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II* listed building.

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 RiverBank

Locations have since been added in MarketPlace Foods and Somerset, Wisconsin and in Chisago City and Wyoming, Minnesota.

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.

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.

Viscount Bridport

In 1796 he was created Baron Bridport, of Cricket St Thomas in the County of Somerset, in the Peerage of Great Britain, and in 1800 he was even further honoured when he was made Viscount Bridport, of Cricket St Thomas in the County of Somerset, also in the Peerage of Great Britain.

The 2nd Viscount represented West Somerset in Parliament as a Conservative.

Wells, Maine

In 1653, Wells was incorporated, the third town in Maine to do so, and named after Wells, England, a small cathedral city in the county of Somerset.

West Somerset Council election, 2007

The 2007 West Somerset Council election took place on 3 May 2007 to elect members of West Somerset District Council in Somerset, England.

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.

Wrinstone

Through her marriage to Simon de Raleigh, of Nettlecombe, Somerset, the Wrinstone manor passed to the de Raleighs, their descendants holding the manor for six generations.


Alfred Fuller

Fuller died in Hartford, Connecticut and is buried at Pleasant Valley Cemetery in Somerset, Nova Scotia.

All Hallows School

All Hallows Preparatory School, East Cranmore, Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England

Battle of Peonnum

The Saxons were victorious, and Cenwalh advanced west through the Polden Hills to the River Parrett, annexing eastern and central Somerset.

Bessie Blount

Elizabeth Blount, mistress of Henry VIII of England and mother of his son, Henry Fitzroy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset

Bruce Stewart

Bruce Hylton-Stewart (1891–1972), played first-class cricket for Somerset and Cambridge University between 1912 and 1914

Charles Arthur Ayre

He was born in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, the son of the Reverend George James Ayre and Margaret Mary Burgess, and was educated in Bath, Somersetshire and at Hymers College in Hull, Yorkshire.

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.

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.

Edward Somerset

Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worcester (1601?–1667), styled Lord Herbert of Ragland, English nobleman, son of Henry Somerset, 1st Marquess of Worcester

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.

Frederick Baitup

Playing as a tailender, Baitup picked up eleven runs in the only innings in which he batted, as Somerset picked up an innings victory thanks to a century and a double-century from Jack MacBryan and Dar Lyon respectively.

Gazebo

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

Highbury Hill, Clutton

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

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.

James Lorimer Ilsley

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

John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset

Somerset died in the Hospital of St Katharine's by the Tower.

John Edward Taylor

He was born at Ilminster, Somerset, England, to Mary Scott, the poet, and John Taylor, a Unitarian minister who moved after his wife's death to Manchester with his son to run a school there.

John Stourton, 1st Baron Stourton

He was born at Witham Friary, Somerset, the son of Sir William de Stourton (abt 1373-18 Sep 1413), Speaker of the House of Commons, and Elizabeth Moigne.

Jon Callard

Callard taught physical education classes and sports classes at Downside School (Somerset) in the early to mid-1990s.

Ken Kinnersley

Kenneth Charles Kinnersley, born at Apia, Upolu, Samoa on 13 March 1914 and died at Clifton, Bristol on 30 June 1984, played first-class cricket for Somerset in 10 matches in the 1930s.

KSJL

KYTY, a radio station (810 AM) licensed to serve Somerset, Texas, United States, which held the call sign KSJL from 1998 to 2007

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.

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

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.

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.

Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery

Boyle fought with the Parliamentarians until the execution of the king, when he retired altogether from public affairs and took up his residence at Marston in Somersetshire.

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.

Seymour Clark

Clark, a local club cricketer in Weston and a locomotive driver with the Great Western Railway, was called into the Somerset side for five matches when regular wicketkeeper Wally Luckes was ill.

Sir Francis Seymour, 1st Baronet

On 25 August 1869, Seymour had married Agnes Austin, the eldest daughter of Rev. H. D. Wickham of Horsington, Somerset and they had three daughters and one son, Albert Victor Francis Seymour, who was born when Seymour was 74 years old and later served as a Page of Honour to Queen Victoria.

Somerset Holmes

Both Jones and Campbell feel strongly that the 1996 Geena Davis movie The Long Kiss Goodnight was an unauthorized, and unpaid for, theft of the Somerset Holmes idea.

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.

Somerset, New Jersey

Roy Hinson, first-round draft pick of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1983 who played for eight seasons in the NBA.

Sonny Leitch

Leitch claims that his friend, the renowned safe-breaker Johnny Ramensky, told him that he had stolen a hoard of Nazi loot from the Rome area during the Allied march on Rome in 1944, and that this hoard was later kept at the Shepton Mallet military prison in Somerset, and the Royal Navy supply depot at Carfin, Lanarkshire, after the war.

South West Water

South West Water provides drinking water and waste water services throughout Cornwall and Devon and in small areas of Dorset and Somerset.

Ted Tyler

Tyler will always be remembered for the share he had in securing Somerset's promotion to first-class rank in 1891, and his effective bowling in the seasons that immediately followed, when Somerset, with Sammy Woods and Lionel Palairet at their best, had such a strong and attractive team.

The Abbey, Beckington

The Abbey, Beckington in Somerset, UK was built as a monastic grange and also used as a college for priests; the building was begun in 1502, but after the Dissolution of the Monasteries it became a private house.

The Sparagus Garden

Tom and his servant Coulter are from "Zumerzetshire," and inject into the play the kind of dialect humour typical of Brome's drama (Yorkshire dialect in The Northern Lass, Lancashire dialect in The Late Lancashire Witches).

Ursina

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