SOMKRSBY 



SOMERSETSIIIKK 



1700 re-nlted in his being deprived of tin- seal, ami 

 another in 1701 in an impeachment by the Com- 

 mons, reject<l, however, liy tin- House of Lords. 

 He returned for two years to power an President of 

 tin- Council (1708-10), ami died of apoplexy, 26th 

 April 1716. The Somers Tractt (16 vote. 17-1* . 

 a valuable collection of state papers from his 

 lilirarv, were re-edited by Sir Walter Scott ( 13 vols. 

 1800-16). 



Soinersby, a pretty village of Lincolnshire, 

 stands on the Wolds, about 7 miles E. by N. of 

 Horncastle and the same distance NW. of Spilsby, 

 and is celebrated an the birthplace of Tennyson. 

 The rectory, in which he was born, is an ordinary 

 country parsonage, not without touches of pictur- 

 esquencss. Pop. 43. Illustrations will lie found 

 in J. C. Walters, In Tennyton Land ( 1890). 



Somerset, Pruts OF. See SEYMOCB. For 

 the Earl of Somerset, see OvERBritY. 



Somerset Hon.se. London, fronting both on 

 the Strand and on the Thames Embankment, 

 stands on the site of a palace built by the Pro- 

 tector Somerset about 1549, which fell to the crown 

 on Somerset's execution. The original edifice was 

 pulled down and relmilt in 1776-86, after designs 

 by Sir William Chamliers, in the Palladian or 

 Italian style. The building accommodates the 

 otlicesof tlie Audit and Exchequer, Inland Revenue, 

 Wills and Probate, and the Registry-general of 

 Births, Deaths, and Marriages for England and 

 Wales. The east wing, built in 1828, accommo- 

 dates King's College and School. 



Somersetshire, an important maritime county 

 in the south-west of England, is bounded on the 

 N. and W. by the Bristol Channel (the ancient 

 'Severn Sea'); by (Ilom-estershire, Wiltshire, and 

 Dorsetshire on the NE. and E. ; and by Devonshire 

 on the S. and S\V. In form oblong, with a length 

 of some 80 miles and a breadth of .SI!, it has an 

 area of 1640 sq. 1.1. Pop. (1801) 273,577 ; (1841) 

 43.1,509; ( 1881)469,109; ( 1891 (484,336. The surface 

 is exceedingly diver-billed, with every variation from 

 lofty hills and barren moors to rich vales and wide 

 marshy levels, whence the sea is banked out by 

 an elaborate system of dykes and sluices. The 

 frontier between Somerset and the adjacent 

 counties consists for the most part of a broken 

 and picturesque hilly district. Sundry ranges of 

 hills, running ea.-t anil west, give to the county 

 ite leading physical characters. Chief of these is 

 the Mendiim (q.v.), which stretch from near the 



city of Wells to tl a-t at lirean Down, with a 



seaward continuation in the islets of the Steep and 

 Flat Holms. South of the Mendips lies the great 

 alluvial plain of central Somerset, broken by 

 the line of the Polden Hills, which rise from the 

 marshy levels like a long low island some 300 feet. 

 Still farther south, beyond Taunton, are the Black- 

 down Hills, about twice this elevation, and con- 

 tinuing eastward into the broken upland which 

 once formed part of the ancient forest of Selwood, 

 where Somerset, Wilts, and Dorset meet. To the 

 north-west of Taunton. liordering Bridgwator Bay, 

 are the Quantock Hills, rising at Will's Neck to 

 1262 feet; and west, again, is the wild district of 

 Exmoor Forest (q.v.), partly in Devon, but mainly 

 in Somerset. At several points on the inland 

 borders height* of l>ctwecn 8(K) and KKKi feet are 

 attained. The only two rivers of commercial im- 

 portance in Somerset originate elsewhere. The 

 Bristol Avon, which forms the liouiidary of the 

 county for many mile-, ri-cs near I'adminton in 

 Wilts, and eni. ir Hath. The Parret 



rises near South I'errot in Dorset, and drains the 

 middle ..I I lie county : it is tidal to beyond Bridg- 

 water, and is one of the streams possessing a tidal 

 bore.' These two rivers with their feeders dis- 



charge the bulk of the waters of the county. Be- 

 tween them the chief independent streams are the 

 Axe and the Brue, south of the Memlip-. and the 

 Yeo, north. The Exmoor district is drained by 

 the Exe. which falls into the sea at F.xmouth, and 

 by the Devonshire Axe, which rises, however, in 

 Dorset. 



The geological features of the county are singu- 

 larly varied, ranging from Devonian npwaids. 

 Carboniferous strata occupy a wide area in I In- 

 north, east, and centre, and are worked for coal in 

 the Radstock and Nailsea basins of the liiistol coal 

 field; while the mountain limestone is largely 

 developed in the Mendips and near Bristol, where 

 it is traversed by the magnificent gorge of the 

 Avon. Oolitic rocks stretch along the ea.-t of the 

 county from Yeovil to Bath, and in the neighlxmr- 

 hood of the latter city are extensively worked for 

 the production of the well-known I'.ath building- 

 stone ; while other lieds are wrought at Doulting 

 and Ham Hill. Liassic rocks are well developed, 

 chiefly in the central region, though in somewhat 

 scattered fashion. Triassic rocks occupy a very 

 wide area in the west of the county, ranging 

 with breaks from Wellington to Bristol ; and there 

 is Greensand on the extreme south west. Ex- 

 tensive caverns in the limestone of the Mendips 

 have yielded abundant remains of prehistoric 

 mammalia, with relics of their human contempo- 

 raries. The Mendip mining area is one of the 

 oldest in the kingdom, for lead was raised there 

 before the advent of the Romans, and the iron 

 ores of the Brendon Hills, on the eastern flank of 

 Exmoor, were also worked at a very early date. 



The agriculture is mainly pastoral, the proportion 

 of tillage to grazing and dairy-farming being small, 

 though the low lands generally are exceedingly 

 fertile the fertility of the valley of the Tone, near 

 Taunton, having passed into a proverb. Even thi 

 is exceeded by the luxuriance of the marshy 

 meadows of the' Bridgwatcr Level, which are, how- 

 ever, liable to be flooded, and are maintained against 

 the sen at considerable expense. The orchards of 

 Somerset are second only to those of Devon in area 

 and importance, and cider is largely made ; while 

 Cheddar cheese has a national reputation. Manu- 

 factures maintain considerable importance, par- 

 ticularly in textiles (chiefly woollens), potteries, 

 paper-making, and gloving; and though the city 

 lies mainly on the Gloucestershire side of the 

 Avon, and is a county to itself, Somerset may 

 fairly claim a share also in the commercial import- 

 ance of Bristol (q.v.). 



The bone-caves of the Mendips have supplied 

 evidence of the presence in Somerset of neolithic 

 if not of paheolithic man ; and there is abundant 

 evidence of the occupation by strong and com- 

 paratively civilised tribes prior to the lioman 

 invasion in the remains of important hill fortresses 

 (Hamdon, Cnstle Neroche, Dolbury, Maesbury, 

 Worlebiiry, Cadbury), while the megalithic circles 

 and other remains at Stanton I Mew arc- among tin- 

 most interesting in the kingdom. Immediately 

 prior to the Roman invasion under Claudius the 

 north of the county was inhabited by the lU>lg;c, 

 while the territory of the Ihimnonii seems to have 

 extended over the Devon liorder to the marshy and 

 central district, which proliably formed a strong 

 natural frontier, though there is evidence that part 

 of this area had IHH-II embanked against the sea in 

 pre- Roman times. The Mendips must, however, 

 nave formed part of the earliest Roman conquest, 

 as pigs of lead have In-en found there bearing the 

 names of Claudius, Britannicus, and Vespasian. 

 Somerset became one of the chief seat.s of Roman 

 civilisation in Britain. Bath (q.v.), as the city of 

 Aqim So/in, was a centre of refinement and luxury. 

 The remains of the baths built by the Romans for 



