SOMERSETSHIRE. 



tefs tlian fifteen inches they are feldom worked. Coal is 

 now working generally from feventy to eighty fathom in 

 depth : in a few places deeper ; and by the late introdudlion 

 of machinery to raife it by the Iteam-engine, a much greater 

 depth of working will be obtained. The coal is of prime 

 quality ; pure and durable in burning ; firm, large, and of 

 a ftrong grain ; which enfures its conveyance to almoft any 

 diltance, without injury to its appearance or quality, which 

 cannot be exceeded in any part of the kingdom. Bath is 

 the principal market for fale and place of confumption ; to 

 which may be added, the wefter;i parts of V/iltfhire, and 

 the next adjacent parts of Somerfetrtiire. The quantity 

 raifed is from fifteen hundred to two thoufand tons weekly : 

 a much greater can be fupplied, if an increafed demand're- 

 quires it. Men and boys, to the number of fifteen h\mdred, 

 are employed in the workings, with wafjes fuiliciently ade- 

 quate for a comfortable fubfiftence. The owners of the 

 freehold whence the coal is raifed generally receive an eierhth 

 of the grofs receipt of fale. The average price of coal is 

 five-pence ^i:r budiel at the pit, nine gallon meafure. The 

 collieries in the fouthern part of this dillrift are on a more 

 limited fcale : the ilrata of coal form an inclination of the 

 plane from eighteen to thirty inches in the yard ; in fome the 

 plane is annihilated, and the fhafts defccnd in a perpendicular 

 direftion. The fouth-weltern parts of Wiltihire, the northern 

 diltrift of Dorfetlhire, and tht; eail and fouthern parts of 

 Somerfeffhire, are the markets for confumption. The quan- 

 tity raifed is from eight hundred to a thoufand tons weekly, 

 and capable of extenfijn. Men and boys are employed to 

 the amount of from five to fix hundred. Average price 

 three-pence three farthings />cr bufhel. At Clapton, a vil- 

 lage to the north-weft of Leigh-Down, is a coal-work, 

 which pofleffes the advantage of a land level of forty-four 

 fathoms : about two hundred and forty bulhels are landed 

 daily. The beft coal is fold at three-pence halfpenny per 

 bufhel, and the fmall is (hipped at Portilhead for Wales, 

 where it is ufed for burning lime. 



Rivers and Canals. — The principal rivers are the Avon, 

 Ax, Bruf, Parret, Yow, Cole, Chew, Tone, Frome, Ivel, 

 Ex, and Barl. Of thefc, four only are navigable. i)iz. the 

 Avon, from Batii to Bri(tol, i6 miles; the Brue, from the 

 Briltol Channel to Highbridge, two miles ; the Parret, from 

 Stert-Point to Langport, about 20 m\les ; and the Tone, 

 from Taunton to Boroughbridgc, eight miles. The chief 

 canals are, the Somerietfiiire coal canal, whicli has two 

 branches, one commencing at Paulton, the other at Rad- 

 ftock, and both communicating with that of the Kennet 

 and Avon ; the Dorfet and Somerfet canal, commencing 

 near Nettlebridge, and extending to Frome and thence to 

 the county of Dorfet ; the Ilchefter canal ; the Grand 

 Weltcrn canal, extending 35 miles from Taunton into Dor- 

 fetlhire. For a particular account of thefe, fee Canal, in 

 a former volume (jf this W(}rk. 



Climate, &c. — Mr. Billinglley, who in the year 17*)^ drew 

 up a general view of the agriculture of this co\mty, divides 

 it into three diftrifts the north-eall, the middle, and tlie 

 fouth-welt. The firll comprehending the trad between the 

 ports of Uphill and Kingroad on the welt, and the towns 

 of Bath and Frome on the ealt ; the fccond embracing that 

 portion which is bounded by the Mendlp hills on the north, 

 Bridgewater-bay on the well, and the town of Chard on the 

 fouth ; the third occupying the remainder of the county. 

 The north-eaft diltrift being very irregular in furfacc, and 

 intermixed with lofty hills and rich'fertile plains, the climate 

 is in conleq\ience exceedingly varied. On the weftcrn fide, 

 including the hundred of Winter-Stoke and Portbury, the 

 foil is, for tlie moll part, a deep and rich mixture of clay 



Vot. XXXIII. 



and fand ; being originally a depofit by the fea, which, in 

 ancient times, flowed up a confiderable way into that part 

 of the country. Thefe moor-lands, as they are called, arc 

 fubjeft to frequent inundation ; and fometimes in rainy fea- 

 fons are covered with water for four or five fucceflive months. 

 The middle diltrift of the county, which is the largeft, pof- 

 felfes a climate, for the molt part, mild and temperate ; but 

 on fo varied a furface that uniformity of foil cannot be 

 ex petted. 



The fouth-weft diltrift has nearly an equal portion of 

 rough mountainous country, and rich fertile (lopes and plains. 

 The climate, particularly of that part which is caUed the 

 Vale of Taunton-Dean, is peculiarly mild and ferene, and 

 the foil highly fertile and produftive : and the eye is agree- 

 ably reheved by a judicious mixture of arable and palture 

 lands. There are, however, certain parts north-welt of the 

 vale which are mountainous, and fubjeft to that mutability 

 of weather, and moilture of air, generally found on elevated 

 fituations. 



Civil and Ecclejiajlical Diviftons. — Somerfetlhire is divided 

 into forty-three hundreds, and feven liberties. It contains 

 two cities, Bath and Wells, with a part of Briltol, feven 

 boroughs, twenty-two market-towns, one biihopric, three 

 archdeaconries, thirteen deaneries, and four hundred and 

 eighty-two parifhes. Of the three archdeaconries, that of 

 Bath contains two deaneries, Wells feven, and Taunton four. 



Church Hijlory. — Although the inhabitants of this county, 

 as has been obferved, embraced Chrillianity in the feventh 

 century, the ecclefiaftical hiitory commences only with the 

 inftallation of Athelm, a monk of Glaftonbury, to the fee of 

 Wells, in the reign of Edward the Elder, in the early part of 

 the tenth century. During this reign, pope Formofus, for 

 fome unknown reafon, excommunicated the whole kingdom, 

 which continued under this ientence feven years, by which 

 feveral fees were vacant ; at length, the degraded monarch 

 called a fynod to confider the ftate of the church, and fent 

 archbilhop Plegmund to procure the removal of the interdift, 

 and have new bifhops confirmed. Having fucceeded in his 

 miflion, feven bifliops were confecrated in one day, among 

 whom wan Athelm, above-mentioned. 



Political Economy. — Somerfetlhire is dated to contain 

 991,360 acres of land ; of which 330,000 are arable, 534,500 

 pafture, 126,860 of commons, heaths, woods, wattes, roads, 

 &c. The population, according to the return to parliament 

 ill the year 181 1, amounted to 303,180, of which 141,449 

 were males, 161,731 females; 23,732 families being Hated 

 to be employed in trade and nianufadtures, and 27,472 

 families chiefly in ai^riculture. The number of houfes were 

 54,787. The rcprefentatives in parliament are, for the coun- 

 ty, two ; Bath, two ; Bridgewater, two ; Ilcheller, two ; 

 Melborne-Port, two ; Minehead, two ; Taunton, two ; 

 Wells, two: in the whole fixteen members. The county is 

 included in the wedern circuit ; it is in the province of Can- 

 terbury ; and in the diocefe of Bath and Wells. — "The Hif- 

 tory and Antiquities of the County of Somerfet," by Edm. 

 Rack and the Rev. John Collinfon, 3 vols. 410. 1791. 

 " General View of the Agriculture of the County of So- 

 merfet, by John Biilingfley, cfq." 8vo. 1798. 



SOMERSHAM, a conliderablc village and parifli in tlir 

 hundred of Hiirftingtonc, aiiil county of Huntingdon, 

 England, is fituated 6 miles dillaiit from St. Ives, and 6S 

 miles N. from London. It principally confiftsof one llrcct, 

 about three-quarters of a mile in length from E. to W.; 

 with a fecond, but much diorter llreet, eroding the former 

 at right angles. The ci'urch i« a fpacious drudure, and 

 conlilis of a nave, chancel, and aides, with afubttantial Qjn- 

 battled tower at tlie weft end. Near the church-yard ii a 

 U 11 iVof 



