346 
SOME 
river Yeo, vast tracks are exposed to the inundations of the 
sea, and the injurious effects of land floods and stagnant 
waters; an evil which might be greatly remedied by the 
judicious application of drains and sluices. The high lands 
in this district are either devoted to sheep pasture, or inclosed 
and cultivated. Wood is raised of excellent quality near 
Keynsham; much garden produce is raised fox the supply 
of Bristol and Bath; and the whole district abounds with 
orchards. Besides the ordinary stock, hogs are fattened in 
vast numbers. Farms are not large, seldom exceeding 200/. 
a-year of rent: there are many proprietors having from 2000/: 
to 6000/. a-year; but most of the land is possessed by the 
middling class, holding from 50/. to 500/. per annum. The 
district is but partially wooded, and systematic plantation is 
little studied. On the northern side of the Mendip hills are 
some good coppices, which have a very romantic and 
picturesque appearance. In the eastern part of the district 
are also some large and productive woods, which form a 
great ornament to the county, as well as a source of profit 
to the proprietors, from the demands of the coal-works. 
The ancient forest of Selwood, on the verge of which stands 
the town of Frome, appears to have comprised a woody vale 
of 20,000 acres, most of which are now arable and pasture 
land. The middle district of the county between the 
Mendip and Quantock hills, comprises an extent of between 
300,000 and 400,000 acres. The lands here on the borders 
of Wilts and Dorset are high, and partake of the soil and 
management of these counties; sheep walks and corn con¬ 
stituting the principal branches of husbandry. The farms 
are large, and the corn produced is of good quality, and 
finds a ready sale at W incanton, Bruton, and other markets. 
Lower down the county, about Alepton, Bruton, Castle 
Cary, Ilchester, Somerton, Langport, Petherton, and Ilmin- 
ster, the land is exceedingly fertile, both in corn and pasture, 
abounds with good orchards and fine luxuriant meadows, 
and is altogether as well cultivated and as productive as most 
parts of the kingdom. The vale of Ilchester, for extent and 
richness combined, is scarcely to be equalled in the island. 
In some parts flax and hemp are produced in great abund¬ 
ance, which, together with wool, furnish the raw materials 
.for extensive manufactures. Westward of this track, and 
still descending towards the coasts, lies the great range of 
marsh lands, which the Polden and Ham hills, stretching 
westwards to the coast, separate into two great divisions, viz. 
Brent marsh on the north, and Bridgewater, South marsh, or 
Parret marshes, on the south. Polden and Ham hills are 
mostly disposed in common fields, and under this system 
scarcely admit of much improvement. Brent marsh extends 
from Polden hill, northwards to Mendip hills, and from 
Wells and Glastonbury, westwards to the coast. Vast im¬ 
provements have been made in this marsh, by draining and 
embanking; so that many thousand acres formerly over¬ 
flown for months together, are now become fine grazing and 
dairy lands. The South or Parret marshes, which com¬ 
prise no less than 100 square miles, or 64,000 acres, lie 
between the Polden hills and the foot of the Quantock hills 
on the one hand, and between Ham hill and Taunton, and 
the coast, on the other. Great improvements have been 
also effected here by extensive drainages, more especially 
in the track called King Sedge Moor, where an immense cut, 
15 feet deep, 10 feet wide at the bottom, and 55 feet at the 
top, was carried a distance of 2 k miles. Great tracks of 
marsh land, however, on the rivers Tone and Yeo, remain 
unimproved, to the amount perhaps of 10,000 acres, inde¬ 
pendent of many thousand acres of low flooded inclosed 
lands. The low lands in this middle district are badly 
wooded, and planting much neglected. In the western 
division of the county, westward of the Quantock hills, the 
finest and most cultivated district is the vale .of Taunton 
Dean, through which flows the river Tone. Here the 
.climate is peculiarly,mild and serene, and the soil highly 
.fertile and productive. The eye is relieved by a judicious 
.mixture of arable ,land with the pasture. Excepting the 
.intervening valleys, which have a good soil, and are well 
R S E T. 
cultivated, the other part of this division of the county, 
consisting of hills and forests, are mostly in a state of nature, 
and used for the pasture of sheep. The great forest of 
Exmoor, which extends 8 miles from north to south, and 10 
or 12 from east to west, contains now scarcely a tree or bush, 
except a small track in the centre, which has been inclosed 
as an estate. The minerals of Somersetshire constitute an 
important article of its produce. The great mining district 
is the Mendip hills, which afford lead, calamine, and coal, 
the latter of which is also found in great abundance, and in 
various parts to the north of these hills. The lead is said to 
be of a harder quality than that of other countries, and is 
mostly exported for making bullets and shot. The calamine 
is carried in great quantities to Bristol and other places, to 
be used in the making of brass. Copper, manganese, bole, 
and red ochre, are also found in these hills. The most 
considerable collieries are in the northern part of the district, 
in the parishes of High Littleton, Timsbury, Paulton, 
Radstock, &c. The coal field here includes 19 seams, 
varying in thickness from 10 inches to upwards of 3 feet, 
and dipping 9 inches in the yard. The workings are now 
in many places upwards of 80 fathoms deep, and by the aid 
of machinery, may be carried still deeper. The coal is of 
excellent quality, pure and durable in burning, firm, large, 
and of a strong grain. The principal market is Bath, the 
western parts of Wiltshire, and the adjacent parts of the 
county itself. The quantity raised is from 1500 to 2000 tons 
weekly. A canal has been formed to connect these collieries 
with the rivers Kennet and Avon. The southern collieries, 
next the Mendip hills, are on a more limited scale; from 
800 to 1000 tons are raised weekly ; and a canal has also 
been formed to the Avon. Besides these minerals, limestone, 
of which there are extensive quarries in the Quantock hills, 
paving stone, tiling stone, freestone, marl, and fuller’s earth, 
are found in different parts of the county. The whole of 
the mountainous county west of the Quantock hills, is 
composed of a series of rocks, differing in mineralogical 
characters, but passing insensibly into each other, and 
connecting, on the whole, into one common formation of 
what has been termed grey wacke. A great proportion of 
them have the structure of sandstone of different grains. 
They have all an internal stratified structure, which varies 
and becomes more sensible with the fineness of the grain, 
and at last assumes the appearance of clay slate. In many 
places great beds of limestone full of madrepores, are con¬ 
tained in the slate, and in these, copper in the state of 
sulphuret and of malachite, and veins of hematite, are 
frequently found, and nests of copper ore, of considerable 
magnitude, have been sometimes found. The manufactures 
of Somersetshire, which are considerable, consist chiefly in 
articles of clothing. At Frome and Shepton Mallet there 
are some manufactures of woollen cloth and knit stockings, 
and of narrow cloth at Ilminster, Chard, Crewkerne, &c. 
In the middle district of the county are many manufactures 
of coarse linen, such as dowlas, tick, &c.; also gloves, girt- 
web, &c. The woollen manufactures are also carried on at 
Taunton and Wellington. The trade of Somersetshire 
consists in the exportation of its various kinds of produce, 
and the importation of commodities for its domestic con¬ 
sumption. Several canals have been formed to facilitate its 
intercourse with the adjacent districts. The Dorset and So¬ 
merset canal, commencing near Nettlebridge, extends to 
Frome, and thence to Dorsetshire. The Ilchester canal joins 
Ilchester with the Parret, and the Grand Western canal 
opens a direct communication with the English channel, 
proceeding from Taunton and by Wellington, through 
Devonshire, to Exmouth. 
Among the Britons, Somersetshire was inhabited by the 
Belgac; the Romans annexed it to the province of Britannia 
Prima, and during the Saxon Heptarchy, it belonged to the 
kingdom of the West Saxons. During the civil wars of 
Charles I., various skirmishes were fought here between the 
royal and parliamentary armies, and a general engagement 
at Lansdown ; and this was-the principal theatre of tire duke 
