Information about Taunton

Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England and is home to the County Cricket Ground where Somerset County Cricket Club play their home ties. It hosts the famous Taunton flower show, which has been held in Vivary Park since 1866. The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office is located in Taunton on Admiralty Way. The town name derives from ‘Town on the River Tone’ — or Tone Town. There was perhaps a Romano-British village near the suburb of Holway, and Taunton was a place of considerable importance in Saxon times; King Ine of Wessex threw up an earthen castle here about 700, and a monastery was founded before 904.The bishops of Winchester owned the manor, and obtained the first charter for their ‘men of Taunton’ from King Edward in 904, freeing them from all royal and county tribute. At some time before the Domesday Survey Taunton had become a borough with very considerable privileges governed by a portreeve appointed by the bishops. The grounds of Taunton Castle include the Somerset County Museum and The Castle Hotel.

The area by the river north of the centre is surrounded by Morrisons supermarket, retirement housing and the Brewhouse Theatre. Towards the centre, is the Dellers Wharf Nightclub, Bridge Street and Goodlands Gardens. Currently a regeneration programme is being executed, north of Bridge Street, which will include redeveloping the County Cricket Ground. Hankridge Farm is a retail park close to the M5 motorway, with large stores including PC World and Halfords. In addition, there is a ‘Venue’ on the park, with restaurants, the Odeon cinema and Hollywood Bowl bowling. Now known as Riverside Retail Park.

The Old Market was a farmers market but this moved to the Firepool area. The Old Market is now a large indoor shopping centre in the centre. Locals still refer to it as ‘The Pig Market’.

There are public parks dotted around Taunton, the most notable of which is Vivary Park, located near the centre of the town. It contains two main wide open spaces, as well as a war memorial, fountain, mini-golf course, tennis courts, a children's playground and located next to it is an 18 hole golf course. Flowing through the park is a tributary of the River Tone. Goodlands Gardens, located in the centre of the town, is behind the Debenhams department store and behind Taunton Castle Hotel.

Taunton railway station is on the Great Western Main Line and the Cross-Country Route. It is served and operated by First Great Western and served by CrossCountry, with services to Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff, Bristol, London, Exeter, Plymouth and Penzance, as well as the rest of the West Country. The former railway route to Minehead has become the heritage West Somerset Railway, with a regular express bus service providing the normal link between Taunton and Minehead. Special rail events allow trains to run from Taunton along the heritage line to Minehead.

Taunton also has good road links, having the M5 motorway junctions 25 (Taunton) and 26 (Wellington) close to the town, as well as other major roads such as the A38 and A358. Taunton Deane services are located between junctions 25 and 26 on the M5.

Taunton's zone 1 and 2 bus services and most of the outer zone services are provided by First, who have routes across the town. Taunton Coach Station's operators include National Express, whom run regular London and Heathrow coaches. Local coach operator Berrys of Taunton, runs a number of day excursions and offers the London Superfast service from the Taunton & the West County to London every day.

The nearest airports are Exeter and Bristol, both within an hour's car journey of Taunton.

State secondary schools in Taunton include St Augustines Heathfield Community School, The Castle School, Bishop Fox's Community School and Ladymead Community School. State-funded Sixth Form teaching is provided by Richard Huish College. The co-educational independent schools in Taunton are King's College, Queen's College and Taunton School. Further education is provided by Somerset College of Arts and Technology.

Taunton is within Somerset Primary Care Trust and is home to Musgrove Park Hospital, within Taunton and Somerset Foundation NHS Trust. This is the main district hospital within Somerset apart from Yeovil District Hospital. A Nuffield Hospital is also situated within the town, run privately by Nuffield Hospitals. The town is also home to several doctor's surgeries as well as a family planning clinic and occupational health centre.

Taunton Freeriders is a community mountain bike project in partnership with the Forestry Commission who are developing a series of northshore and downhill (DH) style mountain bike trails just outside of the town. Run by volunteers from the local close-knit riding community and funded solely by kind donations, they are also involved with the redevelopment of the 'Norton Dirt Jumps' and campaigning for a replacement skatepark at Hamilton Park and better facilities for alternative sports (e.g BMX, skateboard, in-line skates, mountain biking, parkour among others).

Photographs of Taunton