Somerton is a town and civil parish in the English region of Somerset. It provided its name to the region and was quickly, around the beginning of the 14th century, the county town, and around 900 was potentially the funding of Wessex. It has held an once a week market considering that the Middle Ages, and also the major square with its market cross is today an attractive location for visitors. Situated on the River Cary, about 8.8 miles (14.2 kilometres) north-west of Yeovil, Somerton has its own community council offering a population of 4,697 since 2011. Residents are commonly described locally as Somertonians. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Etsome, Hurcot, Catsgore, and Catcombe. The history of Somerton go back to the Anglo-Saxon age, when it was a vital political and also industrial centre. After the Norman occupation of England the significance of the community declined, regardless of being the county town of Somerset in the late thirteenth century and early fourteenth century. Having actually lost county town condition, Somerton then ended up being a market community in the Middle Ages, whose economic situation was sustained by transport systems using the River Parrett, and later on rail transport using the Great Western Railway, and by light markets consisting of handwear cover production as well as plaster mining. In the centre of Somerton the wide market square, with its octagonal roofed market cross, is surrounded by old houses, while nearby is the 13th century Church of St Michael and All Angels. Somerton additionally had relate to Muchelney Abbey between Ages. The BBC drama The Monocled Mutineer was recorded in Somerton from 1985 to 1986.