Siege of Bridgwater (1645)

Somerset ( (listen) SUM-ər-sit, -⁠set; archaically Somersetshire SUM-ər-sit-sheer, -⁠set-, -⁠shər) is a county in South West England which borders Gloucestershire and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east and Devon to the south-west. It is bounded to the north and west by the Severn Estuary and the Bristol Channel, its coastline facing southeastern Wales. Its traditional border with Gloucestershire is the River Avon. Somerset is currently formed of six council areas, of which two are unitary authorities, until the four second-tier district councils are merged on 1 April 2023, after which the county will comprise three unitary authorities. Its county town is Taunton. Somerset is a rural county of rolling hills, the Blackdown Hills, Mendip Hills, Quantock Hills and Exmoor National Park, and large flat expanses of land including the Somerset Levels. There is evidence of human occupation from Paleolithic times, and of subsequent settlement by the Celts, Romans and Anglo-Saxons. The county played a significant part in Alfred the Great's rise to power, and later the English Civil War and the Monmouth Rebellion. The city of Bath is famous for its Georgian architecture and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

RAF Westonzoyland is one of the United Kingdom's oldest airfields, being established in the early 1920s. The airfield is located approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) east-southeast of Bridgwater, Somerset; about 125 miles (201 km) west-southwest of London. It was opened in 1925 with summer camps lasting from May until September each year. It was later used by the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces. During the war it was used primarily as an army co-operation airfield but several squadrons were based there with a variety of aircraft, including Spitfires, Hurricanes and Mosquitos. Gloster Meteor jets were stationed there for a short time before moving to RAF Culmhead in Somerset. After being stood down in 1947 it was recommissioned in 1952 as a Meteor jet training station to support the demands of the Korean War. It was home to No. 209 Advanced Flying School RAF whose pupils included future Air Chief Marshals Lord Craig and Sir Patrick Hine. Today the remains of the airfield are a mixture of farmland and a base for Civil Air Patrol activities.

Middlezoy is a village and civil parish on the Somerset Levels in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. Situated between the two other villages of Westonzoyland and Othery and is about six miles from the Town of Bridgwater which is on the tidal river Parret.

The Sowy River is an artificial drainage channel in Somerset, England, designed to act as a flood relief channel for the River Parrett. Water from the Parrett can be diverted into it just below Langport, and is conveyed to the King's Sedgemoor Drain, which discharges back into the Parrett much nearer to its outfall into the Bristol Channel. Following extensive flooding of the surrounding land in 2014, new culverts to carry the river under the A372 road at Beer Wall were constructed, and a three-year project to raise the banks and widen the channel to increase its capacity was undertaken.

Greylake (grid reference ST384336) is a 9.3 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Middlezoy in Somerset, notified in 1987. This site, on the Somerset Levels, consists of 20 low-lying fields in the north west corner of King's Sedgemoor, and includes the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Greylake nature reserve which has taken over arable farmland and is now home to northern lapwings, common snipe, Eurasian curlews, redshanks, yellow wagtails, skylarks, and meadow pipits.This location is the type section for the Pleistocene Burtle Beds, as it is probably the most complete Burtle Beds sequence in Somerset. It demonstrates a sequence of fluvial (or possibly glacial) gravels, marine intertidal silts and marine subtidal. Rich molluscan, ostracod, and foraminifera assemblages and a mammalian fauna, including red deer (Cervus elephus), aurochs (Bos primigenius), and fallow deer (Dama dama) have been recorded.Greylake was flooded during the winter flooding of 2013–14 on the Somerset Levels.

Westonzoyland is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is situated on the Somerset Levels, 4 miles (6.4 km) south east of Bridgwater.

Langmead and Weston Level (grid reference ST353330) is a 168.8 hectare (417.1 acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Somerset, notified in 1991. Langmead and Weston Level form part of the nationally important grazing marsh and ditch systems of the Somerset Levels and Moors. The site is nationally important for its species-rich neutral grassland and the invertebrate community found in the ditches and rhynes. The land lies in the flood plain of the River Parrett and many of the fields are poorly drained and seasonally water-logged. The terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates recorded on the site include four nationally rare species: the Great Silver Diving Beetle (Hydrophilus piceus), the soldier fly (Odontomyia ornata) and two true flies, Lonchoptera scutellata and Stenomicra cogani.

The Bussex Rhine was a rhyne, or sizeable ditch, running outside the village of Westonzoyland in Somerset, England. A rhyne or rhine (rhymes with ‘seen’) is a southern English dialect word for a "large open ditch or drain". In the 17th century many rhines were used in Somerset to drain marshy ground. During the 1685 Monmouth Rebellion the king's forces were camped at the rhyne. The rebels under the Duke of Monmouth attempted a surprise night attack but were fatally delayed by the difficulty of crossing the rhyne. With the element of surprise lost the better-trained royal forces, ably commanded by John Churchill and armed with cannon, cut the rebels to pieces at what became known as the Battle of Sedgemoor.

The parish and village of Othery, established in 1515, sits on a detached extension of Sowy island on the Somerset Levels. It is 7 miles (11 km) east of Bridgwater and 4 miles (6 km) north-west of Langport. It borders the hamlets and villages of Pathe, Burrowbridge, Middlezoy, Westonzoyland and Aller, which it meets at Beer Wall. The border with Burrowbridge was defined in 1985, reducing Othery to 553 ha (1,366 acres). Many of these borders are defined by ditches and walls created and rearranged, from the 13th century onwards, to drain and channel the waters of the River Cary and the River Parrett as they flooded the low-lying levels on their way to the Bristol Channel.

Sutton Mallet Church in the village of Sutton Mallet, which is within the parish of Stawell, Somerset, England, was built in 1827 incorporating elements of a 15th-century church on the site. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.The village is on Sedgemoor on the Somerset Levels, at the foot of the Polden Hills. The old church which dated from the mediaeval period provided a landmark for anyone crossing the moor. Deterioration of the fabric of the church had was reported in the 16th and 17th centuries and services were only held infrequently in the 18th and 19th.The current church was built between 1827 and 1829 by Richard Carver of Taunton adjoining the old tower. Although the rebuilding was in a Georgian style remnants from the earlier church were reused including a mediaeval window which was incorporated into the small apse, and the 17th-century altar rails were reused.The Gothic tower includes two 17th-century bells, one from 1607 by R. Purdue and another of 1657 by Robert Austen. When the church was rebuilt the tower was not adequately fixed to the rest of the church, meaning that, by 2008, 6 metres (20 ft) long diagonal stainless steel ties needed to be inserted to prevent further deterioration.The church is now a redundant church in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. It was vested in the Trust on 1 November 1987.

The Monmouth Rebellion, also known as the Pitchfork Rebellion, the Revolt of the West or the West Country rebellion, was an attempt to depose James II, who in February 1685 succeeded his brother Charles II as king of England, Scotland and Ireland. A group of dissident Protestants led by James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, eldest illegitimate son of Charles II, opposed James largely due to his Catholicism. The failure of Parliamentary efforts to exclude James from the succession in 1681 resulted in the 1683 Rye House Plot to assassinate Charles II and James; although Monmouth was then in exile in the Dutch Republic, he was identified as a co-conspirator. His rebellion was coordinated with a simultaneous rising in Scotland, led by Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll. On 11 June 1685, Monmouth landed at Lyme Regis in South West England where he had widespread popular support, planning to take control of the area and march on London. In the next few weeks, his growing army of nonconformists, artisans and farm workers fought a series of skirmishes with local militias and regular soldiers commanded by Louis de Duras, 2nd Earl of Feversham, and John Churchill. However, his recruits were unable to compete with the regular army and failed to capture the city of Bristol. The rebellion ended with his defeat at the Battle of Sedgemoor on 6 July 1685 by a government army commanded by Feversham and Churchill. Monmouth was beheaded for treason on 15 July 1685. Many of his supporters were tried during the Bloody Assizes, led by Judge Jeffreys, and were condemned to death or transportation. James II consolidated his power and reigned until 1688, when he was deposed by another nephew, William III of Orange, in the Glorious Revolution.

The Battle of Sedgemoor was the last and decisive engagement between the Kingdom of England and rebels led by the Duke of Monmouth during the Monmouth rebellion, fought on 6 July 1685, and took place at Westonzoyland near Bridgwater in Somerset, England, resulting in a victory for the English army. It was the final battle of the Monmouth Rebellion and followed a series of skirmishes around south-west England between the rebel forces of the Duke of Monmouth, and the Royal Army still loyal to James II. Victory went to the Government and about 500 prisoners fell into their hands. Monmouth escaped from the battlefield but was captured, taken to London and executed nine days later. Many of Monmouth's supporters were tried during the Bloody Assizes. Many were transported abroad, while others were executed by drawing and quartering.