Creech St Michael

Ruishton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on the River Tone and A358 road 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 1,473. The parish includes the hamlet of Henlade.

On 4 November 2011, a multiple-vehicle collision occurred on the M5 motorway near Taunton, Somerset, in South West England. The crash involved dozens of cars and articulated lorries, and a large fireball ensued.Seven people were killed and 51 others were injured, making the pile-up the deadliest on a British motorway since 13 people – 12 of them children – died in a minibus crash on the M40 in 1993. In October 2012, a man who had organised and was operating a fireworks display for Guy Fawkes Night at Taunton Rugby Club's ground, which is adjacent to the motorway, was charged with seven counts of manslaughter. In January 2013, the manslaughter charges were dropped and instead he faced a single charge under health and safety laws of failing to ensure the safety of others. In December 2013 he was found not guilty of the charge. In April 2014, the West Somerset coroner concluded that the accident was caused by dense fog, and that smoke from fireworks may have been a contributory factor, but was not the prime cause of the incident.

Cambria Farm is the site of a Bronze, Iron Age, Roman rural settlement, between Ruishton and Taunton, Somerset, England. A survey of the site was carried by Context One in 2007 out prior to the construction of a Park and ride close to Junction 25 of the M5 motorway. In early 2009 further exploration and excavation was carried out. It uncovered Bronze Age burnt mounds, Middle Bronze Age and Late Iron Age roundhouses, and a field system established in the late Iron Age that remained in use until the 3rd or 4th century AD.The evidence of human occupation was dated as between 1500 BC to 400 AD. The buildings included three possible rectilinear post-built structures and at least five roundhouses, one of which was 17 metres (56 ft) in diameter. A Roman field system and small inhumation cemetery containing 30 burials dating from the 2nd to 4th centuries AD was also discovered.Finds from the site include a pair of iron shears, iron spear tips, animal bones, flint tools, loom weights, Iron Age and Roman brooches and Roman coins. They will be displayed in the Museum of Somerset. Examples of Glastonbury type pottery, and three Iron Age spearheads were also found.

Thornfalcon is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 119. The parish includes the hamlet of Ash. The name comes from Thorn, and the personal name Fagun (now Falcon) which was the Norman surname of Sir Gilbert of Thorn, whose family were lords of the manor until the 14th century.The parish of Thorne Falcon was part of the North Curry Hundred. The manor was bought from the Burridges of Lyme Regis by Nathaniel Butler Batten of Yeovil whose descendants, known as Chisholm-Batten from 1859 lived at Court House.The village is in the non-metropolitan district of Somerset West and Taunton, which was established on 1 April 2019. It was previously in the district of Taunton Deane, which was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, and part of Taunton Rural District before that. The district council is responsible for local planning and building control, local roads, council housing, environmental health, markets and fairs, refuse collection and recycling, cemeteries and crematoria, leisure services, parks, and tourism. The parish council has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover the council’s operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. The parish council's role includes initiating projects for maintenance and repair of parish facilities, as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street cleaning. Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are the council's responsibility. Somerset County Council runs the largest and most expensive local services, such as education, social services, libraries, main roads, public transport, policing and fire services, trading standards, waste disposal and strategic planning. It is part of the Taunton Deane county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. There was a station on the Chard Branch Line that closed in 1962. The road bridge over the line is designated as a Grade II listed building. The village is near the Great Western Railway and the Chard Canal — the road bridge over the canal is also listed.The Battlements was built by the Chisholm-Batten family in the early-mid 19th century. It was originally a school building, but is now a private house, whilst the Court House is older, dating from the late 15th century.The parish Church of the Holy Cross dates from the 14th century and was restored in 1882 by Benjamin Ferrey. It is designated as a grade I listed building.

Walford is a small village 3 miles (5 km) north east of Taunton in Somerset, England. Most of the village, including Walford Cross at the junction of the A38 and the A361, lies in the civil parish of Creech St Michael. The western part of the village, including Walford House, is in the civil parish of West Monkton. The village lies close to the A38 and the M5 motorway. The place was first recorded in 682 as Wealaford.Walford House was built in the late 18th century but in 1985 was converted into flats. It is a Grade II* listed building.Walford Farm, known as Walford Place until the 18th century, has a cruck roof which dates back to about 1600.

Heathfield Community School is a community secondary school located at West Monkton in the outskirts of Taunton, England. It had 1,192 pupils aged 11 to 18, of which 78 were in the sixth form, in 2015, and has an Arts College specialist status. The headteacher is Hannah Jones.

The Anglican Church of St Mary in Stoke St Mary, Somerset, England was built in the 13th century. It is a Grade II* listed building.

West Monkton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated 2 miles (3.2 km) north east of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The parish includes the hamlets of Monkton Heathfield, Bathpool, and Burlinch and the western parts of Coombe and Walford, and had a population of 2,787 at the 2011 census.

Stoke St Mary is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated 2 miles (3.2 km) south east of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district.

Lieutenant Harold Bolton Redler (27 January 1897 – 21 June 1918) was a British World War I flying ace credited with ten aerial victories. His most notable triumph was over a leading German ace, Adolf von Tutschek, whom he killed in action.

Thurlbear Wood and Quarrylands (grid reference ST270210) is a 26.7 hectare (65.8 acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Stoke St Mary in Somerset, notified in 1963. Thurlbear Wood is a species-rich woodland, formerly managed in a traditional coppice-with-standards system and situated on soils derived from Rhaetic shales and limestones. It is managed by the Somerset Wildlife Trust. The recorded history of the site, its Medieval embankments and the presence of several plants normally confined to primary woods, all suggest that Thurlbear is of considerable antiquity. The woodland has been used for educational and research work for more than 60 years. The 'quarrylands' are an area of calcareous grassland, and scrub occupying 19th-century workings in Lias limestone. Over 80 species of flowering plant occur. There is an outstanding butterfly fauna, with 29 species recorded. Breeding birds associated with the site include buzzard (Buteo buteo), nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos), and grasshopper warbler (Locustella naevia).

Buckland Priory (also known as Minchin Buckland Preceptory or Buckland Sororum (Latin: "Buckland of the Sisters")) was established around 1167 in Lower Durston, Somerset, England.