Portal:Somerset

Somerset County Cricket Club are an English cricket club based in Taunton, Somerset. The club was founded in 1875 after a match between "Gentlemen of Somerset" and "Gentlemen of Devon" in Sidmouth, Devon. Somerset played their first undisputed first-class cricket match in 1882 against Lancashire. After missing the first season of the official County Championship, Somerset was admitted for the second in 1891, and have participated in the competition ever since. Brian Langford holds the record for the greatest number of first-class appearances for Somerset having played 504 times for the club. Only three other players have made more than 400 appearances for Somerset, and no-one has reached the milestone since Langford. Jack White, one of the three, is the club's leading wicket-taker in first-class cricket. Harold Gimblett's tally of 21,142 first-class runs is the most by a Somerset cricketer.

Despite Peter Denning and Graham Rose, both Englishmen, jointly holding the record for most List A appearances for Somerset, it is West Indians that top both the batting and bowling charts. Viv Richards, named by Wisden as the greatest One Day International batsman of all time, holds the record for the most runs in one-day cricket for Somerset. Barbadian Hallam Moseley ranks as the top wicket-taker, claiming 309 wickets in one-day cricket, nine more than England Test cricketer Ian Botham. (Full article...)

Robert Burnell (sometimes spelled Robert Burnel; c. 1239 – 25 October 1292) was an English bishop who served as Lord Chancellor of England from 1274 to 1292. A native of Shropshire, he served as a minor royal official before entering into the service of Prince Edward, the future King Edward I of England. When Edward went on the Eighth Crusade in 1270, Burnell stayed in England to secure the prince's interests. He served as regent after the death of King Henry III of England while Edward was still on crusade. He was twice elected Archbishop of Canterbury, but his personal life—which included a long-term mistress who was rumoured to have borne him four sons—prevented his confirmation by the papacy. In 1275 Burnell was elected Bishop of Bath and Wells, after Edward had appointed him Lord Chancellor in 1274.

Burnell was behind the efforts of the royal officials to enforce royal rights during his term of office as chancellor, including the implementation of the Quo warranto procedures. He also helped with the legislative and legal reforms of Edward's reign. During Burnell's tenure the chancellor's office and records became fixed in London rather than travelling with the king. Burnell went abroad on diplomatic missions for Edward, and for a time governed Gascony. He continued to enjoy the king's trust until his death in 1292; one historian has suggested that Burnell may have been the most important royal official of the 13th century. (Full article...)

1. Somerset (Unitary)
2. North Somerset (Unitary)
3. Bath and North East Somerset (Unitary)

Glastonbury
Co-ordinates 51°08′55″N 2°42′50″W / 51.1485°N 2.714°W / 51.1485; -2.714

Glastonbury is a small town situated at a dry point on the low lying Somerset Levels, 30 miles (48 km) south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,784 in the 2001 census. Glastonbury is less than 1 mile (2 km) across the River Brue from the village of Street. Evidence from timber trackways such as the Sweet Track show that the town has been inhabited since Neolithic times. Glastonbury Lake Village was an Iron Age village, close to the old course of the River Brue and Sharpham Park approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Glastonbury, dates back to the Bronze Age. Centwine was the first Saxon patron of Glastonbury Abbey, which dominated the town for the next 700 years. One of the most important abbeys in England, it was the site of Edmund Ironside's coronation as King of England in 1016. Many of the oldest surviving buildings in the town, including the Tribunal, George Hotel and Pilgrims' Inn and the Somerset Rural Life Museum, which is based in an old tithe barn, are associated with the abbey. The Church of St John the Baptist dates from the 15th century.

The town became a centre for commerce, which led to the construction of the market cross, Glastonbury Canal and the Glastonbury and Street railway station, the largest station on the original Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway. The Brue Valley Living Landscape is a conservation project managed by the Somerset Wildlife Trust and nearby is the Ham Wall National Nature Reserve.

Glastonbury has been described as a New Age community which attracts people with New Age beliefs, and is notable for myths and legends often related to Glastonbury Tor, concerning Joseph of Arimathea, the Holy Grail and King Arthur. In some Arthurian literature Glastonbury is identified with the legendary island of Avalon. Joseph is said to have arrived in Glastonbury and stuck his staff into the ground, when it flowered miraculously into the Glastonbury Thorn. The presence of a landscape zodiac around the town has been suggested, along with a collection of ley lines, but no evidence has been discovered. Glastonbury Festival takes its name from the town but is actually held in the nearby village of Pilton. (Full article...)

From Wikipedia's "Did You Know" archives:

• ... that Mute Swans ring for lunch at the Bishop's Palace (pictured) in Wells, UK?
• ... that the Crowcombe church spire was damaged by lightning in 1724 and the top has been planted in the churchyard ever since?
• ... that a bronze bowl from the Iron Age Glastonbury Lake Village was made from the remnants of two separate vessels, before it was deposited in the peat?
• ... that the earliest scientifically dated cemetery in Britain was found at Aveline's Hole, at Burrington Combe in the limestone of the Mendip Hills?
• ... that Culbone Church is the smallest English parish church still holding services?

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Main project: WikiProject Somerset Parent projects: WikiProject UK geography, WikiProject England

Nearby projects: WikiProject Bristol, WikiProject Devon, WikiProject Dorset, WikiProject Wiltshire