Cities and Towns
See also: List of places in Somerset and Category:Villages in SomersetSomerton took over from Ilchester as the county town in the late thirteenth century, but it declined in importance and the status of county town transferred to Taunton about 1366. The county has two cities, Bath and Wells, and only a small number of towns. The largest urban areas in terms of population are Bath, Weston-super-Mare, Taunton, Yeovil and Bridgwater. In many cases there are villages which are larger than their neighbouring towns; the village of Cheddar, for example, has three times the population of the nearby town of Axbridge. Many settlements developed because of their strategic importance in relation to geographical features, such as river crossings or valleys in ranges of hills. Examples include Axbridge on the River Axe, Castle Cary on the River Cary, North Petherton on the River Parrett, and Ilminster, where there was a crossing point on the River Isle. Midsomer Norton lies on the River Somer; while the Wellow Brook and the Fosseway Roman road run through Radstock. Chard is the most southerly town in Somerset, and at an altitude of 121 m (397 ft) it is also the highest.
Read more about this topic: Somerset
Famous quotes containing the words cities and/or towns:
“We are in danger ... of making our cities places where business goes on but where life, in its real sense, is lost.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (19111978)
“New is a word for fools in towns who think
Style upon style in dress and thought at last
Must get somewhere.”
—Robert Frost (18741963)