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Secret Somerset Episodes

  1.

    The coal miner who ended up in a lunatic asylum

    Mark Whitcomb and the Furman sisters are remembered at the Mendip Hospital Cemetery.

  2. The chained library with books older than America

    The Wells Cathedral library securely holds books, published before the 1800s, in chains.

  3. The burning city on the Mendips

    Lights and fires were used to trick German bombers into thinking they’d reached Bristol.

  4. The bootmaker whose inventions changed lives

    Chard's James Gillingham found his calling after a local man was injured in an accident.

  5. The Bakery that disappeared from the A303

    The Bakery in West Camel no longer sits on the A303 due to the new road layout.

  6. Taunton’s Tudor Tavern

    The town's oldest listed domestic building is now a café.

  7. Somerset village linked to two American presidents

    John Adams and John Quincy Adams are remembered in Barton St David’s church.

  8. Somerset is home to the tallest tree in England

    The Douglas Fir tree on Exmoor became the country’s tallest tree in August 2024.

  9. Roman villa discovered on the outskirts of Langport

    Archaeologists have uncovered a site which they think could date back to as early as 50AD.

  11. Reconstructing Somerset’s Roman Mosaics

    Volunteers have spent five years reproducing Roman designs at Avalon Archaeology.

  12. Oliver Cromwell’s role in the Battle of Langport

    The Parliamentarians beat the Royalists at the Battle of Langport in 1645.

  13. Old Mother Leakey: the ghost of Minehead

    A ghost, a bishop and mysterious shipwrecks around Minehead harbour.

  14. Inside Wells Cathedral’s ‘financial centre’

    Guide Clive Edney takes us on a tour of the Treasury Block at the end of Vicars’ close.

  15. Inside Hinkley Point B: The Tour

    EDF's Shaheed Mungur takes Charlie Taylor on a tour of the nuclear power station.

  16. Inside Hinkley Point B: The Station Director

    Nicola Fauvel speaks to Charlie Taylor on working in the nuclear power station.

  17. In the cockpit of Concorde

    The story of Yeovilton’s Concorde at the Fleet Air Arm Museum.

  18. Ilminster’s Victorian police cells

    The former magistrates’ court and police station building now houses the town council.

  19. Ilminster’s shooting club

    The rifle group is thought to have started in the Victorian times.

  20. How Cheddar inspired Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings

    The author first visited the picturesque area of Somerset on his honeymoon in 1916.

  21. Glastonbury’s Iron Age lake village

    Remains from a 2000-year-old settlement on the Avalon Marshes are in the town's museum.

  22. Glastonbury’s 550 year old pub

    The George and Pilgrims Inn claims to be the oldest purpose-built pub in the South West

  23. From Exmoor to Australia: The oldest ringing church bell

    How a 16th century bell that chimed in Upton ended up in an rainforest wedding chapel.

  24. Exploring Frome’s Grade I listed Almshouse

    The current Blue House in Frome was built in the 1700s but is in need of some repair.

  25. Did King George III’s secret son live in Somerset?

    Frederick Blomberg was adopted and raised by the King and Queen in 1765.

  26. Dead Woman’s Ditch

    The chilling story of where a woman's body was discovered in 1789.

  27. Chard’s hanging tree

    A hanging tree once stood between Tesco and B&Q in the town.

  28. Building Brunel’s lost railway

    Yeovil Railway Centre's volunteers are trying to raise £100k pounds for the project.

  29. Britain’s only horse milk farmer

    Frank Shellard who owns a farm in Combe Hill near Bath, sells milk from his 14 horses.

  30. Brean Down: from the Iron Age to WWII

    The land has seen an Iron Age hill fort, a Roman temple and a Victorian folly.

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