The Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society was founded in 1849. The Society bought

Taunton Castle Taunton Castle is a castle built to defend the town of Taunton, Somerset, England. It has origins in the Anglo Saxon period and was later the site of a priory. The Normans then built a stone structured castle, which belonged to the Bishops of ...

in 1874, and leases it to

Somerset County Council Somerset ( , ), archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to ...

to house the

Museum of Somerset The Museum of Somerset is located in the 12th-century great hall of Taunton Castle, in Taunton in the county of Somerset, England. The museum is run by South West Heritage Trust, an independent charity, and includes objects initially collecte ...

. A substantial proportion of the items held by the Museum were originally collected by the Society. Since it opened in 2010, the Society's office and library have been located at the Somerset Heritage Centre, alongside the County Council's Heritage Service.

History

The society was founded in 1849, by members of Taunton's society who had an interest in history and archeology and by 1851 it had grown to 420 members. It was originally based at the Victoria Rooms in Taunton until in 1874, the society purchased Taunton Castle for its new base of operations. The castle was purchased for £2,850 () and the society funded repairs to the castle, including a new roof for the large 'Somerset Room' in 1884, the refitting of the Great Hall to be a museum in 1899, and the creation of a library in 1908. The society was responsible for excavations at

Glastonbury Abbey Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. Its ruins, a grade I listed building and scheduled ancient monument, are open as a visitor attraction. The abbey was founded in the 8th century and enlarged in the 10th. It wa ...

during the early 20th century, but the Director of Excavations,

Frederick Bligh Bond Frederick Bligh Bond (30 June 1864 – 8 March 1945), was an English architect, illustrator, archaeologist, Parapsychology, psychical researcher and member of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. Early life Bligh Bond was the son of the Rev. Fre ...

, had to be dismissed as he claimed he had been helped by ghosts of Glastonbury monks. The present museum at the castle was fitted during mid 20th century, and around the same time the 18th-century staircase from

St Mary Redcliffe The Church of St Mary the Virgin, widely known as St Mary Redcliffe, is the main Church of England parish church for the Redcliffe district of the city of Bristol, England. The first reference to a church on the site appears in 1158, with the pr ...

's vicarage was installed in the Great Hall. Taunton Castle is now leased to Somerset County Council and its museum has become the

Publications

The Society has published an annual journal, the ''Proceedings'', since 1851 which contains

scholarly paper Academic publishing is the subfield of publishing which distributes academic research and scholarship. Most academic work is published in academic journal articles, books or theses. The part of academic written output that is not formally publi ...

s on research into the history, archaeology and ecology of

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

. It also, on a less regular basis, publishes books, such as an edition of ''Edmund Rack's Survey of Somerset'' (a late 18th-century of the county), a report on the archaeology of Taunton Castle, and three volumes on the maritime history of Somerset.

Notable members

Professor

Mick Aston Michael Antony Aston (1 July 1946 – 24 June 2013) was an English archaeologist who specialised in Early Medieval landscape archaeology. Over the course of his career, he lectured at both the University of Bristol and University of Oxford and ...

, well-known due to his involvement with the ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4, Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned in 2022 on online platforms YouTube and Patreon. Created by television produce ...

'' archaeology programmes on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

, was a member and Past President of the Society, and regularly contributed papers to the ''Proceedings''. Robin Bush, the archivist and historian, was Chairman of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society in 1983–84.

References

{{authority control Archaeology of England Clubs and societies in Somerset Archaeological organizations Historical societies of the United Kingdom 1849 establishments in England Organizations established in 1849 Natural history societies Organisations based in Taunton