Sedgemoor is a low-lying area of land in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

, England. It lies close to sea level south of the Polden Hills, historically largely marsh (or "moor" in its older sense). The eastern part is known as

King's Sedgemoor King's Sedgemoor is a piece of rich animal habitat and farming land, that forms part of the Somerset Levels and Moors in South West England. The area of King's Sedgemoor fell within the Whitley Hundred, It is a Site of Special Scientific Inter ...

, and the western part

West Sedgemoor West Sedgemoor or West Sedge Moor () is an area of the Somerset Levels, in Somerset, England, around 8 miles (13 km) east of Taunton, which approximately coincides with the West Sedgemoor biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, a 1,016 he ...

. Sedgemoor is part of the area now known as the

Somerset Levels and Moors ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. Historically the area was known as the site of the

Battle of Sedgemoor The Battle of Sedgemoor was the last and decisive engagement between the Kingdom of England and rebels led by the Duke of Monmouth during the Monmouth rebellion, fought on 6 July 1685, and took place at Westonzoyland near Bridgwater in Somerset, ...

. Sedgemoor has given its name to a local government district formed on 1 April 1974, under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, by a merger of the

municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

of Bridgwater, the

Burnham-on-Sea Burnham-on-Sea is a seaside town in Somerset, England, at the mouth of the River Parrett, upon Bridgwater Bay. Burnham was a small fishing village until the late 18th century when it began to grow because of its popularity as a seaside resort. ...

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (his ...

, Bridgwater Rural District and part of Axbridge Rural District. The district covers a larger area than the historical Sedgemoor, extending north of the Polden Hills across the Somerset Levels and Moors to the Mendip Hills. On 1 April 2023 the district will be abolished and replaced by a new

unitary district A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governme ...

for the area at present served by Somerset County Council. The new council will be known as

Somerset Council Somerset Council is the unitary authority that will replace Somerset County Council and four district councils (Somerset West and Taunton, South Somerset, Mendip, and Sedgemoor) on 1 April 2023. History The Conservative governments of The ...

. Elections for the new council took place in May 2022, and it now will run alongside Sedgemoor and the other councils until their abolition in April 2023.

Toponymy

Sedgemoor does not mean "

sedge The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus '' Carex'' ...

moor", but is instead "marsh of a man called Sicga" from the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

personal name A personal name, or full name, in onomastic terminology also known as prosoponym (from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον / ''prósōpon'' - person, and ὄνομα / ''onoma'' - name), is the set of names by which an individual person is kno ...

Sicga and

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

mor "moor". The name was recorded as ''Secgamere'' in 1165.

Towns

* Bridgwater – the administrative centre *

North Petherton North Petherton is a small town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on the edge of the eastern foothills of the Quantocks, and close to the edge of the Somerset Levels. The town has a population of 6,730 as of 2014. The parish incl ...

* Highbridge * Axbridge * Cheddar

Parishes

Rivers

* River Parrett * River Brue *

River Huntspill The River Huntspill (or Huntspill River) is an artificial river, in the Somerset Levels, in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. It was built in 1940 to supply process water to ROF Bridgwater, and has resulted in reduced flooding of the ...

* King's Sedgemoor Drain

Battles

1685

Industry

Light industry now predominates, but traditional trades including

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and ...

extraction, willow crafts and cider making may still be found, in addition to livestock farming. The River Parrett provides a source of eels ( anguilla anguilla) and elvers from January through to May. Also notable is the new Isleport trading estate at Highbridge, which houses many global businesses such as Geest (Isleport Foods) who make yoghurt under franchise to Ski & Muller, Brake Brothers who supply the catering trade, BFP wholesale who supply dry goods to bakeries etc., Woodbury & Haines who supply furniture globally, Polybeam Limited who supply GRP radio masts to customers such as Marconi, and also AT&T whose centre there controls all internet cable traffic to and from the US. Industry in Bridgwater has also seen major growth recently with the opening of "Express Park" which houses Gerber Foods (a global fruit juice supplier), NHS Logistics depot and

Eddie Stobart Edward Pears Stobart (born 18 April 1929), better known as Eddie Stobart, is a British businessman who started an agriculture business in the late 1940s. This became ''Eddie Stobart Ltd'' in 1970 and expanded to a haulage company during the 19 ...

depot. South of Bridgwater, at Huntworth, is a large Somerfield depot which supplies their Somerfield and former Kwik Save stores in the south west.

Governance

Sedgemoor District Council

The Sedgemoor district was established in 1974 and is based in Bridgwater. It covers a mostly rural area between the Quantock Hills and the Mendip Hills.

Members of UK parliament

The area is falls within the Bridgwater and West Somerset and Wells county constituencies which are represented in the House of Commons of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

by the

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

system of election. The current MP for Bridgewater and West Somerset is Ian Liddell-Grainger, a Conservative; for Wells the MP is James Heappey, also a Conservative, who won the seat in 2015 from Tessa Munt, a Liberal Democrat.

Education

Schools (those which are not independent) in Sedgemoor are operated the Children & Young People's Directorate of Somerset County Council, although some such as

The Kings of Wessex School The Kings of Wessex Academy, formerly known as The Kings of Wessex School, is a coeducational secondary school located in Cheddar, Somerset, England. As of 2015, it had 1,176 students aged 13 to 18, of all genders and all ability levels includi ...

in Cheddar have distanced themselves from the county council by opting for foundation and then subsequently academy status.

References

External links

Sedgemoor District CouncilSomerset by the Sea (tourism website)
{{Authority control Non-metropolitan districts of Somerset