Taunton Deane was a

local government district The districts of England (also known as local authority districts or local government districts to distinguish from unofficial city districts) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the st ...

with

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

status 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. Its council was based in

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

. The district was 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 of Taunton, Wellington Urban District,

Taunton Rural District Taunton was a rural district in Somerset, England, from 1894 to 1974. It was created in 1894 under the Local Government Act 1894. In 1974 it was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972 when it became part of Taunton Deane district. The p ...

, and Wellington Rural District. Taunton Deane was granted

borough status Borough status is granted by royal charter to local government districts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The status is purely honorary, and does not give any additional powers to the council or inhabitants of the district. In Scotland, ...

in 1975, perpetuating the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

alty of Taunton. The district was given the name of an alternative form of the Taunton Deane Hundred. In September 2016,

West Somerset West Somerset was a local government district in the English county of Somerset. The council covered a largely rural area, with a population of 34,900 in an area of ; it was the least populous non- unitary district in England. According to f ...

and Taunton Deane councils agreed in principle to merge the districts into one (with one council) subject to consultation. The new district would not be a unitary authority, with Somerset County Council still performing its functions. In March 2018 both councils voted in favour of the merger and it came into effect on 1 April 2019, with the first elections to the new council in May 2019. The new district is known as

Somerset West and Taunton Somerset West and Taunton is a local government district in Somerset, England. It was established on 1 April 2019 by the Somerset West and Taunton (Local Government Changes) Order 2018. The council replaced the Taunton Deane and West Somerset co ...

Governance

The district was governed by Taunton Deane Borough Council, and had periods of both Conservative and Liberal Democrat control, as well as times under no overall control. At the final election in 2015, the Conservatives gained an increased majority on the council.

Settlements

Settlements in bold have a

town charter A city charter or town charter (generically, municipal charter) is a legal document (''charter'') establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the Middle Ages. Traditionally the granting of a charter ...

or a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction usi ...

over 2,500. *

Ash Priors Ash Priors is a village and parish in Somerset, England, situated north west of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 155. History The parish of Ash Priors was part of the Hundred of Kilmersdon. ...

Ashbrittle Ashbrittle is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated nine miles west of Taunton and close to the River Tone and the route of the Grand Western Canal in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 22 ...

Bathealton Bathealton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated west of Wellington and west of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 194. History The Iron Age Castles Camp is approximate ...

Bickenhall Bickenhall is a hamlet and parish in Somerset, England, situated south east of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The parish, which includes the hamlet of Batten's Green, has a population of 122. Bickenhall is a widely scattere ...

Bishop's Hull Bishop's Hull is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated in the western suburbs of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. It includes the areas of Rumwell, Rumwell Park, Roughmoor and Longaller and is close to the ...

Bishops Lydeard Bishops Lydeard () is a village and civil parish located in Somerset, England, north-west of Taunton in the district of Somerset West and Taunton. The civil parish encompasses the hamlets of East Lydeard, Terhill, and East Bagborough, and had a ...

Bradford-on-Tone Bradford-on-Tone is a village and civil parish in Wellington, Somerset, England, situated on the River Tone south west of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The parish, which includes Tone Green and Hele, has a population of 622 ...

Burrowbridge Burrowbridge is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on the River Parrett and A361 road in the Somerset West and Taunton district, on the edge of the Somerset Levels. It is located south east of Bridgwater, and has a popu ...

* Cheddon Fitzpaine - Chipstable -

Churchstanton Churchstanton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated within the Blackdown Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, on the River Otter south of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The parish has a popul ...

Combe Florey Combe Florey is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated northwest of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district, on the West Somerset Railway. The village has a population of 261. The parish includes the hamlet of East ...

Comeytrowe Comeytrowe is a civil parish in Somerset, England, situated in the south western suburbs of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The parish has a population of 5,463. The parish includes the area of Galmington. History The suburb ...

- Corfe - Cotford St Luke -

Cothelstone Cothelstone is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated in the Quantock Hills six miles north of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The parish, which includes the hamlet of Toulton, has a population of 111. ...

- Creech St Michael - Curland *

Durston Durston is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on the A361 road north east of Taunton and south of Bridgwater in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The parish lies on undulating ground between the lowest slopes of th ...

* Fitzhead * Halse - Hatch Beauchamp * Kingston St Mary * Langford Budville - Lydeard St Lawrence * Milverton * North Curry -

Norton Fitzwarren Norton Fitzwarren is a village, electoral ward, and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated north west of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 3,046. History The village is on the southern slope ...

Nynehead Nynehead is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on the River Tone, south-west of Taunton and north-west of Wellington, in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 415. History The first ...

Oake Oake is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated west of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 765. The parish includes the hamlet of Hillfarrance on Hillfarrance Brook a tri ...

- Orchard Portman - Otterford *

Pitminster Pitminster is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated south of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The parish has a population of 956. The parish also includes the villages of Angersleigh, Blagdon Hill and Stapl ...

Ruishton Ruishton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on the River Tone and A358 road east of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 1,473. The parish includes the hamlet of Henla ...

Sampford Arundel Sampford Arundel is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is situated near Wellington and south west of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 268. The parish, which lies at the weste ...

Staple Fitzpaine Staple Fitzpaine is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated south of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 189 and is within the Blackdown Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty ...

- Staplegrove -

Stawley Stawley is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated west of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The parish has a population of 279 and includes the village of Kittisford and the hamlets of Appley, Greenham and Tr ...

Stoke St Gregory Stoke St Gregory is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, about east of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village is on a low ridge of land between the River Tone to the north and West Sedgemoor to the south. Th ...

Stoke St Mary Stoke St Mary is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated south east of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. History The earliest recorded mention of Stoke St Mary is in a Saxon charter dated 854 AD, when a West ...

- Thornfalcon - Tolland -

Trull Trull is a village, electoral ward and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated near Taunton. The parish which includes Dipford has a population of 2,288. History The name Trull is thought to derive from the word ''Trendle'' meaning circl ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by ...

West Bagborough West Bagborough is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, about north of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. In 2011 the village had a population of 358. The parish of West Bagborough lies on the south-west slopes ...

West Buckland West Buckland is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated south west of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The parish has a population of 1,189. History In 904, certain lands were the basis of a charter to Asse ...

West Monkton West Monkton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated north east of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The parish includes the hamlets of Monkton Heathfield, Bathpool, and Burlinch and the western parts o ...

Wiveliscombe Wiveliscombe (, ) is a small town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated west of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The town has a population of 2,893. The Square, fronted by several listed structures, held the former ...

Parishes

Part of the former

Taunton Municipal Borough Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

is unparished.

Demography

The town of Taunton (which for population estimates includes the

unparished area In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish (the lowest level of local government, not to be confused with an ecclesiastical parish). Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unpa ...

- or former

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 ...

- plus the neighbouring parishes of

, Staplegrove,

and

) had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001. Taunton forms part of the larger

of Taunton Deane which also includes the town of

and surrounding villages. Taunton Deane had an estimated population of 102,600 in 2001. The figures below are for the Taunton Deane area.

Education

County schools (those which are not

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

) in the five non-metropolitan districts of the county are operated by

Somerset County Council Somerset County Council is the county council of Somerset in the South West of England, an elected local government authority responsible for the most significant local government services in most of the county. On 1 April 2023 the county coun ...

, or are independent of the council and run as

academies An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

. For a full list of schools see: List of schools in Somerset

References

External links

Taunton Deane Borough Council

Taunton Deane Tourist Information
{{Former non-metropolitan districts of England Former non-metropolitan districts of Somerset Former boroughs in England Somerset West and Taunton