Taunton

Related Category: British and Irish Political Geography

(tôn´tən, tän´–), city (1991 pop. 47,793), county seat of Somerset, SW England, on the Trove River. Its industries include the manufacture of textiles, shirts, gloves, and precision instruments. Taunton is also a market and railroad junction. Tourism is economically important. There are three well-known schools for boys: King's College (1293), Queen's College (1843), and Taunton School (1847). In 1685, after Monmouth's Rebellion, Baron Jeffreys of Wem held the Bloody Assizes in Taunton.