Taunton

Taunton, town in Taunton Deane Borough, county town of Somerset, south-western England. It is an administrative, commercial, and recreational centre for the area. Taunton is a market centre for the surrounding fertile agricultural plain, which is noted for the production of apples. The town is a transport junction, and manufactures textiles, agricultural machinery, and cider. A castle was built on this site c. 710 by the West Saxon king Ine. After the rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth (who was proclaimed King of England here in 1685), Lord George Jeffreys conducted a great part of the so-called Bloody Assizes in the castle at Taunton. These treason trials became notorious for Jeffreys' disregard of the legal rights of the defendants and for the severe verdicts he delivered. Population (1993 estimate) 60,300.