TAUNTON, Somersetahire, an ancient market-town, parliamentary borough, and the seat of a Poar-Law Union, is situated in a fertile vale called Taunton Dean, in 51° 1' N. let., 3° 6' W. long., distant 46 miles S.W. from Bath, 141 miles W.S.W. from London by road, and 163 miles by the Great Western and Bristol and Exeter railways. The population of the borough in 1851 was 14,176. The borough is governed by two bailiffs chosen annually, two constables, aud two portreever, and returns two members to the Imperial Parliament. The living is a perpetual curacy in the archdeaconry of Tauuton and diocese of Bath and Wells. Taunton Poor-Law Union contaius 38 parishea and townships, with an area of 70,452 acres, and a population in 1851 of 35,114.
Taunton was a place of considerable Importance in the Anglo-Saxon period. A castle was bnilt after the Conquest by one of the bishops of Winchester, to whom the town and manor were granted. Perkin Warbeck held the castle and town for a short time ; and in the civil wars Taunton sustained a long siege under Blake against 10,000 Royalist troops.
The town is about a mile long; the principal streets ase well paved and lighted with gas. The woollen manufacture was established at Taunton in the 14th century, but has long since decayed; at present the only manufacture is that of silk, called here 'silk throwating: The river Tone is crossed here by a atone bridge of two arches ; but the river is only partially navigable, and the water commuoication is mainly by a canal between Taunton and Bridgewater, a distanca of 121 miles : there is a branch from this canal to Chard. The market
house stands io a spacious open area called the Parade. On the west side of the Parade is a handsome building of the Ionic order, erected in 1821, the upper part of which is appropriated as a library, museum, and reading-room ; and underneath, and in the rear, are the markets for fish, poultry, dairy produce, &c. The castle is used for the amize courts. The Taunton and Somerset Institution, established iu 1823, contain, a good library, and a large publio reading- and news-room. The church of St. Mary Magdalen, formerly a chapel to Taunton l'riory, is a spacious and handsome edifice in the perpendicular style. St. James's church is a plain edifice with an ancient square tower. Trinity church is a gothic building, erected in 1842. The Wesleyan Methodists, Roman Catholics, Independents, Baptists, Quakers, and Unitarians have chapels. The Grammar school was founded by Fox, bishop of Winchester, in 1522. There are National, British, and Infant schools. The West of England Dissenters' Proprietary school, founded in 1847, had 112 pupils in 1854. The Wesleyan Methodists have a college here. There are in Taunton a mechanics institute, a savings batik, and a philharmonic society. The Somerset Archree logical Society has its museum nud its meetings in Taunton. A county court is hold. Among the benevolent institutions are the Taunton and Somerset Hospital, aud the Eye and Ear Infirmary. The markets are held on Wednesday and Saturday ; a fair is held on June 17th.