Sedgemoor is a low-lying area of land in Somerset, England. It lies close to sea level south of the

Polden Hills Polden may refer to: * Chilton Polden, rural village and civil parish near Edington, north of the Polden Hills in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England * East Polden Grasslands, Site of Special Scientific Interest on the Polden Hills in Somer ...

, historically largely marsh (or "moor" in its older sense). The eastern part is known as King's Sedgemoor, and the western part West Sedgemoor. Sedgemoor is part of the area now known as the Somerset Levels and Moors. Historically the area was known as the site of the Battle of Sedgemoor. 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 of

Bridgwater Bridgwater is a large historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. Its population currently stands at around 41,276 as of 2022. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies alon ...

, the Burnham-on-Sea urban district, 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 The Mendip Hills (commonly called the Mendips) is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running from Weston-super-Mare and the Bristol Channel in the west to the Frome valley in the east, the 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 governmen ...

for the area at present served 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 counc ...

. The new council will be known as Somerset Council. 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 moor", but is instead "marsh of a man called Sicga" from the Old Norse

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 known ...

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 settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

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

Towns

– the administrative centre * Burnham-on-Sea * North Petherton * Highbridge * Axbridge * Cheddar

Parishes

Rivers

River Parrett The River Parrett flows through the counties of Dorset and Somerset in South West England, from its source in the Thorney Mills springs in the hills around Chedington in Dorset. Flowing northwest through Somerset and the Somerset Levels to it ...

* 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

* Battle of Sedgemoor 1685

Industry

Light industry now predominates, but traditional trades including peat extraction, willow crafts and

cider Cider ( ) is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom (particularly in the West Country) and the Republic of Ireland. The UK has the world's highest per capita consumption, ...

making may still be found, in addition to livestock farming. The

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 NHS Supply Chain supports the National Health Service (NHS) in England, and other healthcare organisations in England and Wales, by providing procurement and logistics services. History In February 2016, Lord Carter's report into efficiency and ...

depot and Eddie Stobart 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 Wells most commonly refers to: * Wells, Somerset, a cathedral city in Somerset, England * Well, an excavation or structure created in the ground * Wells (name) Wells may also refer to: Places Canada *Wells, British Columbia England * Wells ...

county constituencies which are represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post 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 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

from Tessa Munt, a Liberal Democrat.

Education

Schools (those which are not independent) in Sedgemoor are operated the Children & Young People's Directorate of

, 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 including ...

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