Place:Taunton Deane District, Somerset, England

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia.

From 1974 until 2019 Taunton Deane was a local government district with borough status in Somerset, England. Its council was based in Taunton.

The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by a merger of

• Taunton municipal borough
• Wellington urban district
• Taunton Rural District, and
• Wellington Rural District

In September 2016, West Somerset District and Taunton Deane District agreed in principle to merge into one (with one council) subject to consultation. The new district would not be a unitary authority and Somerset County Council would continue to perform its specific functions. In March 2018 both councils voted in favour of the merger and it came into effect on 1st April 2019. The new district is known as the Somerset West and Taunton District.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Taunton Deane., especially the sections "Settlements" and "Parishes".

Research Tips

Archives and Libraries

• The Somerset Heritage Centre (incorporating what was formerly the Somerset Record Office and the Somerset Local Studies Library) can be found at its new location at Langford Mead in Taunton. The Heritage Centre has an email address:archives@somerset.gov.uk.

• The Somerset County Council homepage has a search facility leading to pages of interest, including maps from the First and Second Ordnance Survey (select Maps and Postcards from the list at the left, then enter the parish in the search box)

• Old Maps Online has a further selection of local maps

• A Vision of Britain has a wide selection of articles of local interest.

• Each Library in Somerset has its own web page. The index page to libraries leads to each of the libraries along with the facilities to be found there.

• The Somerset pages of GENUKI contain a great amount of useful data and references to other websites. Some of the web links are not up to date.

• The four family history societies covering parts of Somerset are:

• Bristol & Avon FHS
• Somerset & Dorset FHS
• Weston super Mare FHS
• Friends of Somerset Archives