page_title: Wellington, Somerset
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Wellington, Somerset / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: Entrance to the park in Wellington, Somerset. Stitched from 11 separate images. Re-processed from RAW.
context_page_description: Wellington is a small market town in rural Somerset, a county in the west of England, situated 7 miles south west of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district, near the border with Devon, which runs along the Blackdown Hills to the south of the town. The town has a population of 14,549, which includes the residents of the parish of Wellington Without, and the villages of Tone and Tonedale.
  Known as Weolingtun in the Anglo-Saxon period, its name had changed to Walintone by the time of the Domesday Book of 1086. Wellington became a town under a royal charter of 1215 and during the Middle Ages it grew as a centre for trade on the road from Bristol to Exeter. Major rebuilding took place following a fire in the town in 1731, after which it became a centre for cloth-making.
  Wellington gave its name to the first Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, who is commemorated by the nearby Wellington Monument.
  Following his victory at the Battle of Talavera in the Peninsular War, Arthur Wellesley was offered a peerage. The question was what title should he take.
context_section_description: The town has many dependent villages including West Buckland, Langford Budville, Nynehead, Sampford Arundel and Sampford Moor. The formerly independent village of Rockwell Green, to the west of the town, has been incorporated into the town however there is still a green wedge of land in between them. Wellington Park was a gift from the Quaker Fox family to the town in 1903 as a memorial to the coronation of King Edward VII. The 4.9 acres (2.0 ha) gardens were laid out by F.W. Meyer, who included a rock garden which used 80 tons of limestone from Westleigh quarry near Burlescombe. It is Grade II listed on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England. It was restored at a cost of £412,827 which included a grant of £296,500 from the Heritage Lottery Fund Public Parks Initiative.
  There are Local Nature Reserves at Wellington Basins on the western fringe of the town. It includes a small pond and boardwalk with a variety of wildlife habitats. The grassland, hedges and woodland are home to a varied flora and fauna including birds such as the grey wagtail, dipper and reed bunting. Five separate bat species have been recorded at the site. Swains Pond in the south of Wellington is another Local Nature Reserve, which used to be the site of orchards. It now includes a pond which provides a home for amphibians including the great crested newt, palmate newt and toads.
caption: Entrance to Wellington Park
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