Wincanton ( or ) is a town and electoral ward in Somerset, southwest England. The town lies off the A303 road, a main route between London and South West England, and has some light industry. In the 2021 census the civil parish had a population of 6,568.
The origin of the name of the River Cale itself is less clear. It is first attested in a fourteenth-century copy of a charter from 956, where it appears in the forms Cawel and Wricawel, the latter of which is agreed to be a scribal error for *Wincawel. The leading suggestion for the origin of this name is that cawel is the Brittonic word, meaning "basket", found in Cornish language as cawal and Welsh language as cawell (borrowed from the Latin word * cavellum 'basket'). If so, the baskets were perhaps , and the river was named for their use in it. The win- element is the Brittonic word meaning "white", and was not necessarily used literally: different arms of the same river were regularly distinguished by being labelled "white" and "black" (as in the rivers Whiteadder Water and Blackadder Water). The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society, ed. by Victor Watts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), s.v. River CALE. .
Prior to the Norman Conquest Wincanton was frequently the scene of battles between the Britons, Danes and Saxons. During the reign of Edmund Ironside, the English, under his command, defeated the Danes, forcing them to leave England.
Cockroad Wood Castle, which is now in the parish of Charlton Musgrove, was a motte and bailey castle, probably built after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.Creighton, Oliver Hamilton. (2005) Castles and Landscapes: Power, Community and Fortification in Medieval England. London: Equinox. . p.62. The castle sits close to the contemporary Norman castles of Ballands Castle and Castle Orchard, and may have been built as part of a system of fortifications to control the surrounding area. By 1086 the surrounding land was held by Walter of Douai, although no documentary evidence of the castle remains. Motte and Bailey Castle, Cockroad Wood, Charlton Musgrove, Somerset County Historic Environmental Record, accessed 18 July 2011.
The parish of Wincanton was part of the Norton Ferris Hundred.
Wincanton was probably the site of a market in the medieval period but did not gain a market and fair charter until 1556.
The town was the scene of one of the few armed skirmishes in England during the Revolution of 1688. In the Wincanton Skirmish a troop of Horse Guards under Patrick Sarsfield, loyal to James II, defeated an advance party of troops fighting for William of Orange, on 20 November 1688. A great part of the town was destroyed by fires in the years 1707 and 1747.
In the early 19th century Wincanton was a depot for French officers, during the Napoleonic Wars.
By 2010 there had been an influx of foreign nationals, especially Portugal and Poland citizens.
Wincanton has its own town council. The town council has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover the council's operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The town council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic; their role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street cleaning. Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also the responsibility of the council.
It is part of Glastonbury and Somerton, a constituency of the House of Commons. The current member of parliament is the Liberal Democrats politician Sarah Dyke.
The Balsam Centre is a Healthy Living Centre and also a Children's Centre for Wincanton and South East Somerset.
The (War) Memorial Hall, which opened on 9 January 1959, has a stage as well as facilities for dancing or for seating 250. It also has a separate committee room that can seat 50.
Fire, police and ambulance services are provided jointly with other authorities through the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, Avon and Somerset Constabulary and the South Western Ambulance Service.
Convective cloud often forms inland however, especially near hills, reducing the number of hours of sunshine. The average annual sunshine totals around 1,600 hours.
Rainfall tends to be associated with Atlantic depressions or with convection. The Atlantic depressions are more vigorous in autumn and winter and most of the rain which falls in those seasons in the southwest is from this source. Average rainfall is about . November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, with June to August having the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the southwest.
In order to cope with the transport problems across its quickly expanding creamery, milk bottling and doorstep delivery network, Cow & Gate formed a dedicated logistics arm in 1920. Spun out in 2002 from successor company Unigate, Wincanton plc is now a major logistics company. The company still has a dairy products base in the town, although its head office function moved to Chippenham, Wiltshire in 2005.
In 1999, Unigate sold its remaining dairies to Dairy Crest, which still has a creamery and milk processing plant in the town, but has sold the cheese business to Adams Foods Ltd, producer of the Pilgrim's Choice brand of Cheddar cheese.
Several businesses are located in Wincanton, such as Coffee Sense Coffee Roasters who won a Guild of Fine Food Great Taste Award Winner in 2017 and Boxclever Press Ltd who gained Royal recognition in 2019 when they were awarded a Queen's Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category
Wincanton Town Hall, the third on its site, was completed in 1878.
The town is north of the A303 road, one of the main routes between London and South West England.
The nearest railway stations are in neighbouring Templecombe railway station on the Exeter to Waterloo line, and Castle Cary railway station on the Reading to Taunton and Heart of Wessex lines.
The town is served twice daily by Berrys Coaches 'Superfast'
Superfast Timetable
Local radio stations are BBC Radio Somerset on 95.5 FM, Heart West on 102.6 FM, Greatest Hits Radio South West (formerly The Breeze) on 106.6 FM, Abbey104 on 104.7 FM and Radio Ninesprings, a community based station which broadcast to the town on 104.5 FM.
The town is served by the local newspaper, Western Gazette which publishes Thursdays.
Wincanton has one secondary school, King Arthur's School, which is Somerset's first specialist Sports College.
The Balsam Centre is a Healthy Living Centre and also a Children's Centre. Since 2005 it has received grants for the re-fitting of the training kitchen and construction and refurbishment to create a dedicated teaching area, counselling and interview rooms and a studio space for physical and community activities.
The Roman Catholic Church and Presbytery of St Luke and St Teresa was built in 1881 by the priest/architect A.J.C Scoles.
There are also places of worship for Pentecostals, Methodists, Baptists and Quakers in the town.
In 2023 the museum reopened in a new site on the high street, with free admission to view the artifacts’.
Wincanton has a Non-League football club Wincanton Town F.C. who play at the Wincanton Sports Ground on Moor Lane. The Sports Ground in Moor Lane also provides facilities for tennis and bowls.
Wincanton Sports Centre was opened in 2001, funded by a National Lottery grant.
The cricket club, which plays in the recreation ground, has two Saturday teams and a Sunday team.
The rugby union club plays at King Arthur's Community School in the town. In 2010 they won the Dorset & Wilts division of the English Rugby Union South West Division.
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