Key dates in the History of Somerset
43–47 Roman invasion and occupation
491 Battle of Mons Badonicus (may have been fought in Somerset) (uncertain date)
537 Battle of Camlann (sometimes located at Queen Camel) (uncertain date)
577 Battle of Deorham (Dyrham, Gloucestershire) – Saxons occupied Bath
658 Battle of Peonnum (Penselwood ?) – Saxons then occupied most of Somerset
710 Battle of Llongborth (? Langport)
845 First documentary reference to "Somersæte"
878 Battle of Cynwit – Saxon victory over the Danes by Ealdorman Odda
878 Battle of Ethandun – West Saxon victory over the Danes (uncertain whether in Somerset or Wiltshire)
878 Treaty of Wedmore – after defeat of Danes by King Alfred the Great
c900 Kings of Wessex hold court at Cheddar
973 King Edgar of England crowned at Bath
988 St Dunstan buried at Glastonbury
1013 Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard received submission of western thegns at Bath
1088 Siege of Ilchester
1191 Discovery of "King Arthur's" tomb at Glastonbury
1497 Perkin Warbeck's rebellion supported by Somerset men
1643 Battle of Lansdowne
1645 Siege of Taunton during the English Civil War
1685 Battle of Sedgemoor – Duke of Monmouth defeated
1685 Judge Jeffries holds the "Bloody Assizes" at Taunton
1770 Start of major enclosures of Somerset Levels
1805 Somerset Coal Canal Opened
1827 Bridgwater and Taunton Canal opened
1875 Formation of Somerset County Cricket Club
1898 County boundaries altered
1956 Chew Valley Lake opened by Queen Elizabeth II
1974 Formation of County of Avon, reducing the area of the County of Somerset
1996 Abolition of the County of Avon, creating the unitary authorities of North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset
