Somerset's Businesses

Somerset’s Learning and Skills Council figures point to nearly 200,000 people working in around 17,000 Somerset Businesses. Around 17% of Somerset’s workforce is employed in manufacturing and tourism plays a major role as a whole, especially in West Somerset and parts of Sedgemoor.
In recent years the health and social care sector has seen important employment growth and land-based industries, such as farming, still has a relatively large workforce compared to other UK standards.
The engineering sector contains a significant number of high-technology businesses and many of these specialise in aerospace and defence engineering. Somerset has relatively few major employers. 90% of Somerset businesses employ less than 25 people and around 15% of Somerset workers are self-employed. Unemployment is usually below the national and South West regional averages.

Somerset's Early Beginnings

Somerset has a long and varied history and its path to the county of ciderapples and straw chewing Wurzel fans belies a rich and textured growth. Its early beginnings in pre-history as a lightly populated area of England where small tribes were living in many of the caves, especially in the area of one of the counties most ancient treasures; Cheddar Gorge, to the time of a setting out of its own identity during the period of settlement by the Anglo Saxons of the seventh century.

Many hill forts have been discovered over the whole county, one such being Cadbury Castle from around 700 B.C. showing the need for a defendable settlement as others tried to take over from those who had settled in the land of Sumersaeton, a name derived from the word Somerton, and which of course is still seen today.

At the time of Britains invasion by the Romans, there were many tribes occupying the lands of Somerset and many battles were to be fought as the new occupiers of the country imposed their will on the local peoples. These local tribes, including the Dobunni, were eventually overcome and Somerset was to become a militarized zone for much of the first century.

Although this early period of Roman occupation saw a suppression of the local inhabitants, many aspects of this takeover saw a building up of many local industries including iron and coal mining, smelting and glass making, as well as the creating of such present day landmarks as the Fosse Way.

As Somerset developed through the early parts of the second century, the military suppression of the early Britons lessened and the building of forts was replaced by the building of large villas for the local landowners and now Romano-Britons and agriculture was to become the mainstay of the area.

Many of the forts that had been built throughout the early occupation of the Romans were now being rebuilt and becoming centres of trade and those places of significance to the early Britons were now being absorbed by the Romans, one such was to become present day Bath and its importance then is still appreciated to this present day.