Bruton

Bruton is a market town, electoral ward, and civil parish in Somerset, England, on the River Brue and the A359 between Frome and Yeovil. It is south-east of Shepton Mallet, just south of Snakelake Hill and Coombe Hill, north-west of Gillingham and south-west of Frome. The town and ward have a population of 2,907. The parish includes the hamlets of Wyke Champflower and Redlynch. Bruton has a museum of items from the Jurassic era onwards. It includes a table used by the author John Steinbeck on a six-month stay. The Brue is flood-prone – in 1768 it wrecked a stone bridge. The 242.8 mm of rain that fell on 28 June 1917 left a river watermark on a pub wall 20 feet above the mean. In 1984 a protective dam was built upstream. History The Church of St Mary, Bruton was founded by Ine of Wessex in the 7th century, Bruton was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Briuuetone, meaning "Vigorously flowing river" from the Old English tor and Celtic briw meaning vigour. The river has been the site of several watermills and in 2003 the South Somerset Hydropower Group installed their first hydroelectric turbine at Gants Mill at nearby Pitcombe.