Wincanton
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Wincanton is a small town in south Somerset, southwest England. The town lies on the A303 road, the main route between London and South West England, and has some light industry. The town has a population of 4,643 (2002 estimate).
Wincanton has a race track, and has given its name to Europe's second largest logistics company, Wincanton plc, where it still has a base, although its head office function moved to Chippenham, Wiltshire in 2005.
The town had a railway station on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway but this closed on 7th March 1966.
Wincanton is unique in the fact that it is twinned with a town which can only be found in fiction. As well as Gennes / Les Rosiers in France and Lahnau in Germany, Wincanton is twinned with Ankh-Morpork, a city state near the Circle Sea on Terry Pratchett's Discworld [1]. There is a shop in High Street called The Cunning Artificer, named after a street in Ankh-Morpork
Wincanton has one Secondary school, King Arthur's Community School[2], which is Somerset's first specialist Sports College.
Wincanton is also home to North Downs Dairy, producer of the Pilgrim's Choice brand of Cheddar cheese, the second best selling brand in the UK.
17th century Wincanton saw the first skirmish of the Glorious Revolution.
There has been an influx of foreign nationals in the last two years, especially Portuguese and Polish citizens who are mainly working at both of Wincanton's cheese factories, North Downs Dairy [3] and Wyke Farms Ltd [4].
[edit] Twinning
The town is twinned with:
Gennes / Les Rosiers
Lahnau- Ankh-Morpork
[edit] External links
- Wincanton web links
- A History of the County of Somerset: Vol 7: Wincanton (1999)
- The Somerset Urban Archaeological Survey: Wincanton, by Miranda Richardson
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