1787 Survey of Somerset

Edmund Rack's Survey of Somerset
Published by the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society (SANHS), this is a monumental volume covering almost the whole of the ancient county of Somerset. The volume contains 440 pages, 34 black and white illustrations and a colour full size map of the county from the mid-eighteenth century.
In 1781, Edmund Rack collaborated with the Reverend John Collinson in preparing the History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset, to which his major contribution was the ‘Survey’. His principal task was to carry out a survey of the county hundred by hundred, which involved personally visiting each parish as well as collating information supplied by others, such as clergymen, including responses to questionnaires. The survey was undoubtedly an arduous physical undertaking, causing Rack to travel for days at a time, presumably in all weathers. On 10 January 1787 he informed Collinson, in handwriting fainter than usual, that for ten days he had been so ill that he could scarcely hold a pen, writing ‘I must resign myself to the fury of the storm which will soon hide me for ever’. Unfortunately Rack died shortly afterwards and his death prevented his work from being completed. This left Somerset with a unique collection of material on almost the whole of its ancient county. The Society hopes it will be used by generations of historians as a standard work on the ancient county of Somerset.