The Clatworthy Reservoir is run by Wessex Water and has a capacity of 5,364,000 cubic metres,[2] supplying some 200,000 homes.

[3][4][5][6] The name appears in the Doomesday Book, 1086, and is the Norman version of the original Anglo Saxon name which was Clota's Wertig [farm].

[8] Just west of the village, at the edge of Exmoor National Park, is the Clatworthy Reservoir, which impounds the headwaters of River Tone and supplies water to some 200,000 homes and businesses, some as far away as Yeovil.

An Iron Age enclosure known as Clatworthy Castle was sited on the wooded slopes above the reservoir and there are round barrows in the north of the parish.

Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also the responsibility of the council.