[6] According to the late 13th century Hundred Rolls, King Henry II of England (died 1189) gave William of Wrotham lands at North Petherton.

[2] Excavations to the west of the church, on what is now the Community Centre site, revealed a 14th-century cemetery, which may have been used for victims of the plague, as well as indicating that the area was redeveloped in the late Middle Ages.

[2] A minor skirmish of the English Civil War took place in August 1644 outside what was then the cornhill, now the area of Fore Street between the Community Centre and the former George Inn.

[9] Believed to have been commissioned by Alfred the Great,[5] it is thought to have been the handle for a pointer that would have fitted into the hole at its base, and been used while reading a book out loud.

It may be one of the "aestels" Alfred had sent to each bishopric with a copy of his translation of Pope Gregory the Great's book Pastoral Care.

As a result of a revitalised fund-raising campaign (originally begun decades earlier), this was followed a few years later by the construction of a Community Centre, opened in 1987, which was extended in 1991.

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

Although North Petherton is the most populous area the ward stretches west to Broomfield and east to Lyng.

[21] It is also part of the Bridgwater county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

North Petherton is situated on one of the historic communication routes through Somerset, and a turnpike through the town was opened between Bridgwater and Taunton in the 1730s.

South east of the town near Lyng, on the opposite side of the M5 motorway but within the parish is North Moor, a 676.3 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest.

A range of neutral grassland types supporting common and scarce plants has developed mainly due to variations in soils and management practices.

Aquatic plant communities are exceptionally diverse with good populations of nationally scarce species.

[24] In the summer the Azores high pressure affects the south-west of England, however convective cloud sometimes forms inland, reducing the number of hours of sunshine.

In summer, a large proportion of the rainfall is caused by sun heating the ground leading to convection and to showers and thunderstorms.

[2] In the past the town hosted a Starkey Knight and Ford brewery on Fore Street (demolished in the late 1960s), several maltings, a light engineering works (Trig Engineering, since moved to the Huntworth Business Park adjacent to the nearby Junction 24 of the M5 motorway), and in earlier times at least 7 watermills.

Basket making and the manufacture of associated products including wicker furniture, was also a significant industry, at one time employing over 100 people in small factories and homes, until its decline in the second half of the 20th century.

Nearby King's Cliff formerly provided a source of building stone for the town dating from at least Medieval times.

The production of cloth and leather goods also used to take place in the town, the former being commemorated in the name of the road known as Dyer's Green.

Folly Foot fishery is based on a lake which is stocked with Koi, Mirror, Common and Ghost Carp.

[25] A new £100 m Regional Agricultural Business Centre, including an extensive Cattle Market and Dairy opened just beyond the outskirts of the town in 2007, following construction which began in 2006.

The building is mainly dated from the 15th century, with a minstrel gallery from 1623, a peal of six bells, and a clock built in Bridgwater in 1807.