Somerset Day is the 11th May and is celebrated annually on the second Saturday in May. It marks Alfred the Great’s call to arms and the gathering of ‘all the people of Somerset’ to march against the invading Viking army, and is now an annual opportunity to celebrate all that is “great” about Somerset and its residents and communities.
Alfred is the only Monarch to have been called the Great and following his defeat of the Danes is regarded by many to be the first King of England. By the 890s Alfred’s charters and coinage were referring to him as ‘King of the English’.
