 Glove making was a major industry in the town in the early nineteenth century , along with the production of rope and twine . The Somerton Brewery , owned by a local landowner named Thomas Templeman , was first recorded under the Tithe Apportionment Act of 1841 . The brewery became a large producer in Somerset until its final closure around 1935 . Before the National Insurance and the Health Service was introduced , Somerton Men 's Club acted as a local provident society within the area . Gypsum was extracted by hand at the <unk> open @-@ cast mine from the Victorian era up until it closed down in 1953 . In 1906 , a railway station opened on the Castle Cary Cut @-@ Off which was built by the Great Western Railway . Whilst the line still remains in use , the station was closed in 1962 . When the Marconi Company built the radio stations known as the Imperial Wireless Chain for the Post Office during 1925 – 26 , they also established their own transmitting station at Dorchester with a receiving station 30 miles ( 48 km ) away at Somerton . 
