Ilminster
Ilminster is a town and also civil parish in the countryside of south west Somerset, England, with a population of 5,808. Bypassed in 1988, the community now exists just eastern of the junction of the A303 (London to Exeter) as well as the A358 (Taunton to Chard and also Axminster). The parish consists of the district of Sea. Ilminster is discussed in documents dating from 725 and in a Charter provided to the Abbey of Muchelney (10 miles (16 km) to the north) by King Ethelred in 995. Ilminster is also stated in the Domesday Book (1086) as Ileminstre implying 'The church on the River Isle' from the Old English ysle and mynster. By this duration Ilminster was a flourishing neighborhood and was given the right to hold a weekly market, which it still does. Ilminster was part of the hundred of Abdick and Bulstone. In 1645 throughout the English Civil War Ilminster was the scene of a skirmish in between parliamentary troops under Edward Massie and also Royalist forces under Lord Goring that fought for control of the bridges prior to the Battle of Langport. The town has the buildings of a sixteenth-century grade school, the Ilminster Meeting House, which works as the town's art gallery and auditorium. There is also a Gospel Hall.
