Ilminster
Ilminster is a town and civil parish in the countryside of south west Somerset, England, with a population of 5,808. Bypassed in 1988, the town now lies simply east of the junction of the A303 (London to Exeter) as well as the A358 (Taunton to Chard as well as Axminster). The church includes the hamlet of Sea. Ilminster is pointed out in documents dating from 725 and also in a Charter approved to the Abbey of Muchelney (10 miles (16 km) to the north) by King Ethelred in 995. Ilminster is likewise mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086) as Ileminstre implying 'The church on the River Isle' from the Old English ysle and mynster. By this period Ilminster was a flourishing community and was granted the right to hold a weekly market, which it still does. Ilminster belonged to the hundred of Abdick and Bulstone. In 1645 throughout the English Civil War Ilminster was the scene of a skirmish between parliamentary troops under Edward Massie and also Royalist pressures under Lord Goring that fought for control of the bridges before the Battle of Langport. The town consists of the structures of a sixteenth-century grammar school, the Ilminster Meeting House, which acts as the town's art gallery and also auditorium. There is likewise a Gospel Hall.
