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 simply eastern of the junction of the A303 (London to Exeter) as well as the A358 (Taunton to Chard and also Axminster). The church includes the district of Sea. Ilminster is mentioned in documents dating from 725 and in a Charter approved to the Abbey of Muchelney (10 miles (16 kilometres) to the north) by King Ethelred in 995. Ilminster is likewise pointed out in the Domesday Book (1086) as Ileminstre implying 'The church on the River Isle' from the Old English ysle as well as mynster. By this duration Ilminster was a growing area as well as was approved the right to hold a weekly market, which it still does. Ilminster belonged to the thousand of Abdick and also Bulstone. In 1645 during the English Civil War Ilminster was the scene of an altercation in between parliamentary soldiers under Edward Massie and Royalist forces under Lord Goring that defended control of the bridges before the Battle of Langport. The community consists of the structures of a sixteenth-century grammar school, the Ilminster Meeting House, which acts as the community's art gallery and opera house. There is likewise a Gospel Hall.