Ilminster
Ilminster is a community and also civil parish in the countryside of south west Somerset, England, with a population of 5,808. Bypassed in 1988, the town currently lies simply east of the joint of the A303 (London to Exeter) and the A358 (Taunton to Chard and Axminster). The church consists of the hamlet of Sea. Ilminster is mentioned in files dating from 725 and also in a Charter granted to the Abbey of Muchelney (10 miles (16 km) to the north) by King Ethelred in 995. Ilminster is likewise pointed out in the Domesday Book (1086) as Ileminstre indicating 'The church on the River Isle' from the Old English ysle and mynster. By this duration Ilminster was a flourishing neighborhood and was granted the right to hold a regular 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 a skirmish in between parliamentary troops under Edward Massie as well as Royalist forces under Lord Goring that fought for control of the bridges prior to the Battle of Langport. The community contains the buildings of a sixteenth-century grammar school, the Ilminster Meeting House, which works as the community's art gallery and also concert hall. There is also a Gospel Hall.
