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 eastern of the joint of the A303 (London to Exeter) and also the A358 (Taunton to Chard and also Axminster). The parish consists of the hamlet of Sea. Ilminster is discussed 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 additionally pointed out 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 growing neighborhood and also was given the right to hold a weekly market, which it still does. Ilminster belonged to the hundred of Abdick as well as Bulstone. In 1645 during the English Civil War Ilminster was the scene of an altercation between legislative soldiers under Edward Massie and Royalist forces under Lord Goring who fought for control of the bridges prior to the Battle of Langport. The town consists of the structures of a sixteenth-century grammar school, the Ilminster Meeting House, which serves as the town's art gallery and also music hall. There is also a Gospel Hall.