Ilminster
Ilminster is a community and civil parish in the countryside of south west Somerset, England, with a population of 5,808. Bypassed in 1988, the town now exists just eastern of the joint of the A303 (London to Exeter) as well as the A358 (Taunton to Chard as well as Axminster). The church consists of the hamlet of Sea. Ilminster is mentioned in records 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 also mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086) as Ileminstre suggesting 'The church on the River Isle' from the Old English ysle and mynster. By this duration Ilminster was a flourishing community as well as was provided the right to hold a regular market, which it still does. Ilminster belonged to the thousand of Abdick and also Bulstone. In 1645 throughout the English Civil War Ilminster was the scene of a skirmish between legislative troops under Edward Massie and also Royalist pressures under Lord Goring who fought for control of the bridges prior to the Battle of Langport. The community contains the buildings of a sixteenth-century grade school, the Ilminster Meeting House, which works as the town's art gallery and opera house. There is additionally a Gospel Hall.
