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 lies simply east 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 community of Sea. Ilminster is pointed out in records dating from 725 and also in a Charter given to the Abbey of Muchelney (10 miles (16 km) to the north) by King Ethelred in 995. Ilminster is additionally discussed in the Domesday Book (1086) as Ileminstre suggesting 'The church on the River Isle' from the Old English ysle and mynster. By this period 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 Bulstone. In 1645 during the English Civil War Ilminster was the scene of an altercation in between legislative soldiers under Edward Massie and Royalist pressures under Lord Goring that defended control of the bridges prior to the Battle of Langport. The community includes the structures of a sixteenth-century grade school, the Ilminster Meeting House, which serves as the town's art gallery as well as auditorium. There is also a Gospel Hall.
