Ilminster
Ilminster is a town as well as civil parish in the countryside of south west Somerset, England, with a population of 5,808. Bypassed in 1988, the town now exists simply east of the junction of the A303 (London to Exeter) and the A358 (Taunton to Chard and Axminster). The parish consists of the district of Sea. Ilminster is mentioned in records dating from 725 as well as in a Charter granted to the Abbey of Muchelney (10 miles (16 km) to the north) by King Ethelred in 995. Ilminster is also pointed out in the Domesday Book (1086) as Ileminstre suggesting 'The church on the River Isle' from the Old English ysle as well as mynster. By this duration Ilminster was a growing area and was approved the right to hold an once a week market, which it still does. Ilminster was part of the thousand of Abdick and Bulstone. In 1645 during 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 defended control of the bridges before the Battle of Langport. The town includes the structures of a sixteenth-century grade school, the Ilminster Meeting House, which acts as the community's art gallery as well as auditorium. There is also a Gospel Hall.