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Full index of old images, antique pictures and vintage
photographs of
Ilminster, Somerset currently online.
Recommended Ilminster website: a news and
picture blog about the town of
Ilminster.
"Ilminster, a parish, post and market town, in the
county of Somerset, 20 miles south east of Bridgwater, 15 miles west of
Yeovil, 11 miles south of
Taunton, 9 miles south east of
Martock, 5 miles west of
South Petherton, and 5 miles North of Chard. Ilminster was a place of considerable importance
in the Saxon times, and was formerly more extensive than at present,
having been repeatedly damaged by conflagrations. It is situated on the
Chard canal and the river Isle, which is crossed by a four-arched
bridge. The parish contains the hamlets and villages of Ashill,
Dowlish,
Crock Street, Sea, Peasmarsh,
Donyatt, Horton,
Whitelackington, Winterhay, Horton, Ashwell,
Stocklinch, and
Dillington. A
railway is in course of construction, between Ilminster, Chard, and
Taunton, thereby connecting, in the most direct way, the two channels
from Watchet, through Taunton, Ilminster, and Chard, to Seaton and
Axmouth. The inhabitants are mostly employed in the cloth, flax, silk mills, malting, and tanning industries. The agricultural land is
divided between arable and pasture with some orchards. The soil is a
sandy loam, alternating with clay. The town of Ilminster is well paved and lighted
with gas. It contains two banks, police station, and a market-house. It is
under the jurisdiction of the county magistrates, and constables or tything
men are annually appointed at the court of the lord of the manor. It is
a polling place for the western division of the county of Somerset."
Adapted from the entry for Ilminster in The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
See also: Old picture postcards of
Glastonbury
