Ilminster - Timeline

ILMINSTER has a long and rich history. The timeline below details its transition from 500 AD to the present day.

Further details about the history of Ilminster can be found on the Past and Present pages.

500 (AD) - 999

500 - The Romans left Britain and Saxon invaders gradually settled in the Ile valley.

725 - Ilminster is mentioned in early documents as being a possession of Muchelney Monastery.

995 - Charter by King Ethelred confirms to the Abbey of Muchelney an earlier grant of Ile Mynster.

1000 - 1499

1086 - The Domesday Survey shows Ilminster as a possession of Muchelney Abbey. The population was about fifty working families on twenty hides (240 acres). It records: 27 oxen for ploughing, 40 sheep, 33 pigs, 3 mills, a market, woodlands and 80 acres of meadow.

1280 - The abbot substantiated his right to hold a market on Saturdays in Ilminster and an annual fair. The population had increased to 450.

1450 - St Mary's Church (The Minster) and tower was built on the site of an earlier Saxon church - originating circa 720 AD.

1491 - Disastrous fire destroyed much of the town in the time when dwellings were built of timber and thatch.

1500 - 1599

1529 - Henry VIII passed Ilminster on to his brother-in-law, Seymour, whose family held it until selling in 1684.

The population was now 1,000.

1538 - The Lordship of the Manor of Ilminster was granted to Edward Seymour the Earl of Hertfordshire.

1549 - Ilminster Grammar School founded by Humphrey Waldron and Henry Greenfield of Sea.

1600 - 1699

1609 - Nicholas Wadham died. He and his wife founded Wadham College, Oxford. They are buried at St Mary's Church.

1661 - Yet again, the town was devastated by another great fire started carelessly by a resident.

1670 - Ilminster was the fourth largest town in Somerset according to records of the Hearth Tax.

1685 - The Duke of Monmouth camped in the town on his way with his followers to the Battle of Sedgemoor. Following the Monmouth Rebellion and the Bloody Assizes of Judge Jeffreys, Charles Speke was hung from an oak tree in the market square.

1688 - The start of a period of prosperity for Ilminster's cloth mills and the development of other industries.

1689 - Ilminster residents took advantage of the Toleration Act and was one of the first towns in Somerset to register its places of non-conformist worship.

1700 - 1799

1719 - The Unitarian Church (The Meeting House) was built.

1753 - Anne Speke inherits Dillington House.

1756 - Anne Speke marries Lord North.

1768 - Turnpike Trust roads with toll gates linked Ilminster with Taunton, Chard, Crewkerne, Yeovil and Langport.

1770 - Lord North, married to Anne Speke since 1756, became Prime Minister and was living at Dillington House at the time of the loss of the American Colonies.

1771 - Summerlands house and garden in Brewery Lane was bought to become a workhouse for Ilminster.

1791 - John Edward Taylor, founder of the Manchester Guardian, was born.

1800 - 1899

1809 - Ilminster became an important coaching town after the opening of the new London to Exeter road.

1819 - Princess Victoria, with her parents the Duke & Duchess of Kent, spent a night at The George Hotel.

1820 - Ilminster's first award saw common land at Hort Mead and Winterhay Green became enclosed.

1823 - 'Old Road' was replaced as the main road northward from Ilminster by the recently constructed 'New Road'.

1825 - St. Mary's Church organ was brought here from St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, and is possibly the organ which Handel used to play there - although rebuilt several times since.

1827 - Birth of John Hanning Speke who discovered the source of the Nile.

1840 - Ilminster workhouse was bought by Samuel Paull and part of the site was converted to become Paull's Brewery.

1842 - Opening of the Ilminster section of the canal linking the Bridgwater canal with Chard.

1851 - The census showed an increased population of 2,045.

1853 - National School for infants and girls in North Street erected by voluntary contribution. A cottage in North Street (formerly Langport Street) had previously provided the town's first elementary education.

Flint tools discovered on Herne Hill. They are dated 300 - 400 BC.

1859 - The last burial in the churchyard of St. Mary's Church. Preb. Street, in his book 'Mynster of the Ile', estimates that some 25,000 souls lay in the church and churchyard.

1862 - John Hanning Speke discovers the source of the River Nile in Africa.

1866 - Closure of the canal and opening of the Taunton to Chard railway line.

1867 - The Girl's Grammar School established after new premises were built in Silver Street for the boys.

1871 - The population had grown further to 3,505.

1887 - The current Methodist Chapel was opened - the original chapel having been built in 1777.

1899 - Reform of Local Government saw the establishment of Ilminster Urban District Council.

1900 - 1999

1900 - Roman coins were discovered by workmen in Ditton Street. They date from the reign of the Emperor Constantine (337 - 340 AD).

1938 - The Gospel Hall was built.

Ilminster Town F.C., in probably their finest season, win 8 cups.

1939 - 1945 - Ilminster became a garrison town with hundreds of servicemen stationed here, in the park at Dillington House and at the Ilton airfield. The population was also swollen by evacuees and also by the employees and families of the Standard Telephone & Cables Co. Ltd - relocated from the London area.

Former Ilminster Territorial Soldier, R.S.M. Bill Broughton, was awarded the Military Cross in Burma. After all officers were either killed or injured, he led the survivors of his battalion to safety.

1943 - Horlicks arrived at Hort Bridge.

1946 - Gooch & Housego was founded.

1947 - Ilminster Entertainment Society was founded.

1953 - St. Joseph's R.C. Church opened.

1959 - C. & J. Clark's establish their factory at Dowlish Ford Mills.

1962 - Dr. Richard Beeching closes the railway line - only Station Road and the old station buildings remain.

1971 - Ilminster Grammar School, Ilminster Girls' Grammar School and Ilminster Secondary Modern School are all closed to make way for comprehensive education. All children over 12 years of age now attend Wadham School, Crewkerne.

1974 - Under Local Government re-organisation, Ilminster loses its Urban District Council and becomes part of the South Somerset District Council.

1975 - Ilminster Entertainment Society represent England as winners in the British Drama League's One Act Play competition.

1976 - Ilminster Lions Club founded.

Heritage of the Ile Trust founded.

1986 - First performances at the Warehouse Theatre.

1988 - Opening of the controversial Ilminster bypass.

1992 - Ilminster twinned with the French town of Riec Sur Belon.

1995 - Ilminster celebrated its Millennium.

1998 - Birth of the "original" Ilminster website!

1999 - Ilminster Cricket Club win the County League.

2000 - Present

2000 - Building of a new housing development starts at Adams Meadow and Minster Park just off Station Road.

2002 - Horlicks at Hort Bridge closes.

2003 - Rebirth of the "new" Ilminster website!