Ilchester

In the Roman period, the place was named Lindinis and was the site of a fort and then a town on the Fosse Way. Finds from a large 4th-century cemetery at Northover House suggest Christian worship.[7] It eventually served as one of two regional capitals for the Durotriges tribe.[8]

The place-name 'Ilchester' is first attested in the Doomsday Book of 1086, where it appears as Givelcestre. The name means 'Roman fort on the River Yeo'.[9]

There is evidence of continuous occupation of Ilchester despite the Roman withdrawal from Britain around 410.[10] Ilchester has been associated with the Cair Pensa vel Coyt [11] listed among the 28 cities of Britain by the History of the Britons, on the basis that it should be read as an Old Welsh form of 'Penselwood'[12] (coit being Welsh for "forest"), although others view it as three separate words: Pensa or Coyt. Bishop Ussher believed the listing referred to Exeter instead.[13]

Around the year 1000, there was a mint at Ilchester, which was moved to South Cadbury following attacks by the Danes,[8] and prior to the Siege of Ilchester in 1088.

The parish of Ilchester was part of the Tintinhull Hundred.[14]

The old market place in Ilchester

Ilchester Friary was founded between 1221 and 1260 as a Dominican monastery. The buildings were restored in the 13th and 14th centuries until the site occupied a 1.6 hectares (4.0 acres) site, and by the 15th century it extended beyond the town walls.[15] It is believed to be the birthplace of Roger Bacon, possibly in 1213 or 1214.[16] It was dissolved in 1538, as part of the dissolution of the monasteries,[15] but the buildings continued to be used, as a silk mill and relief prison, particularly for Quakers,[17] until it was finally demolished in the early 19th century.[15]

Ilchester Nunnery was founded around 1217–1220 originally as White Hall Hospital (Latin: Alba Aula, French: Blanche Halle/Blanche Salle) and, by 1281, had been converted into an Augustinian nunnery. The original White Hall hospital had been created after the gift of a house and other property by William "The Dane" (Norman-French: Le Deneis etc., Latinised to Dacus {not in the least bit related to Dacia}, modernised to "Dennis") of Sock Dennis.[18] From a branch of this family was possibly descended the influential Denys family of Devon, (arms: three Danish battle axes) seated at Orleigh, near Buckland Brewer, Devon, from the 12th. to 17th. centuries[19] In the early 14th century concerns were raised about the management of the nunnery and the poverty of the nuns.[20] The building was expanded in 1370. The nunnery was dissolved in 1463 and the chapel become a free chapel,[21] which itself was dissolved in 1548.[22] A ruined building still existed in 1791, but the stone was then used to build the nearby Castle Farm.[22]

Ilchester was a base for Henry III of England for a short period in 1250.[8]

During the 12th century it was the county town of Somerset.[8] The town has a 13th-century mace with three kings and an angel on it, which is the oldest staff of office in England.[23] It can be seen at Ilchester Museum, which is located at the Town Hall.[3]

In July 1645 during the English Civil War, Ilchester was the scene of several skirmishes between Royalist and Parliamentary forces fighting for control of the bridges over the River Parrett and River Yeo before the Battle of Langport.[24]

In 1795 work began on the Ivelchester and Langport Navigation, a canal linking Ilchester with Langport, but the scheme was soon bankrupted.

In 1962 the Ilchester Cheese Company was formed.[25]

From 1621 to 1832, Ilchester was a Parliamentary constituency and a notorious rotten borough.

Ilchester was the parliamentary seat of Sir William Manners (later Lord Huntingtower) in 1803 and 1806; however, it is said that he maintained his position by demolishing the houses of his opponents and putting them in the workhouse which meant they were not able to vote. When his son was not elected in 1818 he demolished the workhouse. He was succeeded as Member of Parliament by the Irish playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan, author of The School for Scandal.

Separate to the parish council, the Ilchester Town Trust repairs and manages the Town Hall, as well as providing for charitable purposes for the inhabitants of Ilchester. As well as the Town Hall, the Trust has ownership of the Roman cemetery in Northover and the Ilchester sportsfield. The Trust was established in 1889, upon the dissolution of the historic corporation that had governed the town (the Bailiff and Burgesses). At the Town Hall, the Trust runs the Ilchester Museum.[4]