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Ilminster is a community and also civil parish in the countryside of south west Somerset, England, with a population of 5,808. Bypassed in 1988, the community now lies simply east of the junction of the A303 (London to Exeter) and the A358 (Taunton to Chard as well as Axminster). The church consists of the hamlet of Sea. Ilminster is discussed in files dating from 725 as well as in a Charter given to the Abbey of Muchelney (10 miles (16 kilometres) to the north) by King Ethelred in 995. Ilminster is also discussed in the Domesday Book (1086) as Ileminstre suggesting ‘The church on the River Isle’ from the Old English ysle and mynster. By this duration Ilminster was a growing area and was approved the right to hold a regular market, which it still does. Ilminster became part of the hundred of Abdick and Bulstone. In 1645 throughout the English Civil War Ilminster was the scene of an altercation between legislative soldiers under Edward Massie and also Royalist forces under Lord Goring who defended control of the bridges prior to the Battle of Langport. The community includes the buildings of a sixteenth-century grade school, the Ilminster Meeting House, which works as the town’s art gallery as well as auditorium. There is also a Gospel Hall.