Ilminster, Somerset Family History Guide
Ilminster is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Somerset.
Other places in the parish include: Winterhay, Town, Horton, Hillcombe, Hilcombe, Crock Street, and Church.
Parish church:
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1652
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1605
Nonconformists include: Independent/Congregational, Presbyterian, Society of Friends/Quaker, and Wesleyan Methodist.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
- Ilton
- West Dowlish
- Cricket Malherbie
- Ashill
- Dowlishwake
- Broadway
- Whitelackington
- Knowle St Giles
- Combe St Nicholas
- Donyatt
- Kingstone
Historical Descriptions
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
ILMINSTER., a town, a parish, and a sub-district, in Chard district, Somerset. The town stands on the river Isle, the Chard canal, and the Chard and Taunton railway, 5 miles N by E of Chard. It takes its name from the river Isle and from its own church or minster. It was a place of some importance in the Saxon times. It was, at one period, more extensive than at present; and it has repeatedly suffered injury by fire. It comprises two long streets, from E to W and from N to S; and contains many good houses. It has a head post office, a railway station, a banking office, two chief inns, a four-arched bridge, a market house, a police station, a church, three dissenting chapels, a grammar school, a large national school, and charities £15; and is a seat of petty sessions, and a polling place. The church belonged to Muchelney abbey; is cruciform and decorated English, with chantry chapel and pinnacled central tower; and contains brasses and monuments of the Wadhams, one of whom was the founder of Wadham College, Oxford. The grammar school was founded in 1550, by H. Waldron, a native; includes a secondary school for the lower branches; and has £900 a year from endowment, and two exhibitions at Oxford. Markets are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays; a fair is held on the last Wednesday of Aug.; and brewing, flax working., glove making, cloth making, rope making and brick making are carried on. Samwayes, the theologian, was a native. Pop., 2,194. Houses, 468. The parish is divided into the tythings of Town, Horton, Hilcombe, Church, and Winterhay; and contains part of the hamlet of Crock-Street. Acres, 4,050. Real property, £16,419; of which £60 are in gas works, and £40 in the canal. Pop., 3,419. Houses, 685. The manor, with Dillington House, belongs to John L. Lee, Esq. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Bath and Wells. Value, £500. Patron, Mrs. Scott Gould. The sub-district contains also fourteen other parishes. Acres, 20,220. Pop., 7,448. Houses, 1,568.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Parish Records
Sarah Hawkins Genealogy Site – Ilminster Somerset
Somerset Archives & Family History Groups
Weston-super-Mare & District FHS
Somerset Online Parish Clerk Project
Newspaper Archives
Bath Chronicle Newspaper 1770-1800
Forums
Somerset
Roy Parkhouse’s indexed parish register transcriptions
Somerset Pages Parish Register Transcripts
West Somerset Parish Register Transcriptions
Prisoners for Trial at Assizes 1810-1905
Prisoners in Ilchester Gaol 1821-44
Somerset Quarter Sessions 1625-1639
Visitations of Somerset 1531 & 1573
Somerset Historical Directories
Somerset Workhouse Admissions and Discharges
Abstracts of Somersetshire Wills Vol.1
Abstracts of Somersetshire Wills Vol.2
Abstracts of Somersetshire Wills Vol.3
Abstracts of Somersetshire Wills Vol.4
Abstracts of Somersetshire Wills Vol.5
Abstracts of Somersetshire Wills Vol.6
Somerset Medieval Wills 1501-1530
Records for England
Births and Baptism Records
England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975
Great Britain, Births and Baptisms, 1571-1977
England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008
United Kingdom, Maritime Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1787-1933
Marriage Records
Great Britain Marriages, 1797-1988
England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005
United Kingdom, Maritime Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1787-1933
Death Records
England Death Records, 1998-2015
England Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991
Great Britain Deaths and Burials, 1778-1988
England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007
United Kingdom, Maritime Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1787-1933
England and Wales, National Index of Wills and Administrations, 1858-1957
England and Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1640-1660
Non-Conformist Records
England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977
Census
England and Wales Census, 1841
England and Wales Census, 1851
England and Wales Census, 1861
England and Wales Census, 1871
England and Wales Census, 1881
England and Wales Census, 1891
England and Wales Census, 1901
England and Wales Census, 1911
Occupations
United Kingdom, Merchant Navy Seamen Records, 1835-1941
War and Conflict
Great Britain, War Office Registers, 1772-1935
United Kingdom, Chelsea Pensioners’ Service Records, 1760-1913
United Kingdom, Royal Hospital Chelsea: Discharge Documents of Pensioners 1760-1887 (WO 122)
United Kingdom, Maritime Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1787-1933
United Kingdom, Militia Service Records, 1806-1915
United Kingdom, World War I Service Records, 1914-1920
United Kingdom, World War I Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps Records, 1917-1920
Newspaper Archives
British Newspaper Archive, Family Notices
British Newspaper Archives, Obituaries
Maps
Vision of Britain historical maps
Administration
- County: Somerset
- Civil Registration District: Chard
- Probate Court: Court of the Royal Peculiar of Ilminster
- Diocese: Bath and Wells
- Rural Deanery: Pre-1845 – None, Post-1844 – Crewkerne
- Poor Law Union: Chard
- Hundred: Abdick and Bulstone
- Province: Canterbury