ILCHESTER

This article appears in Volume V14, Page 299 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: I27-INV

ILCHESTER , a market town in the southern parliamentary division of Somersetshire, England, in the valley of the river Ivel or Yeo, 5 M. N.W. of Yeovil. It is connected by a stone bridge with the

village

VILLAGE

of Northover on the other side of the river. Ilchester has lost the importance it once possessed, and had in 1901 a population of only 564, but its historical

interest

INTEREST

is considerable. The parish church of St Mary is Early English and Perpendicular, with a small octagonal tower, but has been largely restored in modern times. The town possesses almshouses founded in 1426, a picturesque cross, and a curious ancient mace of the former

corporation

CORPORATION (from Lat. corporare, to form into a
body
- BODY
, corpus, corporis)

.
Ilchester (Cair Pensavelcoit, Ischalis, Ivelcestre, Yevelchester) was a fortified British settlement, and subsequently a military station of the Romans, whose Fosse Way passed through it. Its importance continued in Saxon times, and in io86 it was a royal borough with 107 burgesses. In 118o a gild merchant was established, and the county gaol was completed in 1188. Henry II. granted a charter, confirmed by John in '1203, which gave Ilchester the same liberties as Winchester, with freedom from tolls and from being impleaded without the walls, the fee farm being fixed at 26, 1os. od. The bailiffs of Ilchester are mentioned before 1230. The borough was incorporated in 1556, the fee farm being reduced to 8. Ilchester was the centre of the county administration from the reign of Edward III. until the 19th century, when the

change

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. 冠 urmu', to bend)

from road to rail travelling completed the decay of the town. Its place has been taken by Taunton. The

corporation

CORPORATION (from Lat. corporare, to form into a
body
- BODY
, corpus, corporis)

was abolished in 1886. Parliamentary representation began in 1298, and the town continued to return two members until 1832. A

fair

FAIR

on the 29th of August was granted by the charter of 1203. Other fairs on the 27th of December, the 22nd of July, and the Monday before Palm Sunday, were held under a charter of 1289. The latter, fixed as the 25th of March, was still held at the end of the 18th century, but there is now no

fair

FAIR

. The Wednesday market

dates

DATES

from before the Conquest. The manufacture of

thread

THREAD (0. Eng. praed, literally, that which is twisted, prawan, to twist, to throw, cf. " throwster," a silk-winder, Ger. drehen, to twist, turn, Du. draad, Ger. Draht, thread, wire)

lace was replaced by silk weaving about 17 0, but this has decayed.
LE-DE-FRANCE, an old

district

DISTRICT

of France, forming a kind of island, bounded by the Seine, the Marne, the Beuvronne, the Theve and the Oise. In this sense the name is not found in written documents before 1429; but in the second half of the 15th century it designated a wide military province 'of government, bounded N. by Picardy, W. by Normandy, S. by Orleanais and Nivernais, and E. by Champagne. Its

capital

CAPITAL (i.e. capital stock or fund)
CAPITAL (Lat. caput, head)

was Paris. From the territory of Ile-de-France were formed under the Revolution the department of the Seine, together with the greater part of Seine-et-Oise, Seine-et-Marne, Oise and Aisne, and a small part of Loiret and Nievre. (The term Ile-de-France is also used for Mauritius, q.v.).
See A. Longnon, " L'Ile-de-France, son origine, ses limites, ses gouverneurs," in the Memoires de la Societe de l'histoire de Paris et de l'ple-de-France, vol. i. (1875).

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