Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for CHARD

CHARD, a town, a parish, a subdistrict, and a district in Somerset. The town stands on high ground at a watershed between the Bristol and the English channels, within a mile of the boundary with Dorset, 3½ miles E of the boundary with Devon, and 13 SSE of Taunton; and is connected by a branch railway of 3 miles with the trunk line of the South-western, at Chard Junction. It was known to the Saxons as Cerdre; was visited, in 1644, by Charles I., on his return from Cornwall; was the scene of a defeat of the royalists, under the conduct of Col. Penruddock; and witnessed a sanguinary execution, in 1685, in connexion with the affair of the Duke of Monmouth. It comprises three chief thoroughfares; presents an irregular appearance, with very much recent improvement; and has a head post office,‡ a railway station, two banking offices, a town hall, an assembly room, a parish church, four dissenting chapels, a grammar school, a national school, an alms-house, with £844 a year, a workhouse, two large iron-foundries, and two large lace factories. The town hall is a recent erection, in the Tuscan style; with market hall; and superseded ancient Gothic one. The church is later English, long, low, and cruciform; was restored in 1828; has a window, representing Christ in the garden, put up in 1829; and contains an elaborate monument of 1614. An Independent chapel, at a cost of £3,000, was built in 1869. Well attended markets are held on Mondays; and fairs on the first Wednesday of May, Aug., and Nov. A good trade exists in agricultural produce; and was much aided by a canal northward to the Bridgewater and Taunton canal, 3 miles E of Taunton. The town was made a borough in the time of Edward I.; sent members to parliament till the time of Edward III.; and is now governed by a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve councillors. The borough formerly comprised only 52 acres; but now comprises about 180. Real property, £6,102. Pop., 2,276. Houses, 446. Sandford, the divine of the 16th century, and Sir Simon Every, who figured as a royalist in the civil war, were natives. The branch railway of 3 miles to the town was authorized in 1860, and opened in the spring of 1863. Another railway, called the Chard and Taunton, 15½ miles long, to connect the Chard line with the Bristol and Exeter, was authorized in 1861, to be completed within four years; but the scheme for it broke down in 1863, was then transferred to the Bristol and Exeter, and was in operation in 1869

The parish includes also the tythings of Old Chard, South Chard, Crim-Chard, and Forton and Tatworth. Acres, 5,449. Real property, £20,144. Pop., 5,316. Houses, 1,037. The property is much subdivided. Snowdon, a high hill, connected with the Black Downs, rises immediately above the town; and commands a magnificent prospect over Somerset and Devon. Several barrows, called Robin Hood's butts, and traditionally associated with the exploits of Robin Hood and Little John, are on Brown Down. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Bath and Wells-Value, £510.* Patron, the Bishop of Bath and Wells. The vicarage of Tatworth is a separate charge. The subdistrict contains also the parishes of Chaffcombe, Winsham, and Cricket-St. Thomas. Acres, 10,276. Pop., 6,661. Houses, 1,307. The district comprehends likewise the subdistrict of Crewkerne, containing the parishes of Crewkerne, Wayford, Cudworth, Chillington, Dinnington, Hinton-St. George, Lopen, and Merriott; the subdistrict of Ilminster, containing the parishes of Ilminster, Shepton-Beauchamp, StocklinchMagdalen, Stocklinch-Ottersey, Seavington-St. Michael, Seavington-St. Mary, White Lackington, Kingstone, Dowlish-Wake, West Dowlish, Cricket-Malherbie, Donyatt, Ilton, Ashill, and Broadway; and the subdistrict of Combe-St. Nicholas, containing the parishes of CombeSt. Nicholas, Buckland-St. Mary, White Staunton, Knowle-St. Giles, Yarcombe, and Wambrook,-the last electorally in Dorset, the next last electorally in Devon. Acres, 60,342. Poor-rates in 1866, £12,752. Pop. in 1861, 25,591. Houses, 5,224. Marriages in 1866, 179; births, 840,-of which 51 were illegitimate; deaths, 41,-of which 153 were at ages under 5 years, and 12 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1,860; births, 8,183; deaths, 5,264. The places or worship in 1851 were 33 of the Church of England, with 11,097 sittings; 6 of Independents, with 2,173 s.; 8 of Baptists, with 2,100 s.; 2 of Unitarians, with 276 s.; 10 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 1,408 s.; 2 of Bible Christians, with 160 s.; 2 of Latter Day Saints, with 90 s.; and 2 undefined, with 190 s. The schools were 26 public day schools, with 1,880 scholars; 39 private day schools, with 750 s.; 46 Sunday schools, with 4,523 s.; and 1 evening school for adults, with 10 s.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a parish, a subdistrict, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Chard AP/CP       Chard SubD       Chard RegD/PLU       Somerset AncC
Place names: CERDRE     |     CHARD
Place: Chard

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