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Chard in Somerset County England History and GeographyCHARD, a parish in the eastern division of the hundred of KINGSBURY, county of SOMERSET, comprising the market-town of Chard, the tythings of Crim-Chard, Old Chard, South Chard, and Tatworth with Forton, and containing 3106 inhabitants, of which number, 1330 are in the town of Chard, 13 miles (S.E. by S.) from Taunton, and 139 (W.S.W.) from London. This place was of considerable importance during the Heptarchy, and was by the Saxons called Cerdre, a name supposed to be derived from Cerdic, the founder of the kingdom of Wessex. In the 28th of Edward I. it was constituted a borough, and continued to send members to parliament until the 2nd of Edward III., since which time its privileges have been discontinued. In the parliamentary war, a battle took place here, in which a party of royalists, under the command of Colonel Penruddock, was defeated. The town is situated at the southern extremity of the county, and upon the highest ground between the North and the South seas, so that the course of a stream, issuing from a spring in one of the streets, may easily be diverted either into the English, or the Bristol channel: it consists principally of two streets, intersecting each other; the houses are in general well built, and the inhabitants are supplied with water conveyed by leaden pipes into four conduits, from a spring at the western extremity of the town. The market is on Monday, and is noted for the sale of potatoes: the fairs are on the first Wednesdays in May, August, and November. The ancient assize-hall is now used as the market-house, to which is attached an extensive range of shambles, covered with a tiled roof, and supported on brick pillars. The town is governed by a portreeve and two bailiffs, chosen annually at the court leet of the lord of the manor. The town-hall is a very ancient edifice, and was formerly used as a chapel. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Taunton, and diocese of Bath and Wells, rated in the king's books at £36.18.9., and in the patronage of the Bishop of Bath and Wells. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a handsome cruciform structure, with a low tower at the west end: in the north-east corner of the south transept is a splen did monument, having the effigies of William Brewer and his wife, kneeling before an altar, with their family behind them; in the south corner of the same transept, and in various parts of the church, are other handsome and interesting monuments. The school was established by the portreeve and burgesses, to whom a house, a garden, and a field containing about one acre, were devised on certain conditions, by William Symes, in 1671: it has no endowment; the master, who resides on the premises rent-free, receives from two to three guineas per annum from each pupil, and has the privilege of taking boarders. An hospital, or almshouse for poor people of the parish, was founded in 1668, by Richard Harvey, Esq., of Exeter, who endowed it with two estates in the counties of Cambridge and Norfolk, formerly producing £844. 4. per annum, but within the last few years, the income has been somewhat diminished by the reduction of the rents. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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