Chard is a town and civil parish in the county Somerset, England, situated on the A30 road near the Devon border, south west of Yeovil. The parish has a population of approximately 12,000 and, at an altitude of , is the highest town in Somerset and also the southernmost. Administratively Chard forms part of the district of South Somerset.

Local folklore claims that the town has a very unusual and unique feature, a stream running along either side of Fore Street, one stream eventually flows into the Bristol Channel and the other eventually reaches the English Channel.

The suburbs include: Crimchard, Furnham, Glynswood,Henson Park and Old Town

History

The name of the town was Cerden in 1065 and Cerdre in the Domesday Book of 1086. This is derived from the Old English word ceart which means a rough common, overgrown with gorse, bracken or broom.

Snowdon Hill Quarry on the western outskirts of the town is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest because of the rock exposures through the Upper Greensand and Chalk which contain fossil crustaceans which are both unique and exceptionally well-preserved and support study of palaeontology in Britain.

Before the Norman Conquest Chard was held by the Bishop of Wells.

The town's first charter was from King John and another from the bishop in 1234, which delimited the town and laid out burgage holdings in one acre lots at a rent of twelve pence per year.

Most of the town was destroyed by fire in 1577. After this time the town was largely rebuilt including Waterloo House and Manor Court House in Fore Street which were built as a house and courtroom, and have now been converted into shops and offices.

Further damage to the town took place during the English Civil War with both sides plundering its resources, particularly in 1644 when Charles I spent a week in the town.

A 1663 will by Richard Harvey of Exeter established Almshouses known as Harvey's Hospital. These were rebuilt in 1870 largely of stone from previous building.

In 1685 Chard was one of the towns in which Judge Jeffreys held some of the Bloody Assizes after the failure of the Monmouth Rebellion in which 160 men from Chard joined the forces of the Duke of Monmouth. The subsequent hangings took place on Snowden Hill to the west of the town.

There was a fulling mill in the town by 1394 for the textile industry. After 1820 this expanded with the town becoming a centre for lace manufacture lead by manufacturers who fled from the Luddite resistance they had faced in the English Midlands. Bowden's Old Lace Factory and the Gifford Fox factory are examples of the sites constructed. The Guildhall was built as a Corn Exchange and Guildhall in 1834 and is now the Town Hall.

Chard claims to be the birthplace of powered flight, as it was here in 1848 that the Victorian aeronautical pioneer John Stringfellow (1799-1883) first demonstrated that engine-powered flight was possible through his work on the Aerial Steam Carriage.

James Gillingham (1839–1924) from Chard pioneered the development of articulated artificial limbs when he produced a prosthesis for a man who lost his arm in a cannon accident in 1863. Chard Museum has a display of Gillingham's work.

Chard is a key point on the Taunton Stop Line, a World War II defensive line consisting of pillboxes and anti-tank obstacles, which runs from Axminster north to the Somerset coast near Highbridge.

Action Aid the International Development Charity had their headquarters in Chard when they Started life in 1972 as Action in Distress. The Supporters Services department of the charity is still based in Chard.

Governance

Chard was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, and remained a municipal borough known as Chard Municipal Borough. until the Local Government Act 1972, when it became a successor parish in the Non-metropolitan district of South Somerset.

The town council has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover the council’s operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. The parish council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street cleaning. Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also the responsibility of the council.

The South Somerset district council is responsible for local planning and building control, local roads, council housing, environmental health, markets and fairs, refuse collection and recycling, cemeteries and crematoria, leisure services, parks, and tourism.

Somerset County Council is responsible for running the largest and most expensive local services such as education, social services, libraries, main roads, public transport, policing and fire services, trading standards, waste disposal and strategic planning.

It is also part of the Yeovil county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election, and part of the South West England constituency of the European Parliament which elects seven MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.

Twinnings

Chard is twinned with Helmstedt in Germany (since 12 April 1980), Morangis in France (since 29 May 1994) and also Şeica Mare in Transylvania, Romania.

Transport

The Chard Canal was a 13½ mile (22 km) tub boat canal that ran from the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal at Creech St. Michael, over four aqueducts, through three tunnels and four inclined planes to Chard. Work started on the canal in 1835 and was completed in 1842 at a cost of about £140,000.

Chard Branch Line

See Chard Branch Line for more details

Chard's railway was created in 1860 to connect the two London and South Western Railway and Bristol and Exeter Railway main lines 'cross-country' connection through Chard. The line's first traffic came in 1866 when the railway and major stations were completed. Chard had two stations: Chard, renamed Chard Central in 1949, on the Bristol and Exeter Railway branch from Taunton; and Chard Town, renamed Chard South also in 1949, which was connected by a short branch to the London and South Western Railway's main line.

The railway through Chard operated until 1965 when it was one of the many lines closed following the Beeching report. The line between Chard Central and Creech Junction was lifted, although the line from Chard South to Chard Junction remained until the late 1980s as a goods line serving Dalgety farm feeds (where a Focus DIY superstore is now located).

With Chard and Ilminster's populations ever increasing, transport links to the area from both directions are becoming increasingly difficult. Plans had been drawn up to improve the local road network with a link to the M5 near Taunton.

Sport

Chard has a number of local sport clubs; football (in town), rugby (in town/Crewkerne Road), hockey (in town), cricket (in town), tennis (in town), bowls (near town), golfclub (Windwhistle) and swimming (Cresta).

Weekend sports matches are detailed in the Chard and Ilminster Newspaper.

Education

The original school building in Fore Street was built in 1583 a private residence for William Symes of Poundsford. In 1671 he conveyed the property to 12 trustees so that it should be converted into a grammar school.

Avishayes Community Primary School, Manor Court Community Primary School, Tatworth Primary School and The Redstart Primary School all offer primary education, while Holyrood Community School offers secondary education.

Religious sites

The Church of St Mary the Virgin dates from the late 11th century and was rebuilt in the 15th century. The tower contains two bells dating from the 1790s and made by Thomas Bilbie of the Bilbie family in Cullompton. The three-stage tower has moulded string courses and an angle stair turret in the north west corner. The church has been designated by English Heritage as a grade I listed building. There is also a church room built in 1827.

The Baptist Church in Holyrood Street was built in 1842.

Notable residents

It was the birthplace in 1812 of William Samuel Henson aviation engineer and inventor and in 1873 of the politician Margaret Bondfield.

Image:Fore Street, Chard - geograph.org.uk - 755770.jpg|Fore StreetImage:Baptist church, Chard - geograph.org.uk - 755734.jpg|Baptist churchImage:Chard Central Station - geograph.org.uk - 244922.jpg|Central Station

References

1. English Nature citation sheet for the site (accessed 9 August 2006)
2. A Vision of Britain Through Time : Chard Municipal Borough
3. Lost canals of England and Wales Ronald Russell page 68 ISBN 0-7153-5417-5
4. Somerset County Council archives: Canals and Canal Projects accessed 20 June 2007

External links

• Chard Museum
• The Somerset Urban Archaeological Survey: Chard