Chard Museum

Chard is a town and a civil parish in the English county of Somerset. It lies on the A30 road near the Devon and Dorset borders, 15 miles (24 km) south west of Yeovil. The parish has a population of approximately 14,000 and, at an elevation of 121 metres (397 ft), Chard is the southernmost and one of the highest towns in Somerset. Administratively Chard forms part of the district of South Somerset. The name of the town was Cerden in 1065 and Cerdre in the Domesday Book of 1086. After the Norman Conquest, Chard was held by the Bishop of Wells. The town's first charter was from King John in 1234. Most of the town was destroyed by fire in 1577, and it was further damaged during the English Civil War. A 1663 will by Richard Harvey of Exeter established Almshouses known as Harvey's Hospital. In 1685 during the Monmouth Rebellion, the pretender Duke of Monmouth was proclaimed King in the Town prior to his defeat on Sedgemoor. Chard subsequently witnessed the execution and traitor's death of 12 condemned rebels, who, tried by Judge Jeffreys, were hanged near the present Tesco roundabout. The Chard Canal was a tub boat canal built between 1835 and 1842. Chard Branch Line was created in 1860 to connect the two London and South Western Railway and Bristol and Exeter Railway main lines and ran through Chard until 1965. The town has a very unusual feature, a stream running along either side of Fore Street. One stream eventually flows into the Bristol Channel and the other reaches the English Channel. Chard Reservoir, approximately a mile north east of the town, is a Local Nature Reserve, and Snowdon Hill Quarry a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest. Major employers in the town include Numatic International Limited. There are a range of sporting and cultural facilities, with secondary education being provided at Holyrood Academy; religious sites including the Church of St Mary the Virgin, which dates from the late 11th century.

Chard was a rural district in Somerset, England, from 1894 to 1974. It was created in 1894 under the Local Government Act 1894. In 1974 it was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972 when it became part of South Somerset. The parishes that it included were: Ashill, Broadway, Buckland St Mary, Chaffcombe, Chillington, Combe St Nicholas, Cricket Malherbie, Cricket St Thomas, Cudworth, Dinnington, Donyatt, Dowlish Wake, Hinton St George, Ilminster, Ilminster Without, Ilton, Kingstone, Knowle St Giles, Lopen, Merriott, Misterton, Seavington St Mary, Seavington St Michael, Shepton Beauchamp, Stocklinch, Stocklinch Magdalen, Stocklinch Ottersey, Wambrook, Wayford, West Crewkerne, West Dowlish, Whitelackington, Whitestaunton and Winsham.

Chard School is a coeducational private school for children ages 4 to 11 located in the town of Chard in the English county of Somerset. The school is located on the site of the former Chard Grammar School.

Fore Street in Chard, Somerset, England was built in the late 16th and early 17th century, following a fire which destroyed much of the town in 1577.Fore Street is a main shopping street and thoroughfare with open water channels on either side. Local folklore claims that one stream eventually flows into the Bristol Channel and the other reaches the English Channel. This situation changed when the tributary of the Axe was diverted into the Isle; the gutter in Holyrood Street, though, still flows into the River Axe and therefore it is still true it lies on the watershed and that two gutters eventually drain into the Bristol Channel and the English Channel.Numbers 7A,7B,9,11,13 & 13A Waterloo House and Manor Court House have been designated as Grade I listed buildings. They are now on the Heritage at Risk Register. The Hamstone Waterloo House and Manor Court House were built in the late 16th or early 17th century. The history of the buildings is complex and not fully understood, although it is known that it was used as a court house at various periods. Worries about the condition of the buildings, and others in the row from 7 to 13 Fore Street, and the need for their preservation. has been expressed throughout the 20th century.In 2010 when the Manor Court House, where Charles I signed a peace declaration during the English Civil War, was added to the Heritage at Risk Register one local trader complained that not enough was being done to maintain and conserve the building. Waterloo Court was built in the 16th century as a house, it has since been converted into a shop with a flat above it. In 1834 the Guildhall was built with a doric portico with a double row of Tuscan columns along the front. It was built to replace an earlier 16th century guildhall and now serves as the town hall.Chard Museum is housed in a 16th-century thatched building which was originally four cottages. The building was converted and restored for use as a museum in 1970, and later incorporated the building next door which had been the New Inn public house. It houses collections of exhibits about local history and displays related to the lives of notable local residents. The L-shaped school building was built in 1583 as a private house and converted into Chard Grammar School in 1671. It was damaged in the fire if 1727. It is a Grade II* listed building. In 1890 it became a boarding school and then in 1972 a preparatory school. Monmouth House, which was built between 1770 and 1790, and the 16th century chapel, are also now part of the school.Pubs include the Dolphin Inn, which was built in 1840 and the George Hotel which was constructed in the late 18th century. The Wesleyan Methodist Chapel was built in 1895 from Flemish bond brick.The branch of Lloyds Bank was built as a house on the site of the Chard Arms Hotel in 1849. The branch of National Westminster Bank was two houses when it was constructed around 1820. In 1938 a bomb proof bunker was built behind the branch of the Westminster Bank. During World War II it was used to hold duplicate copies of the bank records in case its headquarters in London was destroyed. It was also used to store the emergency bank note supply of the Bank of England. There has also been speculation that the Crown Jewels were also stored there, however this has never been confirmed. In 1991 the town council commissioned bronze sculpture from Neville Gabie which were erected in Fore Street they are entitled Ball and Whirl. An album detailing the work and its commissioning is held by the Chard Museum.

The Anglican Church of St Mary the Virgin in Chard, Somerset, England dates from the late 11th century and was rebuilt in the 15th century. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building. Due to the effects of a leak in the roof it was added to the Heritage at Risk Register in 2013. The Perpendicular cruciform church has an aisled nave and north and south porches. The north transept has an oak roof, which was refurbished in 1975. The south transept contains the organ, built in 1883. The church used to have galleries. The Fawcus chapel in the north aisle, dedicated to a local physician, includes the Brewer Memorial .The west tower was built between 1505 and 1520 and contains a peal of eight bells, of which two were made in the 1790s 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 clock chimes each quarter-hour in a setting often known as Chard Chimes.There is a church room built in 1827.The parish is part of the benefice of Chard, St. Mary with Combe St Nicholas, Wambrook and Whitestaunton within the deanery of Crewkerne and Ilminster.

The Guildhall is a town hall and community building in the town of Chard in the English county of Somerset.

Welcome to Holyrood Academy Wiki page. Holyrood Academy, previously known as Holyrood Community School before September 2010, is a secondary school with academy status in Chard, Somerset, England. From April 2017 to August 2019 it was part of the Vector Learning Trust, a Multi Academy Trust which also included the nearby Axe Valley Academy in Axminster.In September 2019, both Holyrood and Axe Valley joined the Uffculme Academy Trust.In September 2023, both Holyrood and Axe Valley joined the Blackdown Education Partnership. The school has existed from somewhere around 1910, previously being referred to as "Holyrood Secondary Modern School", "Holyrood Secondary School", "Holyrood Comprehensive School" and "Holyrood Community School".As of 2019, Holyrood Academy has 1,276 pupils between the ages of 11 and 18, 100 teachers, 23 teaching assistants and 37 support staff.Students are taught for 25 lessons a week, each is 60 minutes long. In addition, students have a daily tutorial period (20 minutes).Holyrood Academy also has a sixth form on campus offering BTEC and A level courses to 16-18 year olds.

Chard Central railway station was the principal railway station in Chard, Somerset, England. It was opened in 1866 and closed in 1962, during which time it was known by three different names.

Chard Town Football Club is a football club based in Chard, Somerset, England. Affiliated to the Somerset County FA, they are currently members of the Somerset County League Premier Division and play at Dening Sports Fields.

Chard Reservoir is a 36.97-hectare (91.4-acre) reservoir north east of Chard Somerset, England. It is owned and managed by South Somerset District Council and is a recipient of the Green Flag Award.It was built on the river Isle in 1842 to provide water for the Chard Canal.It is a Local Nature Reserve. It is used for dog walking, fishing and birdwatching, with a bird hide having been installed. Birds which are spotted regularly include herons, egrets, kingfishers, cormorants, grebes, gulls, ducks and also a wide range of woodland birds such as nuthatch, treecreeper and woodpeckers. Rarities have included ring-necked duck, great white egret, cattle egret and yellow-browed warbler.The water is stocked with carp.

Snowdon Hill Quarry (grid reference ST312089) is a 0.6 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest on the western outskirts of Chard in Somerset, notified in 1963. The site shows 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. The unit has been dated to the subdivision of the Chalk known as the Turrilites acutus Zone, named after one of the characteristic fossils.

Stowell Meadow (grid reference ST333062) is a 2.8 hectare (6.9 acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Tatworth in Somerset, notified in 1987. Stowell Meadow supports a nationally rare type of traditionally managed wet neutral grassland. Alder woodland and plant communities typical of marshy grassland are also present. 90 species of plant have been recorded to date, several of which have a local distribution in Somerset. A number of nationally scarce species of beetle have already been recorded.