Yeovil

Template:Infobox England place with map Yeovil is a town in south Somerset, England, on the A30 and A37. It has a population of 41,871 (2001 census), and is the former constituency of one time leader of the UK Liberal Democrat Party, Paddy Ashdown. The town is in the Yeovil parliamentary constituency.

It is home of the FA Cup giant-killing team Yeovil Town F.C. Famous as a glove making town during the industrial revolution, its football team retain the nickname, The Glovers.

The town's main employer is Westland Helicopters, the proposed sale of which to the American Sikorski Fiat group in January 1986 led to a crisis in the then Thatcher government, and the resignation of Michael Heseltine as Defence Secretary. The political fallout continued two weeks later with the resignation of the Trade and Industry Secretary Leon Brittan after his admission of leaking of a governmental law officer's letter which harshly criticised Mr Heseltine.

Outlying villages include East Coker (the burial place of the poet T.S. Eliot), Evershot, Halstock, Stoford, Sutton Bingham, and Yetminster (the home of folk band The Yetties). Other nearby villages include Bradford Abbas, Corscombe (the former home of singer Polly Jean Harvey), Montacute (where one will find Montacute House), and Pendomer (where William Dampier (1651-1715) - the controversial English explorer, sea captain, and scientific observer - was born). Former England cricketer Ian Botham lived and worked in Yeovil. The village of Brympton, now almost a suburb of Yeovil, contains the medieval manor of Brympton d'Evercy.

Transport Links

The town has two train stations; Yeovil Pen Mill serving the Bristol-Weymouth line, and Yeovil Junction on the London-Exeter line.

Etymology

The name "Yeovil" comes via Anglo-Saxon from a corruption of the Celtic gifl, meaning "forked river".

History

Archaeological surveys have indicated signs of activity from the palaeolithic period, with burial and occupation sites located principally to the south of the modern town. Land south of Yeovil is also a possibility as a site for the Battle of Peonnum, although there has been no conclusive evidence for this.

Strategically important, the town and surrounding areas also betray traces of Roman settlement.

First recorded in the Domesday Book as the town of Givle, it features as a thriving market community, with a population of c. 1000. In 1205 it was granted a charter by King John. By the 14th century, the town had gained the right to elect a portreeve. The Black Death exacted a heavy toll, killing approximately half the population. In 1499 a major fire broke out in the town, destroying many of the wooden, thatched roofed buildings. Yeovil suffered further serious fires, in 1620 and again in 1643.

By the time of the 1801 Census, the population of Yeovil was about 2,800. It grew rapidly in the 19th century and had a population of 11,000 by 1900.

Current Issues

In April 2006 Yeovil became the first town in Britain to institute a system of biometric fingerprint scanning in nightclubs. The scheme is being introduced in an attempt to control troublemakers, who have plagued Yeovil for some time. Everyone wishing to gain access to one of the town's nightclubs is being asked in the first instance to submit their personal details for inclusion in a central system. This includes a photograph and index fingerprint. Thereafter, each entry to one of the participating premises will require a fingerprint scan.^[1] ^[2]