Axminster

Axminster
View of Axminster, Devon
Axminster  Axminster shown within Devon
Population	5,626 (2001)
OS grid reference	SY2998
Civil parish	Axminster
District	East Devon
Shire county	Devon
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	AXMINSTER
Postcode district	EX13
Dialling code	01297
Police	Devon and Cornwall
Fire	Devon and Somerset
Ambulance	South Western
EU Parliament	South West England
UK Parliament	East Devon
List of places: UK • England • Devon

Axminster is a market town and civil parish on the eastern border of Devon in England. The town is built on a hill overlooking the River Axe which heads towards the English Channel at Axmouth, and is in the East Devon local government district. It has a population of 5,626. The market is still held every Thursday.

Axminster gave its name to a type of carpet. An Axminster-type power loom is capable of weaving high quality carpets with many varying colours and patterns. While Axminster carpet is made in the town of Axminster, this type of carpet is now manufactured all over the world.

History

Further information: History of Devon

The town dates back to the Celtic times of around 300 BC. It lies on two major Roman roads: the Fosse Way from Lincoln to Seaton, and the Dorchester–Exeter road. There was a Roman fort on the crossroads at Woodbury Farm, just south of the present town.

Axminster was recorded in the late 9th century as Ascanmynster and in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Aixeministra. The name means "monastery or large church by the River Axe" and is a mixture of languages; the river name Axe has Celtic origins and mynster is an Old English word.

The history of the town is very much linked to the carpet industry, started by Thomas Whitty at Court House near the church in 1755. The completion of the early hand tufted carpets was marked by a peal of bells from the parish church as it took a great amount of time and labour to complete them.

In 1210, a charter was granted to the town that included the right to hold a weekly cattle market which took place in the market square until it was moved to Trinity Square in 1834. It then moved in October 1912 to a site off South Street where it was held for 94 years. It finally closed in 2006 in the aftermath of the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak. A building on the site then continued to be used for a general auction until all the buildings were demolished and replaced by a housing development.

Axminster Parish Church

The town was on the coaching route from London to Exeter. In 1760 a coaching inn named The George Hotel was opened on the corner of Lyme Street and Chard Street on the site of an old inn called the Cross Keys that was destroyed by fire in 1759. Over 16 coaches a day would stop at the hotel in its heyday for refreshments and to change horses, the building still stands but it is currently unoccupied. Axminster was on the route of The Trafalgar Way which is the name given to the historic route used to carry dispatches with the news of the Battle of Trafalgar overland from Falmouth, Cornwall to the Admiralty in London in 1805 and there is a plaque commemorating this fact in the town centre.

Axminster railway station was opened on 19 July 1860, with the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) offering direct services between Queen Street Station in Exeter and Yeovil. The station building was designed by the LSWR's architect Sir William Tite in mock gothic style. In 1903, the branch line from Axminster to Lyme Regis was opened. This branch line was closed with the Beeching cuts, in the 1960s. One engine has been preserved on the Bluebell Line, in Sussex, while the station was dismantled and reconstructed at New Alresford, on the Watercress Line, in Hampshire.

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

Nearby Kilmington was used as a location for the 1998 LWT adaptation of Tess of the d'Urbervilles. The celebrity chef and TV presenter Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has his River Cottage H.Q. at a 60-acre (240,000 m²) farm in the Axe valley. He has since purchased an old inn of the town to convert to an organic produce shop/market and canteen.

Geography

Devon villages within 5 miles (8.0 km) of Axminster include; Chardstock, Colyford, Combpyne, Dalwood, Hawkchurch, Kilmington, Membury, Musbury, Raymond's Hill, Rousdon, Shute, Smallridge, Tytherleigh, Uplyme and Whitford.

Landmarks

• Axminster Museum
• Backdown Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
• East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
• East Devon Way
• Forde Abbey
• Jurassic Coast
• Lambert's Castle
• Loughwood Meeting House
• Musbury Castle
• Shute Barton

Leisure facilities and shops

The town has Cloakham Lawns, the Axe Valley Sports Centre and Flamingo Swimming Pool, a library, several churches and a museum of local history. Shops include two supermarkets, a small department store, Trinity House, and several independent retailers. The Guidhall is a theatre with meeting rooms that hosts many events and clubs such as Axminster Drama Club and Axminster Operatic Society.

Education

• Axe Valley Community College
• Axminster Community Primary School
• St. Mary's Primary School
• All Saints Community Primary School

Transport

Axminster station

Road

Axminster is at the crossroads of the A358 which links with the A303 at Ilminster and the A35 from Southampton to Honiton, which has been diverted by a bypass to the south of the town.

Rail

Axminster railway station is on the West of England Main Line that runs from Exeter via Salisbury to London Waterloo.

Twin towns

Douvres-la-Délivrande, France

Notable people

• Steve Benbow, folk musician
• William Buckland, geologist and palaeontologist

See also

• Taunton Stop Line

References

• Mee, A. The King's England:Devon (Hodder and Stoughton, 1965); p. 25–26.
• Mills, A. D. Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280074-4.

External links

• Axminster at the Open Directory Project
• Devon Local Studies - Axminster community page