AXMINSTER

'Axminster' is a small market town on the eastern border of Devon, 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. 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 infinite colours and patterns. While Axminster carpet is made in the town of Axminster this type of carpet is now manufactured all over the world.

Contents

History

Leisure facilities and shops

Education

Local attractions

Transport

Road

Rail

Geography

Twin towns

Famous Residents

See also

External links

References

History

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.
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. The 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 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.

Leisure facilities and shops

The Axe Valley Sports Centre in Chard Road has a health & fitness studio multi-use sports hall and outdoor tennis courts and there is the Flamingo Swimming Pool in Lyme Road. Shops include two supermarkets and a small department store.
Leisure:

★ Flamingo Pool (Axe Valley Community College)

★ Cloakham Lawns (Cricket facilities, Tennis Courts and skate park)

★ Axminster Museum (History of Axminster)

★ Axminster Library
Shops

★ Tesco

★ Co-op

★ Martins

★ Trinity House

★ Ganesha

★ The Celtic Shop

★ Copy Cats

★ Axminster Music

★ Post Office

★ Alldays

★ Spar

★ Pets @ Home

★ Tescos Garage

★ Acorn

★ Mole Avon

★ Axminster Power Tools
Other

★ Parish Church

★ Thomas Whitty Memorial Church

Education

★ Axe Valley Community College

★ Axminster Community Primary School

★ St. Mary's Primary School

★ All Saints Community Primary School

Local attractions

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★ 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

★ Shute Barton

Transport

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.

Geography

Axminster is located at (50.7833,
-3.0000)¹.
The parish church is located at Ordnance Survey mapping six-figure grid reference 'SY 296985'
Devon villages within 5 miles of Axminster include; Chardstock, Colyford, Colyton, Combpyne, Dalwood, Hawkchurch, Kilmington, Membury, Musbury, Raymond's Hill, Rousdon, Shute, Smallridge, Tytherleigh, Uplyme and Whitford.

Twin towns

Douvres-la-Délivrande, France

Famous Residents

★ Steve Benbow – Folk musician

★ William Buckland – Geologist and Paleontologist

See also

★ Taunton Stop Line

External links

★ Axe Valley Midweek Herald - local newspaper

★ Axminster (DMOZ.org)

★ Axminster Parish Church

★ Southern E-group: Axminster Station

★ A 360 degree 'virtual reality' panorama of the 12th Festival of Gardening and Crafts at Axminster

★ Axminster Drama Club

★ Axminster Today

★ Axminster Power Tool Centre

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.