Yeovil Town in Somerset

Location

Larger map

Map showing location of Yeovil

Yeovil is a town in south Somerset, near the Dorset border. The town and parish has a population of about 60,000 and is 40 miles south of Bristol and 30 miles from Taunton. Yeovil has palaeolithic (Stone Age) remains, and grew up alongside an old Roman road.

Yeovil was recorded as Gifle in about 880. The name is thought to derive from the ancient briton river-name of 'Gifl' meaning 'Forked River', although that river is now known as the Yeo. Yeovil appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Givele, and is reported as a thriving market community. The town later became a centre for the glove making industry. During the Middle Ages the population of the town suffered from the Black Death and several serious fires.

The town is well served today by the A37 and A30 trunk roads and has a railway station linking to London Waterloo and the far southwest via Exeter. Yeovil is well placed to explore South Somerset and the whole of Dorset. Sherborne is just six miles away to the east, whilst Dorchester can be reached within half an hour.