Axminster
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  Map sources for Axminster at grid reference SY2998
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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. 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.
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[edit] 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 in 1755.
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.
[edit] 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
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- 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
[edit] References
- Mills, A. D. Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280074-4.
