ILAGAN, the capital of the province of Isabela, Luzon, Philippine
Islands, on an elevated site at the confluence of the Pinacanauan river
with the Grande de Cagayan, about 200 m. N.N.E. of Manila. Pop. (1903)
16,008. The neighbouring country is the largest tobacco-producing
section in the Philippines.
ILCHESTER, a market town in the southern parliamentary division of
Somersetshire, England, in the valley of the river Ivel or Yeo, 5 m.
N.W. of Yeovil. It is connected by a stone bridge with the village of
Northover on the other side of the river. Ilchester has lost the
importance it once possessed, and had in 1901 a population of only 564,
but its historical interest is considerable. The parish church of St
Mary is Early English and Perpendicular, with a small octagonal tower,
but has been largely restored in modern times. The town possesses
almshouses founded in 1426, a picturesque cross, and a curious ancient
mace of the former corporation.
Ilchester (_Cair Pensavelcoit_, _Ischalis_, _Ivelcestre_,
_Yevelchester_) was a fortified British settlement, and subsequently a
military station of the Romans, whose Fosse Way passed through it. Its
importance continued in Saxon times, and in 1086 it was a royal borough
with 107 burgesses. In 1180 a gild merchant was established, and the
county gaol was completed in 1188. Henry II. granted a charter,
confirmed by John in 1203, which gave Ilchester the same liberties as
Winchester, with freedom from tolls and from being impleaded without the
walls, the fee farm being fixed at £26, 10s. 0d. The bailiffs of
Ilchester are mentioned before 1230. The borough was incorporated in
1556, the fee farm being reduced to £8. Ilchester was the centre of the
county administration from the reign of Edward III. until the 19th
century, when the change from road to rail travelling completed the
decay of the town. Its place has been taken by Taunton. The corporation
was abolished in 1886. Parliamentary representation began in 1298, and
the town continued to return two members until 1832. A fair on the 29th
of August was granted by the charter of 1203. Other fairs on the 27th of
December, the 21st of July, and the Monday before Palm Sunday, were held
under a charter of 1289. The latter, fixed as the 25th of March, was
still held at the end of the 18th century, but there is now no fair. The
Wednesday market dates from before the Conquest. The manufacture of
thread lace was replaced by silk weaving about 1750, but this has
decayed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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