Welcome to Chard and its
Town Council
If you live in Chard - count yourself lucky! - if you are a visitor you are sure to find a warm welcome wherever you go.
Chard is a lovely market town in the county of Somerset, England, situated on the main A30 road close to the Devon border and 15 miles south west of Yeovil.
Chard has a population of around 12,000 and, at an altitude of 121 metres, is the highest town in Somerset.
In 1685 Chard was one of the towns in which Judge Jeffreys held some of the Bloody Assizes after the failure of the Monmouth Rebellion. Chard claims to be the birthplace of aviation, as it was here in 1848 that the Victorian aeronautical pioneer John Stringfellow (1799-1883) first demonstrated that engine-powered flight was possible.
Chard is a key point on the Taunton Stop Line, a World War II defensive line consisting of pillboxes and anti-tank obstacles, which runs from Axminster north to the Somerset coast near Highbridge.
