YEOVIL, a market town and municipal borough of Somerset, England, is situated on the river Yeo or Ivel, which here separates Somerset from Dorset, and on branch lines of the London and South Western and the Great Western Railways, 40 miles south of Bristol and 124 westsouth-west of London. The streets are regular and spacious, with a number of handsome public buildings. A few of the houses are of considerable antiquity, but within recent years the town has undergone much alteration. The church of St John the Baptist, occupying a commanding site in the centre of the town, is a large and beautiful cruciform structure in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave of seven bays, aisles, transepts, and lofty western tower. It is described by Mr Freeman as “a grand and harmonious whole, as truly the work of real artistic genius as Cologne or Winchester.” There are two ecclesiastical parishes within the borough, Hendford and Yeovil Marsh. The principal secular public buildings are the town-hall in the Grecian style, erected in 1849, and the corn exchange. There are a reading room and a library in connexion with the young men’s Christian association and mutual improvement society. The benevolent institutions include Woborne’s almshouses for six men and six women, the portreeves’ almshouses, and a few smaller charities. Water is obtained from Holywell, 8 miles distant, by works constructed by the corporation. Formerly the woollen manufacture was of some consequence, but this industry has now died out. The staple industry is the manufacture of gloves, for which the town has long been celebrated. Brewing and brick-making are also carried on. The agricultural trade of Yeovil is of some importance, large corn markets and cattle and horse fairs being held. The ...