YEOVIL, Somersetshire, a market-town and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, in the parish of Stone, is situated near the left brink of the river Yeo, in 50° 56' N. lat., 2° 37' W. long., distant 36 miles S.S.W.
from Bath, and 123 miles S.W. by W. from London. The population of the town in 1851 was 5985. The town is governed by a portreeve.
The management of the paving, lighting, watching, &c., is under a body of commissioners. The living is a vicarage in the arehdeaconry of Wells, and diocese of Bath and Wells. Yeovil Poor-Law Union contains 35 parishes and townships, with an area of 51,271 acres, and a population in 1851 of 28,446.
Yeovil was probably a Roman station, as Roman coins and tesselated pavements have been found at the place ; the town was called Gevele by the &SODS, and Ivle and Givele in Domesday Book, which names may be identified with that of the river Yeo or Ivel. The streets are lighted with gas and paved. The church is a handsome cruciform edifice, of perpendicular character, 146 feet long and 50 feet wide; the length of the transept is 80 feet. The church staods in a large churchyard surrounded with lime-trees. There are also a new church called Trinity church ; places of worship for Wesleyan Methodists, Independents, Baptists, Quakers, and Unitarians ; a Grammar school; National schools ; a savings bank ; Wobourne's almshouses, for 12 poor persons; Portreeve's almshouses; and several parochial charities.
A new town-hall has been recently erected. Yeovil was formerly the seat of a woollen manufacture, but the manufacture of leather gloves is now the chief source of employment. The wages paid yearly by the manufacturers of Yeovil and its neighbourhood are estimated at about 100,000/., of which about two-thirds are paid by the Yeovil manufacturers. A considerable number of women and girls are employed in sewing the gloves at their homes. The market is held on Friday, every alternate Friday being regarded as the great market. Large quantities of corn, butter, cheese, hemp, and flax are sold ; and considerable trade is carried on in the sale of cattle. Fairs for horses are held on June 28th and November 17th. In the vicinity of Yeovil are many dairy farms, from which butter in considerable quantities is obtained for the London market. A county court is held iu the town.