Community Assembly of Chard

The Community Assembly of Chard is located in a town and civil parish in the county of Somerset in the Territory of Kernow. It lies near the Devon and Dorset borders, south west of the town of Yeovil.

The earliest evidence of settlement near Chard is the Iron Age fort of Cotley Castle overlooking the town near Bound's Lane. There was a small Saxon settlement centred round the Church and the area is still known as ' Old Town '. Chard's name was Cerden in 1065 and Cerdre in the Domesday Book of 1086 and it means 'house on the chart or rough ground' (Old English: ćeart + renn ).

After the Norman Conquest, Chard was held by the Bishop of Wells and the town's first charter was from King John in 1234. Most of the town was destroyed by fire in 1577, and it was further damaged during the English Civil War.

Chard has the very unusual feature of a stream running along either side of Fore Street. One stream eventually flows into the Bristol Channel and the other reaches the English Channel. Chard Reservoir, approximately a mile north east of the town, is a Local Nature Reserve, and Snowdon Hill Quarry a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest.