Ilchester

Village in Somerset, England, on the River Yeo, 8 km/5 mi northwest of Yeovil; population (2001) 1,800. Ilchester was the birthplace (about 1214) of the philosopher and inventor Roger Bacon.

Ilchester is traditionally believed to be the town called Ischalis mentioned by the 1st-century Egyptian geographer Ptolemy. In Roman times, it was an important station on the Fosse Way, and it flourished under the Saxons. Lytes Cary, a 14th-century house near Ilchester, is owned by the National Trust.