The newspaper was established inChard, Somerset, about 1874, as a weekly newspaper published on Saturdays, priced at one penny,[2][3] and in 1882 was identified asLiberal-supporting, with a circulation of one thousand copies. It was then in competition with the longer-establishedNowlen's Weekly Chronicle, Chard, Ilminster, and Axminster Gazette, which wasConservative and was selling 850 copies at a higher price.[4]
The newspaper continues to be published weekly in Chard and covers the local news, events, jobs, births, deaths and marriages of Chard,Ilminster,Crewkerne, and the villages ofSouth Somerset.[5]
^Sir John Richard Somers Vine,The County Companion, Diary, Statistical Chronicle (1883),p. 242: "Chard and Ilminster News, Saturday. 1d. L. 1874. T. Young , Chard"
^The Official Guide to the London and South Western Railway (Cassell and Company, 1894),p. 113
^Hubbard's Newspaper and Bank Directory of the World (1882),p. 1,587
^Main page,Chard and Ilminster News, accessed 21 February 2021
