Town in Somerset, England
Yeovil
A Somerset glove town that built spy planes and a world-record helicopter, and whose non-league footballers once beat Sunderland.
Key information
- County
- Somerset
- Nation
- England
- Population
- about 45,000 (2011 Census)
- Known for
- Glove-making, Westland aircraft and helicopters, FA Cup giant-killing
- What locals are called
- Yeovilians
- Famous people
- Paddy Ashdown, Sir Ernest Petter, Teddy Petter
- Football clubs
- Yeovil Town (the Glovers), Huish Park
About Yeovil
The helicopter that still holds the record
In 1986 a Westland Lynx built in Yeovil flew at 249 mph, setting a world speed record for helicopters. It still stands as the record for conventional helicopters, and it was set by a machine from a Somerset town of a few tens of thousands of people. The Lynx was the latest in a long line. Westland began life in 1915 as an aircraft works run by the Petter family's engineering firm, Petters Ltd, and grew into one of Britain's great aircraft makers. Its Lysander, a short-landing army co-operation plane, became famous in the Second World War for dropping agents into occupied France and picking them up again at night. Helicopters followed after the war, and the Yeovil site kept turning them out for decades. Today the works belongs to Leonardo, and the town is still Britain's helicopter capital.
A town that put gloves on the world
Before aircraft, Yeovil meant gloves. The leather trade grew up around the town and made it a centre of English glove-making, with workers cutting and stitching in factories and at home. The trade shaped the town's identity so thoroughly that the football club is still called the Glovers. Gloves and ginger-brown Ham stone are the two things the town is built on, one worn and one lived in. The craft has shrunk since its peak, but the nickname outlived the factories.
Why a non-league side beat Sunderland
Yeovil Town are a club that likes an upset. In 1949, as a non-league side, they beat Sunderland, then one of the biggest names in English football, in the FA Cup. It made Yeovil a byword for giant-killing, and the story is still told in the town. The old ground, the Huish, became famous for a pitch with a notorious slope, which visiting sides were said to hate. The club moved to Huish Park in 1990. The modern success came in the 2000s. Yeovil won promotion into the Football League in 2003 as Conference champions, then won League Two in 2005. In 2013 they beat Brentford at Wembley in the League One play-off final to reach the Championship, the second tier, for the first time.
The Lantern of the West
Yeovil's parish church, St John the Baptist, is known as the Lantern of the West because of its huge windows. It's a 14th and 15th-century building, and its walls seem to be made as much of glass as stone. It's the town's most striking old landmark. The name Yeovil goes back much further, and comes from the river that once ran through the area, called the Gifl or Ivel. Domesday Book records it in an earlier form, and the name has been worn smooth over a thousand years. Yeovil has two railway stations, Yeovil Junction on the London Waterloo line and Yeovil Pen Mill, which is on a different route. The Junction has a turntable and a heritage railway centre, so steam fans come to visit.
Cider country and a political giant
Yeovil sits at the southern edge of Somerset, close to the Dorset border, in cider-making country. Local pubs and farm shops are well supplied with Somerset cider, and the surrounding villages are known for their Ham stone and thatched cottages. Montacute House is only a short drive away. The town also made a political name. Paddy Ashdown was MP for Yeovil from 1983 to 2001, and led the Liberal Democrats for most of that time. He turned a small town's seat into a national platform. The Petter family left their mark too. Sir Ernest Petter ran the firm that became Westland. His son Teddy Petter went on to design aircraft, including the English Electric Canberra.