Lace Riot Walk - Bench No. 4

Bench No. 4 - Crowshute Link

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Down to your right is what remains of a series of ponds that served the needs of the Lace Mills and the Town Brewery.

With throngs of strikers filling the town the Mill owners and some of the town aldermen met with Mayor Spicer in the Town Hall. All were concerned with the increasing rowdiness of the crowds and feared that the constable Tom Hutchins would not be able to keep control. Further the mob might break into the mills and break up the machinery.

The decision was made to call in the militia, in this case the Scots Greys billeted nearby in Taunton and also the Ilminster Yeomanry. The Scots Greys were professional soldiers, but the Yeomanry were made of ordinary men of the town who brought their own weapons, did not have military discipline and came from Ilminster - the nearby town with whom Chard had a legendary rivalry.