ILSLEY (EAST), a market-town and parish, in the
hundred of COMPTON, county of BERKS, 16 miles
(E. S. E.) from Reading, and 56 (W.) from London,
containing 676 inhabitants. This town is pleasantly
situated on rising ground forming a part of the chalk
hills, or downs, which extend across the county from
east to west, and on the road fromNewbury to Oxford:
it is neither paved nor lighted, but is sufficiently supplied
with water from wells. The inhabitants are principally
employed in agriculture; and the town is noted
for its sheep market, which, with the exception of that
of the metropolis, is the largest in the kingdom, the
number of sheep and lambs sold in one day sometimes
amounting to twenty-five thousand. The weekly market
is on Wednesday, and great sheep markets are held on
the Wednesday in Easter week and every alternate Wednesday
till Midsummer: there are fairs, August 6th,
and on the Wednesdays next after September 29th,
October 17th, and November 12th. The county magistrates
meet here to dispense justice generally once a
fortnight. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry
of Berks, and diocese of Salisbury, rated in the king's
books at £22. 13. 4., and in the patronage of the President
and Fellows of Magdalene College, Oxford. The
church is dedicated to St. Mary. There is a place of
worship for Wesleyan Methodists.