The name of the town was Cerden in 1065 and Cerdre in the Domesday Book of 1086. Before the Norman Conquest, Chard was held by the Bishop of Wells. The town's first charter was from King John in 1234. Most of the town was destroyed by fire in 1577, and it was further damaged during the English Civil War. A 1663 will by Richard Harvey of Exeter established Almshouses known as Harvey's Hospital. In 1685 Chard was one of the towns in which Judge Jeffreys held some of the Bloody Assizes after the failure of the Monmouth Rebellion. textile manufacture was important in the Middle Ages. Chard claims to be the birthplace of powered flight and the development of articulated artificial limbs. Chard is a key point on the Taunton Stop Line, a World War II defensive line. The Chard Canal was a tub boat canal built between 1835 and 1842. Chard Branch Line was created in 1860 to connect the two London and South Western Railway and Bristol and Exeter Railway main lines and ran through Chard until 1965.