a town in Germany, in the Prussian province of Hanover, situated at the south foot of the Harz, at the entrance to the Bahrethal, 8 m. N. from Nordhausen by the railway to Wernigerode. Pop. 1600. It contains an Evangelical church, a celebrated gymnasium, once a monasterial school, with a fine library, and manufactures of parquet-flooring, paper and plaster of Paris, while another industry in the town is brewing. It is also of some repute as a health resort.
Ilfeld, as a town, dates from the 14th century, when it sprang up round a Benedictine monastery. Founded about 1190 this latter was reformed in 1545, and a year later converted into the school mentioned above, which under the rectorship of Michael Neander (1525-1595) enjoyed a reputation for scholarship which it has maintained until to-day.
See Forstemann, Monumenta serum Ilfeldensium (Nordhausen, 1843); M. Neander, Bericht vom Kloster Ilfeld, edited by Bouterwek (Gottingen, 1873); and K. Meyer, Geschichte des Klosters Ilfeld (Leipzig, 1897).