Heritage
Active Restoration of Historic Buildings
A Rich Industrial Archaeological Heritage
Trowbridge as a Tourist Centre
Heritage:
One thousand years ago Trowbridge was little more than a row of thatched dwellings close to where the ancient Ridgeway track crossed the River Biss at a convenient ford. The earliest written record of the town is in Domesday Book, (compiled in 1086)
The name Trowbridge comes from the Anglo-Saxon words treow-brycg, meaning tree and bridge.
Trowbridge Castle, a substantial building, was built in the 12th century. Although nothing remains today it has left its trace in the shape of the town - the curving line of Fore Street from the Town Hall to the Town Bridge follows the course of the former castle ditch - and it gives its name to Castle Street and the Castle Place shopping centre. The name Wicker Hill for the lowest part of Fore Street comes from the reinforcing of the sides of the moat or ditch by wickerwork or hurdles. The centre of the castle was somewhere in the area now covered by The Shires shopping centre.
Excavations before The Shires was built suggested there was an important Saxon dwelling on the site before the castle, and also revealed the foundations of a church dating from about 850, surrounded by a graveyard. Fine gravestones from the site can be seen in St James’s Church and the Trowbridge Museum.
About 1200, the lord of the manor laid out a borough on the site outside the castle, including a market place and a new church - the old one being abandoned. A charter to sanction the holding of a market was granted in 1200..
From the 14th century the town’s main industry was the making of cloth – an early reference to the town comes from 1306, when a Trowbridge man was hanged for stealing a length of cloth from a local mill.
Medley, a light cloth made mainly from Spanish wool, which was dyed before spinning, was introduced after the Civil War. It was the source of the town’s prosperity for more than 150 years.
The end of the 18th century marked the transfer of cloth-making from hand-weavers’ cottages to factories, first using water power and then steam power. The new prosperity this brought increased the need for houses and Trowbridge rapidly expanded.
By the early 19th century a number of wealthy clothiers had built their homes in the town, many of which are still in existence.
But trade began to fluctuate and by the latter part of the century the cloth industry began to decline until the last mill closed in 1982.
By then other industries were flourishing in the town, notably Ushers (brewers) and Bowyers (cooked meats). More recently, bed manufacturers Airsprung, toiletries and cosmetics maker Peter Black (now Axxis International) and telecommunications giant Virgin Mobile have made their mark and offered substantial employment to the townspeople.
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Active Restoration of Historic Buildings:
Many local businessmen and house owners have been pro-active in restoring the built heritage of the town. Recently a 15th century hall-house has been restored with grants from the Historic Buildings Committee and English Heritage. The fine Wool Pack building, dominating one end of Market Street, has been completely restored. The building was originally built as court rooms for the town. Another fine building to be restored is Lovemead House.
Elsewhere in the town, the former St James’ Church hall has been brought back to its former state, with carved statues being replaced. The Regency Terrace in Stallard Street has been a group project by the house owners, once again with support from grants from the Trowbridge Historic Buildings Joint Committee. Facades, railings and chimneys have been restored.
The historic Conigre Parsonage has also been restored. This early 18th century building was formerly an important Baptist Seminary prior to 1830 when non-conformists were not allowed to attend university.
The original County Hall building, regarded as one of the finest municipal buildings in the country, with its newly cleaned roof reveals its true striking appearance.
The Civic Society has been instrumental in the creation of a trompe l’oeil on the end of a large early nineteenth century building in Roundstone Street. The trompe l’oeil of a Georgian façade is the largest in the country.
The wealth of the clothiers, going back to at least as far as the sixteenth century, has ensured a rich built legacy within the town.
The people and businesses of Trowbridge are pro-actively maintaining this legacy.
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A Rich Industrial Archaeological Heritage:
“A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of Wiltshire” published by the Wiltshire County Council Library and Museum Service, states “Trowbridge is a town particularly rich in surviving industrial sites.” The Guide only lists a selection of Trowbridge industrial sites since there would be “an almost unlimited list of sites associated with the textile trade.”
The Mill buildings are among the oldest steam driven mills in the world. In the opinion of the acknowledged authority on the Woollen Industry of the South West, K. H. Rogers “it would be probably difficult to find anywhere else in the country (and so the world) within a space of a quarter of a mile a water factory c.1800.and steam-driven factories of 1815, 1828-36 and 1860, all in their original condition.” These are all very important industrial heritage sites, with the potential to create “an open-air museum of national importance”.
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Trowbridge as a Tourist Centre:
Being a strong retail centre, Trowbridge itself is an attractive tourist destination. Its historic links with the Woollen Industry can be widely seen throughout the town. It has many fine buildings which date from the period when it was a major Georgian Woollen town. The Clothiers, who employed the spinners and weavers in the workshops which were usually at the rear of their houses, amassed large fortunes. The Clothiers’ houses in the town from this period reflect this.
The Lloyds bank building in Fore Street is reputedly the finest clothier’s house in the West Country and is considered the best example of a Georgian building in Wiltshire. Nikolaus Pevsner in his book “The Buildings of England - Wiltshire” describes it as “to be so stately as to recall Genoa”. Richard Durman in his book “Classical Buildings of Wiltshire & Bath” comments that “The carving of the masonry, especially on the cornice and the panels, is of a richness that is rare outside Bath.” Inside the building are superb plaster ceilings and the iron work in front of the building is finer, or as fine, as anything in Bath.
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Lloyds Bank, Fore Street
The nearby Parade is the finest row of clothiers’ houses in the county, described by Pevsner as “a stretch of palaces.” Among them is the beautifully decorated stone façade of Parade House. The inside of Parade House is of the quality of Mompesson House in The Close in Salisbury. Nikolaus Pevsner has stated that Trowbridge’s buildings of this period are finer than any in Bristol. The pitched pavement in front of The Parade (cobbles to non-Wiltshire people) is the longest undisturbed stretch in the country and some of the facades conceal timber built sixteenth century buildings as do numerous others in Fore Street.
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Parade House
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*** Trowbridge Civic Society has compiled two walking trails, the Trowbridge Town Trail and the Trowbridge Industrial Trail, both of which give more detail on the town’s rich history.
Copies are available from the Town Council Offices in Fore Street or the Trowbridge Information Centre in St Stephens Place.
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