Trowbridge is located near the geographical centre of Wiltshire, which is one of the reasons it was chosen as the County Town. It has excellent rail links and is within easy reach of major motorways. Situated on The Heart of Wessex Line, which runs through a number of picturesque railway stations between Bristol and Weymouth means that the Town has easy access to both the cities and the sea.
There are regular bus services to and from Westbury, Warminster, Salisbury, Bradford-on-Avon and Bath, to Frome, Melksham and Chippenham, and to Swindon and Devizes.
Sir Isaac Pitman, who invented a system of shorthand still in use today, was born in Trowbridge, which was first mentioned as a Saxon village in the Domesday Book. The cloth industry maintained Trowbridge’s wealth for over five hundred years. The majority of the buildings in the town centre are listed and are a witness to the prosperity of the clothiers that made their fortunes here. Trowbridge boasts some of the finest Georgian buildings in the country and has many examples of architecture and engineering that place Trowbridge in the historical records books: Mills that were the first to use gas, one of the only remaining Handle Houses in the country, and buildings that chronicle the entire history of the cloth trade.
Today Trowbridge is still a bustling business town. It has two shopping centres, Castle Place on the site of the former cattle market and The Shires in a modern complex that has been built around Salter’s Mill, which now houses the town’s excellent museum. The two centres are linked by a pedestrianised shopping area that offers a wide range of shops from the traditional to the specialised retailers. Nothing is very far away in Trowbridge and once visitors have parked in one of the many car parks, the busy town centre is only a leisurely walk away.
Trowbridge is known for the friendly welcome it offers to its visitors. It must be your turn soon!
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