Everything about Trowbridge totally explained
Trowbridge is the
county town of
Wiltshire,
England, situated on the
River Biss in the west of the county, approximately 12 miles (19 km) southeast of
Bath, Somerset. The origin of the name is uncertain; one source claims derivation from 'Tree Bridge', referring to the first bridge over the Biss,
while another source states that the true meaning is the bridge by
Trowle, the name of a hamlet and a
common to the west of the town.
The
Kennet and Avon canal runs to the north of Trowbridge and played a large part in the development of the town as it allowed coal to be transported from the
Somerset coalfields. Trowbridge has a
railway station on the
Wessex Main Line. The
civil parish of Trowbridge had a population of 28,148 according to the 2001 census, making it the largest town in the county, after the city of Salisbury. while it was besieged - so it must have been built before this.
The castle is thought to have been a
motte-and-bailey castle, and its influences can still be seen in the town today. Fore Street follows the path of the castle ditch, and its name is given to Castle Street and the
Castle Place Shopping Centre.
Wool industry
From the 13th century onwards Trowbridge developed a clothing industry, increasingly becoming
industrialised from the 17th century onwards. However increasing mechanisation was resisted by workers in traditional trades and there were riots in 1785, 1792 and in the era of
luddism due to the introduction of the
flying shuttle. Nevertheless at one point in 1820 it was being described as the "
Manchester of the West" as it had 15 factories, comparable to Northern industrial towns such as
Rochdale.
The wool industry went into decline in the late 19th century and this decline continued throughout the 20th century — the last
mill closed in 1982 and is now the home of Trowbridge
Museum, dedicated to the history of the town and its former industry.
1800s to present
In its place a bedding industry developed, initially using wool cast off from the mills — the company now known as
Airsprung Furniture Group PLC was started in the town in the 1870s. Food production also developed in the town when Abraham Bowyer started his business which eventually, as
Bowyers, became one of the largest employers in the town, until closure in April 2008 was announced, with production moving to the
Nottingham branch. The brewing company Ushers opened in Trowbridge in 1824 and developed the brewery in the town — this was finally shut in 2000 following several changes of ownership. Food production continues in the town, with Apetito. One of the oldest established businesses in Trowbridge is Knees Department Store (Est.1879), where the local family firm continues to serve Wiltshire's community from the centre of this county town.The largest employers in the town are Wiltshire Council, Vodafone and Virgin Mobile.
Architecture
There is much of architectural interest in Trowbridge, including many of the old buildings associated with the textile industry, and the Newtown conservation area, a protected zone of mostly Victorian houses. In the churchyard of St James one can see the memorial tombstone of
Thomas Helliker. The Town Hall is in Market Street, opposite the entrance to the pedestrianised Fore Street. This "imposing building" (shown left) was presented to the residents of the town by a local businessman, Sir William Roger Brown, in 1889, to celebrate
Queen Victoria's fiftieth year on the throne. In 2007, it failed to be approved for a
Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £45,000 after the previous year's Council Tax precept had been raised in anticipation of refurbishments being carried out. It is currently used for military and other inquests.
Shopping and other facilities
The main traditional shopping focus is Fore Street, which has a wide variety of businesses, and there are also the Shires and Castle Place shopping centres. The newest names to the town's retail scene are Monsoon, M&S Food, Bodyshop and Costa as well as the well established names of H J Knee, H B Pitt and Walter Rose. The Civic Hall, a conference and entertainment venue is adjacent to the town park, where the tourist information kiosk can also be found.
Local news
Several newspapers are produced and published in Trowbridge, the most popular being the
Wiltshire Times.
Entertainment and pubs
Trowbridge is part of the historic
West Country Carnival circuit, and has also given its name to the
Trowbridge Village Pump Festival. The Festival was originally held in the old stablehouse of The Lamb Inn public house on Mortimer Street in Trowbridge, and was founded by Alan Briars and Dave Newman, although the event is now held at Stowford Manor farm between
Wingfield near Trowbridge and
Farleigh Hungerford in
Somerset.
Trowbridge Town F.C. is the local football club, based at
North Bradley near Trowbridge. They are currently members of the
Hellenic Football League Division One West.
The town is home to many pubs, several music venues, and two leisure centres. A local councillor once claimed that Trowbridge was "just like Ibiza", a comment which drew widespread surprise as this councillor had never been to Ibiza and many local residents suspected he'd never been to Trowbridge either.
Trowbridge residents
Trowbridge has the highest population of
Moroccans in the
UK outside of
London.
Trowbridge was the birthplace of
Sir Isaac Pitman, developer of the
Pitman Shorthand system of
shorthand writing. He is remembered in the town through several memorial plaques, and his name has been taken by a pub in the town centre run by
Wetherspoons.
Matthew Hutton (Archbishop of Canterbury) was the town's Rector from 1726 to 1730. The poet
George Crabbe held the same position from 1814 until his death in 1832.
John Dyer was a Trowbridge born inventor and engineer whose most important invention was the rotary
fulling machine in 1833. A version of the machine, developed for the local woollen industry, is still in use today.
Sir
William Cook KCB Kt FRS, born in Trowbridge on
April 10 1905, was involved with the development of the British
nuclear bomb at
Aldermaston in the 1950s, becoming the establishment's
deputy director.
Professional snooker player
Stephen Lee's career developed whilst practising the game in a Trowbridge snooker club. Trevor Heeks, a past winner of the World
Town Crier Championship, is also amongst its residents, as is former world
disco dance champion Clifton Coleman.
Other famous Trowbridge residents
Town redevelopment
Since 2002, there have been plans in place to redevelop significant town centre sites.
In the early 1990s the supermarket chain
Tesco changed location from their site at St Stephens Place to a site adjoining the A361 on County Way. The previous site has been dormant since being demolished some years ago, and has become notorious for its extremely large mound of crushed concrete and other remains, known locally as "Mount Crushmore". Redevelopment has since suffered through several delayed starts. The plans for the site can be viewed by consulting an image made of them.
Trowbridge residents have frequently voiced their desire for new facilities to be built on the site, with reference often made to Trowbridge's lack of a cinema. Developers Modus have now signed up to provide a
Vue Cinema in the plan for the Waterside complex. And in March 2008, an outline planning application for the proposed development was approved by West Wiltshire District Council, to include a new library, cinema, ten-pin bowling, hotel and restaurants. In the same week, the Town Council supported plans for
Waitrose Supermarkets to build a store on land at Cradle Bridge/County Way, currently containing a derelict factory, previously occupied by Peter Black Toiletries.
The developer Parkridge is also about to commence construction of a new retail centre between the Shires and the railway station, bringing new names to the town.
The former
Ushers brewery site has also been in the process of redevelopment for a number of years. A development of new apartments is underway by Newland Homes and a supermarket and further residential units is planned for the former bottling plant site.
Town twinning
Oujda, Morocco (since 2006)
Leer, Germany (since 1989)
Get more info on 'Trowbridge'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://trowbridge.totallyexplained.com">Trowbridge Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
