Trowbridge (St. James)

TROWBRIDGE (St. James), a market-town and parish, in the union and hundred of Melksham, Westbury and N. divisions, and Trowbridge and Bradford subdivisions, of Wilts, 30 miles (N. W.) from Salisbury, and 99 (W. by S.) from London; containing, with the chapelry of Staverton, 11,050 inhabitants. The origin of this place, and the etymology of its name, are involved in much obscurity: Camden says it was called by the Saxons Truthabrig, "a strong and faithful town." It is not mentioned in Domesday book; but a place called Little Trowle, now a hamlet in the parish, is therein recorded, and hence the present name is by many supposed to be a corruption of Trowlebridge, under which term the town is mentioned by Geoffrey of Monmouth. Leland writes it Throughbridge, or Thorough-bridge. It was anciently a royal manor, forming part of the duchy of Lancaster, having been granted by the crown to John of Gaunt. The estate afterwards reverted to the crown, and was given by Henry VIII., in the 28th year of his reign, to Sir Edward Seymour, Knt., Viscount Beauchamp. Having again lapsed to the crown, Queen Elizabeth in the 24th of her reign assigned it, with the profits of the fairs and markets, to Edward, Earl of Hertford; it afterwards became the property of the dukes of Rutland, who sold it to Thomas Timbrell, Esq., in whose family the manor still continues. The earliest historical circumstance relating to the town is its defence against King Stephen, by Humphrey de Bohun, who held it for the Empress Matilda, at which period the castle is supposed to have existed, though some writers ascribe its erection to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. The fortress was demolished previously to the time of Henry VIII., as, when Leland wrote, it was in ruins, only two of its seven towers remaining; not a vestige of it now exists, its site being occupied by other buildings.

The town is situated upon a rocky hill, near the river Biss, across which is a stone bridge. It is very irregularly built, mostly of stone; the principal street is spacious, and contains some excellent houses, but the other streets are generally narrow, the buildings old, and of rather a mean appearance. The town is paved, lighted with gas, and tolerably well supplied with water. The manufacture of woollen-cloth was introduced at an early period, and must have very soon become a thriving branch of trade, as Camden mentions that Trowbridge was famous for the clothing business; the articles made are chiefly kerseymeres, with some superfine broad cloth. The Kennet and Avon canal passes about a mile on the north, by which a communication is opened with London and Bristol. An act was passed in 1845 for a railway from near Chippenham to Salisbury and to Weymouth, passing by Trowbridge. The markets are on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, the last being the principal, and are well supplied with provisions: there is a fair on the 5th of August, for cattle, cheese, woollen goods, &c. A petty-session takes place on the first Tuesday in the month; and a court leet and court baron are held at Easter, at the former of which constables, tythingmen, a crier, and cornets of the market, are appointed. The powers of the county debt-court of Trowbridge, established in 1847, extend over the parishes of Trowbridge and Hilperton.

The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £20. 12. 8½., and in the gift of the Duke of Rutland: the tithes have been commuted for £600; there is a parsonage-house, and the glebe comprises 54 acres. A rent-charge of £16. 16. is paid to the lay impropriator of Staverton, and a modus of £25. 15. out of the same hamlet to the rector. The parochial church, called the New church in consequence of a more ancient one having existed about 70 yards to the south-east, is a large building, with a tower at the west end, surmounted by a lofty spire; the walls of the nave and aisles are crowned with battlements and crocketed pinnacles. In some of the windows are fragments of painted glass; the font is lofty, and covered with a profusion of tracery and paneling. Attached to the eastern extremities of the aisles are chapels, that on the south belonging to the lord of the manor, and that on the north to John Clark, Esq., as owner of Wick House and estate. Holy Trinity district church, of which the first stone was laid April 8th 1837, was consecrated November 1st 1839; it contains 1000 sittings, half free, and the living is a perpetual curacy, in the Rector's gift, with a net income of £150. At Staverton is a district chapel; and in the town are places of worship for Particular Baptists, General Baptists, Independents, Wesleyans, Presbyterians, and Irvingites. George Keate, a poetical and miscellaneous writer of some celebrity, was born here in 1730; Crabbe, the poet, was instituted to the rectory in 1814, and held it till his death in 1832. Trowbridge formerly gave the title of Baron to the Seymour family, dukes of Somerset, one of whom is buried here.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.