A Short History of Trowbridge

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1086 Domesday Book
Trowbridge is listed as the property of Britric, a Saxon. A small agricultural settlement with 17 tenants, a small mill and a wood.

1139 Trowbridge Castle under Siege
Trowbridge castle was probably built by a Norman, Humphrey De Bohun. His grandson, Humphrey the Younger strengthened the defences when Civil War broke out between Stephen and Matilda. When King Stephen laid siege to the castle in 1139, he failed to take it.

1200 Market Town
A market place grew up outside the castle walls and Trowbridge was formally granted the right to hold its own market from 1200.

1311 A Growing Town
By 1311 there were 40 tenants in Trowbridge. The town itself was surrounded by a ditch, but there were also buildings outside the perimeter. Woollen cloth was already manufactured in Trowbridge and exported to Europe. Many townspeople were killed by the Black Death in 1342 and 1349.

1460 Tudor Town
The prospering town now contained a number of traders including millers, bakers, butchers, corn dealers, shoemakers and innkeepers. The castle was falling down with only 2 of the 7 original towers still standing by 1540.

By this time there were many wealthy men living in the town and their money came from the woollen cloth trade. The clothiers organised the production of woollen cloth, whilst the work was carried out in homes and small workshops. James Terumber paid for the parish church to be rebuilt in 1450, including its tall spire.

1665 Plague Town
The plague affected Trowbridge like other towns, many people were killed and a quarantine house was set up for strangers entering the town, so that they could be sure they weren’t carrying the plague before letting them in!

The Plague struck again in 1734 killing 176 people, in 1740 killing 250 and in 1741 killing 245. Out of a total population of 3,000 this was nearly a quarter of the population killed in only 7 years.

1700 Georgian Wealth
The fine buildings on The Parade and Fore Street show just how wealthy the Trowbridge clothiers had now become. The town had new businesses to supply the town’s rich, wigmakers, barbers, jewellers, perfume makers and makers of men’s and women’s clothes. Mary and Anne, the granddaughters of one of the Town’s clothiers, became Queen’s of England.

1780s Woollen machines arrive
All parts of the woollen trade were done by hand but late in the 1700s machines began to be introduced and shortly after large buildings called mills to house them. Spinning Jennies, Carding machines and Shearing frames were the first machines.

1790 Revolutionary Town
The Revolution in France caused concern in Britain and as protests against the new machinery grew the government responded by establishing a barracks to house troops in Trowbridge. One protest, in which a mill was burned down, led to the trial and hanging of Trowbridge man Thomas Hilliker in 1804. He was widely believed to be innocent and a great procession accompanied his body to its burial place in the parish churchyard.

1800 Steam power
The canal arrived in 1805 with supplies of coal to steam the new machines in their factories. The River Biss was never big enough to be a source of power for the woollen trade, after all Biss means finger! The first large mills were built by 1820 when there were 12 steam powered factories in the town. The firm of Hadens provided the steam engines. The population had also grown to provide workers in the factories, which operated 24 hours a day. 10,000 people lived in Trowbridge.

1848 Railway Town
The woollen mills of Trowbridge flourished from 1850 with many large new factories built. There were now 17 factories, 3 dye houses and over 30 steam engines to power them. The railway linking the town to Bath and Chippenham arrived in 1848. During this period the town also gained a water company, sewage works, schools, hospital, town hall, park and market hall.

1900 Woollen industry slumps
In the face of stiff competition from Yorkshire Mills only 6 of the 17 factories operating in Trowbridge survived until the Second World War. However, other industries expanded and grew, some in the old mills. Chapmans (now Airsprung) set up in Cradle Bridge Mill in 1905, Duke Street and Bridge Street Mills became flour mills and a tyre manufacturer moved into Yerbury Street Mill. Ushers and Bowyers were also already established in the town, though Bowyers didn’t move into Innox Mill until 1954.

1939–1945 Second World War
300 local men were killed whilst serving in the war. The town was struck by several bombs but only the one that fell near the Town Bridge was killed civilians, 2 girls from London. Spitfires were constructed in the town and 3,000 evacuees were received here.

1950s Woollen industry closes down
The last remaining mill in Trowbridge, Salters Home Mill, closed in 1982. The site was redeveloped as The Shires shopping centre, but 2 mill buildings remain one houses the Trowbridge Museum and the other a café. Ushers also closed, but Bowyers and Airsprung are still trading in the town. Many of the old mill buildings have been re–used for offices, manufacturer or housing. The town’s population has continued to grow from 13,000 in 1939 to 23,000 in 1981 and over 30,000 in 2001.