Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for TROWBRIDGE

TROWBRIDGE, a town, a parish, and a sub-district, in Melksham district, Wilts. The town stands on the river Biss, and on the Bath and Salisbury railway, 11¾ miles SSW of Chippenham; was known to the Saxons as Truthhabrig; came afterwards to be called Tribridge, Trolbridge, and Thoroughbridge; acquired early a castle, which was taken by Stephen from Maud, rebuilt by John of Gaunt, and is now represented only by a moat; became, in the time of Henry VIII., a notable place of cloth manufacture; is now a seat of petty-sessions and county courts; occupies a rocky declivity, sloping to the Biss; presents an irregularly constructed appearance, with nearly all its streets, except the main one, narrow and ill-built; and has a head post-office,‡ a r. station with telegraph, two banking offices, several inns, a recent market house erected at a cost of nearly £5,000, a court-hall, a police station, a three-arched bridge, a church of the 14th century restored at a cost of about £8,000, two other churches built in 1836 and 1868, another church purchased from the Baptists in 1860, five dissenting chapels, two schools endowed with jointly £60 a year, two alms houses with £130, and other charities £95 Markets are held thrice a-week; a fair is held on 5, 6, and 7 Aug.; two weekly newspapers are published; and the manufacture of kerseymeres, tweeds, and woollen cloths, is carried on. Pop. in 1861, 9,626. Houses, 2,119.—The parish contains three tythings, and comprises 2,442 acres. Real property, £32,830; of which £250 are in gasworks. Pop. in 1851, 11,148; in 1861, 10,487. Houses, 2,322. The manor was given, by Henry VIII., to the Seymours; passed to the Mannerses and the Timbrels; and belongs now to W. Stancomb, Esq. The living of St. James is a rectory, and that of Trinity is a vicarage, in the diocese of Salisbury. Value of St. J., £900; of T., £230.* Patron of St. James, the Church Patronage Society; of Trinity, the Rector of Trowbridge. St. Stephen's is a chapel of ease; and the vicarages of Staverton and Studley are separate benefices. The poet Crabbe was rector-The sub-district includes Hilperton parish, and comprises 3,520 acres. Pop., 11,367. Houses, 2,531.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a parish, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Trowbridge AP/CP       Trowbridge SubD       Trowbridge and Melksham RegD/PLU       Wiltshire AncC
Place names: TROWBRIDGE     |     TRUTHHABRIG
Place: Trowbridge

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