Frome - History

History

The name Frome comes from the Old English word ffraw meaning fair, fine or brisk and describing the flow of the river.

There is some limited evidence for Roman settlement of the area. The remains of a villa were found in the village of Whatley, 3 miles (5 km) to the west of Frome.

In April 2010, the Frome Hoard, one of the largest-ever hoards of Roman coins discovered in Britain, was found by a metal detectorist. The hoard of 52,500 coins dated from the third century AD and was found buried in a field near the town, in a jar 14 inches (36 cm) below the surface. The coins were excavated by archaeologists from the Portable Antiquities Scheme, and some are now on display in the British Museum. The find was the subject of a BBC TV programme Digging for Britain in August 2010.

A monastery built by St. Aldhelm in 685 is the earliest evidence of Saxon occupation of Frome. The Saxon kings appear to have used Frome as a base from which to hunt in Selwood Forest and in 934 a witenagemot was held there, indicating that Frome must already have been a significant settlement. One of the first English Kings, Eadred (son of Edward the Elder), died in Frome on 23 November 955.

At the time of the Domesday Survey, the manor was owned by King William, and was the principal settlement of the largest and wealthiest hundred in Somerset. Over the following years, parts of the original manor were spun off as distinct manors; for example, one was owned by the minster, later passing to the Abbey at Cirencester, which others were leased by the Crown to important families. By the 13th century, the Abbey had bought up some of the other manors (although it did let them out again) and was exploiting the profits from market and trade in the town. Local tradition asserts that Frome was a medieval borough, and the reeve of Frome is occasionally mentioned in documents after the reign of Edward I, but there is no direct evidence that Frome was a borough and no trace of any charter granted to it. However, Henry VII did grant a charter to Edmund Leversedge, then lord of the manor, giving him the right to hold fairs on 22 July and 21 September.

The parish was part of the hundred of Frome.

Hales Castle was built, probably in the years immediately after the Norman conquest of England in 1066. The circular ringwork is 120 feet (37 m) in diameter and stands on the northern slope of Roddenbury Hill, close to the Iron Age Roddenbury Hillfort. It comprises banks and outer ditches and has an unfinished bailey.

The manufacture of woollen cloth was established as the town's principal industry in the 15th century, and Frome remained the only Somerset town in which this staple industry flourished. Families of clothiers gradually came to be the principal landowners in the town, with the manor of Frome itself finally passing into the ownership of a cloth merchant in 1714. From 1665 to 1725 major expansion, including the building of a new artisans' suburb to the west of Trinity Street, occurred. Daniel Defoe remarked that the town had:

"so prodigiously increased within these last 20-30 years, that they have built a new church, and so many new streets of houses, and those houses are so full of inhabitants, that Frome is now reckoned to have more people in it than the city of Bath, and some say, than even Salisbury itself, and if their trade continues to increase for a few years more ... it is likely to be one of the greatest and wealthiest towns in England" —Daniel Defoe, 1720s

On the 27 June 1685, the forces of the Duke of Monmouth camped in Frome, following their defeat in a skirmish with the King's forces at Norton St Philip. Large numbers of his army deserted during the few days he stayed in the town before his eventual defeat at the Battle of Sedgemoor. Following the putting down of the Monmouth Rebellion, 12 men were hanged in the town.

Poverty, the decline of the wool industry in the mid-18th century, increased industrialisation, and rising food prices led to some unrest amongst the inhabitants of Frome, and there were riots during the century. By 1791, the town was described in less flattering terms than those Defoe had used 70 years earlier. In the early 19th century, plans were developed to reinvigorate the town and once again elevate it to its former position as a more important town than Bath. These plans, the idea of a local businessman, Thomas Bunn, mostly failed to come to fruition, although some public buildings were erected and a wide new approach road to the town centre from the south was cut (named Bath Street after the landowner, Lord Bath of Longleat House).

Whilst wool remained an important part of the town's economy into the 19th (and even 20th) centuries, other industries were established in the town. A bell-foundry started in 1684 by William Cockey grew to be a major producer of components for the developing gas industry and employer of 800 people. The J W Singer brass foundry and bronze-casting works, was a major employer and produced bronze statues. John Webb Singer was born in Frome and established his art metal work foundry in 1851. They made brass ornaments for local churches and became known through the Oxford Movement within the Church of England which lead to increasing demand for church ornaments. In addition to church ornaments the firm developed the facilities and expertise to create large statues. One of the first statues cast was a copy of General Gordon riding a camel. The firm was also responsible for the bronze statue of Boudica with her daughters in her war chariot (furnished with scythes after the Persian fashion), which was commissioned by Prince Albert and executed by Thomas Thornycroft. It was not cast in bronze until 1902, 17 years after Thornycrofts death, and now stands next to Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament, London. The statue of Lady Justice on the dome above the Old Bailey was executed by the British sculptor, F. W. Pomeroy and cast by Singers. She holds a sword in her right hand and a pair of weighing scales in her left. The statue is popularly supposed to show blind Justice; however, the figure is not blindfolded. The statue of Alfred the Great at Winchester was a further commission. The statues from Singers have also been exported around the world. Printing was another major industry, with the Butler and Tanner printworks being set up in the middle of the century. Brewing was also a source of employment.

During the 20th century the old wool industry in Frome declined, although the last fabric mill at Wallsbridge did not close until 1965. As a result the population fell and in the 1930s it was slightly smaller than it had been in the mid 19th century. Other industries such as printing, light engineering, metal casting, carpeting and dairying continued, many taking old premises from the cloth mills and others being sited at the new Marston Road Trading Estate which led to growth after World War II, including the construction of council houses.