Landmarks
The older parts of Frome – for example, around Sheppard's Barton and Catherine Hill – are picturesque, containing an outstanding collection of late 17th and 18th century small houses. The Trinity area, which was built in the latter half of the 17th century and first half of the 18th century, is a fine (and rare) example of early industrial housing. Over 300 houses were built between 1660 and 1756 in a very unusual early example of a planned grid-pattern. Although about half the area was demolished in the 1960s under a Slum Clearance Order, before its historical importance was realised, the remainder was saved and was restored at a cost of £4 million between 1980 and 1984. Also in this area is the elaborate former Selwood Printing Works.
Stoney Street, which leads into Catherine Hill, is a steep, cobbled road climbing out of the town centre. Also in the centre of the town, Cheap Street contains buildings dating to the 16th and 17th centuries, and has a stream running down the middle, fed by the spring at St John's Church. Cheap Street has never been used for vehicular traffic and its layout is based on land plots dating to approximately 1500. Despite a fire in 1923, the buildings have remained substantially unchanged since 1830, apart from shop-frontages.
The town bridge, which was originally built in the 14th century, was rebuilt in the 16th century and widened in the 18th century, at which time houses were built on it.
The Tourist Information Centre in Justice Lane is contained within a circular dye-house, known to have been in existence by 1813, one of two surviving in the town (the other is in Willow Vale). It was restored in 1994.
In the 1990s and first few years of the 21st century, Frome benefited from considerable investment in the restoration of its historic buildings through the English Heritage Heritage Economic Regeneration Scheme and the National Lottery Townscape Heritage Initiative.
Frome has over 500 listed buildings, three of which (including the parish church) are grade I listed.
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