Trowbridge ( /ˈtroʊbrɪdʒ/) is the county town of Wiltshire, England, situated on the River Biss in the west of the county, approximately 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Bath, Somerset.
On the 5th September 1848 the first train steamed through Trowbridge as the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway was established.The Kennet and Avon canal runs to the north of Trowbridge and played an instrumental part in the town's development as it enabled coal to be transported from the Somerset Coalfield and so marked the advent of steam powered manufacturing in the woollen cloth mills. The town was the foremost centre of woollen cloth production in south west England in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and was described as "The Manchester of the West".
Trowbridge has a railway station on the Wessex Main Line. The civil parish of Trowbridge had a population of 28,163 at the 2001 census. Neighbouring towns and villages include Bradford on Avon, Westbury, Melksham, Devizes, Hilperton, Southwick and Semington.
Read more about Trowbridge: Name, Ancient History and The Domesday Book, Castle, Woollen Cloth Industry, 1800s To Present, Architecture, Transport, Shopping and Other Facilities, Population, Government, Entertainment and Communications, Notable People, Town Redevelopment, Sport and Leisure, Town Twinning, Gallery
Famous quotes containing the word trowbridge:
“And this is the moral—Stick to your sphere,
Or if you insist, as you have a right,
On spreading your wings for a loftier flight,
The moral is—Take care how you light.”
—John Townsend Trowbridge (1827–1916)