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Trowbridge, Wiltshire
Fore Street, Trowbridge
Most visitors to Trowbridge will go to the Shires shopping centre or the Odeon cinema complex, and miss the part of Trowbridge which is the most attractive part, predominantly in the North and North/East of the centre, where fine houses survive from the 18th and 19th century, and even earlier. You can also look up in the centre, around Fore Street especially, and you will see attractive architecture, with unsympathetic shop fronts below.
Trowbridge was one of the Baron Towns of the Magna Carta, signed in 2015. Henry de Bohun, 1st Earl of Hereford, from Trowbridge, was one of the 25 barons elected to enforce Magna Carta law on the king. Henry can be found pictured in a stained glass window in St James’s Church in Trowbridge, holding a copy of the Charter. De Bohun was responsible for the construction of the church. Another of Trowbridge's famous figures was Isaac Pitman, who invented the world-famous shorthand system.
Think Wiltshire from the late fourteenth century to the late nineteenth/early twentieth century and you have to think wool, for the wealth of the county, especially reflected in its great number of Georgian houses, came from its mills producing cloth that was favoured the world over. Trowbridge was one of the main mill towns in the West of England and even in the 1960s its fine woollen cloth was sold in more than 70 countries. The last woollen mill, Home Mills, now incorporated into the Shires shopping Centre and part of it the home of Trowbridge Museum, finally ceased weaving in 1982. There are more than 300 Listed buildings in Trowbridge alone.
Maybe walk this route?..
Lovemead Car Park/The Halve/Roundstone Street/Polebarn Road/Roundstone Street/Silver Street/Market Street/Castle Street (incl cinema complex)/back and into Shire shopping arcade/out of Shire/Fore Street/Hill Street/Back Street/Church Street (note first part of Union Street)/continue on Church Street - see inside the church/down the side of the church (Church Walk) and back into Fore Street
Trowbridge was one of the Baron Towns of the Magna Carta, signed in 2015. Henry de Bohun, 1st Earl of Hereford, from Trowbridge, was one of the 25 barons elected to enforce Magna Carta law on the king. Henry can be found pictured in a stained glass window in St James’s Church in Trowbridge, holding a copy of the Charter. De Bohun was responsible for the construction of the church. Another of Trowbridge's famous figures was Isaac Pitman, who invented the world-famous shorthand system.
Think Wiltshire from the late fourteenth century to the late nineteenth/early twentieth century and you have to think wool, for the wealth of the county, especially reflected in its great number of Georgian houses, came from its mills producing cloth that was favoured the world over. Trowbridge was one of the main mill towns in the West of England and even in the 1960s its fine woollen cloth was sold in more than 70 countries. The last woollen mill, Home Mills, now incorporated into the Shires shopping Centre and part of it the home of Trowbridge Museum, finally ceased weaving in 1982. There are more than 300 Listed buildings in Trowbridge alone.
Maybe walk this route?..
Lovemead Car Park/The Halve/Roundstone Street/Polebarn Road/Roundstone Street/Silver Street/Market Street/Castle Street (incl cinema complex)/back and into Shire shopping arcade/out of Shire/Fore Street/Hill Street/Back Street/Church Street (note first part of Union Street)/continue on Church Street - see inside the church/down the side of the church (Church Walk) and back into Fore Street
St James’s Church, late 15th century, Grade I Listed.
Church Walk, Trowbridge
Union Street Almshouses, 1861, Grade II.
68 Fore Street, Trowbridge. Built before 1723 for Nathaniel Houlton. A fine example of Vernacular
Baroque, Grade I Listed.
Parade House, Fore Street, Trowbridge. Circa 1730, built for a member of the Houlton family. Grade I Listed.
Kitchener's Arms, Hill Street, Trowbridge. Formerly called "King of Prussia" from the 7 years war, early 18th century, Grade II*.
'The Blind House', the name given to many lock-ups because they had no windows. Damaged in riots 1826 and in 1942 by bomb blast. Grade II. By the Town Bridge on Wicker Hill.
The Tabernacle, United Reformed Church, Church Street, Trowbridge. Grade II Listed, Founded 1771 rebuilt 1882, redundant.
HSBC, Fore Street, Trowbridge. Grade I Listed, Built between 1727 and 1741.
Fore Street, Trowbridge
Market Hall, Market Street, Trowbridge. Grade II, 1861.
Rodney House, 5 Roundstone Street. Grade II*, circa 1790.
Corner of Polebarn and Roundstone Roads, Trowbridge.
Lady Brown's Cottages, Polebarn Road, Trowbridge. Grade II, 1899, almshouses.
The Castle, Ashton Street, Trowbridge, mid 19th century, Grade II Listed.
The Halve, Trowbridge
Yerbury Almshouses, Yerbury Street. Endowed 1679, rebuilt 1914, Grade II.
The Halve, Trowbridge
14 The Halve, Trowbridge, red brick on a stone plinth, late 18th century, Grade II*.
Trowbridge Mills
Handle House at Studley Mills, Stallard Street, Trowbridge. Grade II*, circa 1843-1848. Used to dry teasels for raising the nap on woolen cloth.
Former cloth-making workshop in Back Street, early 19th century, Grade II Listed.
Town Bridge, 1777, Grade II and Innox Mills, circa 1875, also Grade II Listed.
Brick Mills, Court Street, Trowbridge. Grade II, circa 1814.
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St James’s Church and Church Walk
Nos 16 and 17 Church Street, Trowbridge, incorporating the former National Schools. Dated 1842, Grade II Listed.
Lloyd's Bank, Fore Street, Trowbridge. Built circa 1730 for John Cooper, a prominent clothier. Grade I Listed.
Corner Block of Former Usher's Brewery Between Nos 68 and 70, Fore Street, Trowbridge. 1915 Brewer's Baroque, Grade II.
Arlington House, Fore Street, Trowbridge. Early 18th century town house for the Singer family of clothiers. Grade II*.
The Tabernacle, United Reformed Church, Church Street, Trowbridge. Grade II Listed, Founded 1771 rebuilt 1882, redundant.
Fore Street, Trowbridge
Former Town Hall, Market Street, Trowbridge. Grade II, 1887.
Fore Street, Trowbridge
The Shires, Trowbridge
The Shires, Trowbridge
Silver Street to Market Street, Trowbridge.
4, Roundstone Street, Trowbridge. Circa 1790, Grade II.
Lovemead House, Roundstone Road, Trowbridge. Grade I Listed, circa 1730.
Polebarn House, 1789, built by the Rev.John Clark, clothier and minister. Grade II*.
Rosefield House, Polebarn Road, Trowbridge, late 18th century, Grade II*.
The Halve, Trowbridge
The Halve, Trowbridge
13 The Halve, Trowbridge, Grade II early 19th century.
County Hall, Trowbridge
Odeon Cinema, Trowbridge
Studley Mill, Principal Factory, Stallard Street. 1860, Grade II.
Court Mills, Polebarn Road, Trowbridge, mid 19th century, Grade II.
Stone Mill, Court Street, Trowbridge. Dates from
circa 1800. Upper wider and taller block (for steam engine) dates from 1819. Grade II.
Castle Factory, Court Street, Trowbridge. Grade II, 1828.
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