Frome

Frome (

The town has road and rail transport links and acts as an economic centre for the surrounding area. It provides a centre for cultural and sporting activities, including the annual Frome Festival and Frome Museum.

In 2014, Frome was named by The Times the "sixth coolest town" in Britain.^[2] It was shortlisted as one of three towns in the country for the 2016 Urbanism Awards in the 'Great Town Award' category.^[3] In its 2018 and 2021 report on the "Best places to live in the UK", The Sunday Times listed Frome as the best in the South West.^[4] In April 2019, Time Out listed Frome among 15 of the best weekend breaks from London.^[5]

History

Prehistoric

Finds from Whatley Quarry near Mells suggest the presence of late Pleistocene man.^[6]

Neolithic bowl barrows have been located in nearby Trudoxhill.^[7] At Murtry Hill, just 3 km to the north-west of Frome, a Neolithic long barrow 35m long by 19m wide was located with substantial upright stones (Orchardleigh Stones^[8]), a 'chest' burial and cremation urns.^[9] Within Frome itself, another long barrow was found, with skeletons, pottery and a standing stone; its structure seemed similar to the Long Kennet barrow.^[10] Others from the Bronze Age have been identified in Berkley to the north-east^[11] and near Nunney to the south-west.^[12]

Iron Age hill forts lie to the west (Kingsdown, Tedbury and Wadbury) and to the east (Cley Hill and Roddenberry).

Roman

There is some limited evidence of Roman settlement in the area. The remains of a villa were found in the village of Whatley, 3 miles (5 km) to the west of Frome.^[13] Another villa is suggested at Selwood.^[14] Southill House in Cranmore, 10 miles southwest, has evidence of a villa with a hypocaust.^[15] Two villas have been surveyed in the Hemington area, 3 miles (5 km) to the north-west of Frome, alongside other sites, ditches and boundaries.^[16] Iron Age forts in the area (recorded above) were re-occupied by the Roman military: Kingsdown and Tedbury.

A Roman road^[17] ran from the west of the Mendips passing south of Frome en route to Old Sarum (Salisbury) and Clausentum (Southampton) or to Moriconium (Hamworthy near Poole), probably for the export of lead and silver from mines in the Mendips.^[18] Part of a Romano-British sculpted head and part of a Roman road surface were found near Clink, Frome:^[19] possibly linked to a Roman road running south from Aquae Sulis (Bath), but this has been traced only as far as Oldford Farm, Selwood, just 2 miles (3 km) north of Frome.^[20] Just to the southeast is Friggle Street, suggestive of a Roman road.^[21]

In April 2010, the

A church built by St. Aldhelm in 685 is the earliest evidence of Saxon occupation of Frome. Aldhelm was a member of the Wessex royal family, cousin to King Cenwealh.^[27] The name was first recorded in 701 when Pope Sergius gave permission to Bishop Aldhelm to found a monastery "close to the river which is called From" (Latin: "juxta fluvium qui vocatur From").^[29] The Saxon kings appear to have used Frome as a base from which to hunt in

In 1369 there is a record of 'three tuns of woad' being purchased by Thomas Bakere of Frome,^[38] probably from France.  Such a large quantity of the blue dye suggests a well-established trade for local dyers and clothiers.  A 1392 survey of the town mentions tentergrounds: fields of racks for drying the cloth and five fulling mills.^[39] Where originally wool was exported to Flanders and Italy, more was increasingly retained at home for the production of cloth.  Woolens such as broadcloth and the lighter kersey became primary products for the area.  Surnames such as Webbe (weaver) or Tayllor appear in the early 14th century and there are explicit references to cloth makers in 1475.^[31] By 1470 Somerset was the largest producer after Suffolk, making most of the undyed white broadcloths.^[40] The industry had become the town's principal base of employment.

On 12 April 1477, a widow, Ankarette Twynyho was taken from the manor house known locally as the Old Nunnery in Lower Keyford, accused by

On King Charles II's death in February 1685, the Duke of Monmouth, his illegitimate son led the Monmouth Rebellion, landing with three ships at Lyme Regis in Dorset in early June 1685 in an attempt to take the throne from his Catholic uncle, James II. On 25 June 1685, Robert Smith, the constable of Frome declared Monmouth was King in Frome's marketplace, "as confidently as if he had the crown on his head". Frome was the first locality in England to declare for him. On 28 June, the forces of Monmouth camped in Frome, following their defeat in a skirmish with the King's forces at Norton St Philip, arriving at 4 o'clock in the morning "very wett and weary".^[43] Monmouth is reputed to have stayed in a gabled house in Cork Street, now named the Monmouth Chambers.^[44] Whatever discipline he had over his troops vanished as he dallied in Frome, unsure what to do. He left on 30 June for Shepton Mallett.^[45] At the Battle of Sedgemoor on 6 July, he was defeated. Captured on 8 July, he was taken to the Tower of London and executed on 15 July on Tower Hill by Jack Ketch.

At the subsequent 'Bloody Assizes' more than 500 rebels were brought in front of the court; out of these, 144 were hanged, drawn and quartered, their remains displayed across the country so that people understood the fate of those who rebelled against the king. The other rebels were subjected to transportation to America. In all, 50 Frome men were convicted. 12 men, none of them from Frome, were hanged in the town at Gibbet Hill, Gorehedge.^[46]

Rise and fall of the cloth trade

The manufacture of woollen cloth was established as the town's principal industry in the 15th century.^[47] In 1542 during one of his itineraries to observe historic English and Welsh landscapes, Leland described Frome as a town that "hathe a metley good market" and "dyvers fayre stone howsys in the towne that stand y the moste by clothinge". He went on to mention what seems to be Spring Gardens where the Mells River meets the River Frome: clothiers' buildings and fulling mills: "I cam to a botome, where an other broke ran in to Frome.  And in this botome dwell certayne good clothiuars havynge fayre howsys and tukkynge myles."^[48] Frome remained the only Somerset town in which this staple industry flourished.^[27]

By the end of 1500s the population was around 3,000.  The trade declined but then revived again as various clothiers changed their products and expanded their business.  The population doubled in size by the mid-1600s, though wages remained low for both weavers and spinners.  From 1665 to 1725 further major expansion occurred, including the building of a new artisans' suburb, now known as the Trinity area, one of the earliest purpose built industrial housing in the country.^[49][50]  The River provided power for a range of mills along its length, dyewood grinding, fulling, dyeing: 10 or more within 2 km of the town.^[51] 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.

In the mid-1720s

There were several public disturbances throughout this period. In 1754 a mob of Mendip colliers together with destitute people from Frome protested against the rising cost of flour. A mill and its contents were burned down, others severely damaged. Rioters extorted money from mill owners. Four men were killed when an assault was made on another mill barricaded by the owner and three soldiers.[56] In 1766 a miller in Beckington defended himself against a mob of 2000, firing upon them, wounding some; all of his wheat and flour were seized and fires lit.^[57] In 1767, 500 local shearmen assembled and broke up a newly installed spinning jenny in a mill close to Frome. Among many actions across Somerset and Wiltshire, spinning jennies were smashed in a mill by a mob in 1781.^[58] In 1796 a body of Mendip colliers entered the town armed with bludgeons to force local millers to reduce their bread prices. The Constable called for dragoons stationed in the town and they themselves were assaulted. Sabres were drawn and the mob dispersed, bloodied but without fatalities. Afterwards the constable was threatened with arson and murder.^[57] At a time of rising unemployment, the price of potatoes provoked a riot in Frome in 1816. Magistrates read the Riot Act and suppressed the trouble with local militia and dragoons, preventing an attack on a Sheppard factory.^[59]

By 1800 the population had increased beyond 12,000. There was a brief boost to the trade from the Napoleonic Wars, Frome supplying blue uniform cloth: 160 miles a year in 1801. As mechanisation increased, fewer skills were required; wages fell along with living conditions. Dyeing ceased. Steam engines replaced water mills. By 1826 the parish established a blanket factory to employ the poor. A lack of investment locally meant the nation chose to buy the cheaper and lighter cloth produced elsewhere. Many mills closed as the trade steadily declined. Tucker's at Wallbridge, the last fabric mill of 'The Finest West of England Cloth', closed in 1965.^[60]

To the present day

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 Thomas Bunn, a man of independent means inherited from his father,^[61] 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).^[62]

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

Utility services came quite early in Frome with Cockey setting up a gas facility in Welshpool in 1831. Water was available from springs; the principal source was from a fountain at the foot of Church Steps, fed by stream that flowed under the graveyard. It was not until 1880, after a local company failed to deliver, that local government stepped in and opened a Water Works with a piped supply system. A sewage farm was not installed until 1885. It was 1903 before mains electricity was introduced into the town.[27]

In World War I a large number of men from Frome and the surrounding villages enlisted. The Somerset Infantry was the primary recruiter; other county regiments from around Somerset took in many others. Some born in Frome joined up in the country they had emigrated to: Australia and Canada. The Royal Navy, the Royal Flying Corps, the British Red Cross and the Royal Army Medical Corps all took in volunteers and conscripts, as did multiple different regiments from across the UK. Over 450 lives, ranging from a brigadier-general to scores of privates and able seamen, were lost in the conflict, now recorded on memorials throughout the area and elsewhere.^[70] A record of more than 140 local survivors of WWI has been published.^[71] These survivors included Charlie Robbins^[72] who was the model for the bronze statue forged by the Singer company which now stands as the memorial for the fallen of Frome.^[73]

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,

Prior to 1974, Frome was administered by Frome Urban District.[76] Frome had eleven councillors on Mendip District Council, two from each of the town council wards except for Oakfield, which elected one. After the 2019 elections, five were Liberal Democrats, four for The Green Party, one for the Conservatives and one elected as an Independent.^[77]

The civil parish of Frome has adopted the style of a town, and there is a

In early 2015, the UK's first high street library of things was set up in the town.^[78] In one year (May 2018 to April 2019), use of the shop helped avoid 92 tonnes CO2e of greenhouse gas emissions, saved 117,000 kg of material usage and avoided 10 tonnes of manufacturing waste. In the same period its members collectively saved £66,800 by borrowing instead of buying items.^[79]

The Town Council installed the first community fridge in the country in May 2016;^[80] 90,000 items a year have been saved from landfill.^[81] This was joined by a community larder in October 2017.^[82]

On 13 December 2017 the Town Council unanimously agreed to become a 'single-use plastic'-free council.^[83]

Frome has an online market, the Food Hub^[84] launched in November 2018, where sustainable supplies from local farmers and food producers can be sourced, either for collection or by delivery (central Frome only).^[85]

There are a number of public green spaces within the town, both formal and informal; some are substantial such as the Victoria Park^[86] or the Rodden Meadow;^[87] others may be smaller but are valued within their neighbourhoods, such as Weylands^[88] or the Dippy.^[89] Many of the public spaces have organised litter picks, arranged by local community groups.^[90]

Parliament

The town was not represented in Parliament until given one member in the House of Commons by the Reform Act of 1832. The constituency elected a female MP in 1934: Mavis Tate. Separate representation was abolished for the 1950 general election, with Frome itself being transferred to the Wells division, whilst most of the remainder of the constituency formed the bulk of the new Somerset North constituency. Further changes took place for the 1983 general election when the current Somerton and Frome constituency was created.

The seat has been held by the

Frome was given the right to elect its own member of Parliament, one of 67 new constituencies, by the Reform Act 1832. This Act removed rotten boroughs like Old Sarum (with three houses and seven voters to elect two MPs) and included for the first time new electors such as small landowners, tenant farmers and shopkeepers; voters were defined as male persons, so women were formally excluded.^[91]

The election was disputed by two well-known local men: Sir Thomas Champneys and Thomas Sheppard, a Tory and a Radical or Whig respectively. There was no serious trouble until the election itself. The two were personal enemies, with a long history of property dealings between their families over 180 years.^[92] Champneys, the second baronet, may have been popular but he was disreputable, his Orchardleigh Estate in decline and in debt. In 1820 Sheppard had been a key witness when Sir Thomas was accused of sodomy; the case was not proven.

Voting at that time was in person in public, the hustings taking place in Cork Street just off the Market Place.  The Frome county constituency area included Weston, Radstock, Bathampton, Batheaston as well as freeholders in Bath; there were only 322 registered voters. On the first day, 10 December, Champneys arrived with hundreds of men and boys, many armed with lead-loaded bludgeons and cudgels. They attacked Sheppard's supporters. Thomas Bunn, a local man of property, recollected what he saw:

When I went to vote for a member for the county the mob arranged themselves on each side of a long street, to pelt all who did not approve their favourite candidates. I … disdained to put a printed paper in front of my hat, to shew them for whom I should vote. … I was pelted going and returning from the hustings and the missiles struck me on the back part of my head.^[93]

Sheppard arrived, backed by 500 men, all said to be unarmed.

I was to nominate one of the candidates. I entered the town with him in a barouche and four, with a long procession of well dressed men, flags, and a band of musicians.  I was surprised at the Market Place to see a rank of horsemen in hostile array. … The flag was torn to pieces… The candidate and his friends … had literally their coats torn to atoms. … All this was instigated by the opposing candidate, a well known character with whom no gentlemen would associate.^[93]

A Sheppard supporter, Thomas Ford was badly injured and died later. Special constables were sworn in by the magistrates in the George Inn. The mob besieged the building and smashed the windows. Sheppard retreated to his home, Fromefield House, guarded by 300 men. Dragoons were brought from Trowbridge to neighbouring Beckington.^[94]

Early on the second day, Sheppard had gained 163 votes, more than half of those entitled to vote. Shouting 'Champneys for ever', the opponents attacked the Crown Inn trying to get at Sheppard in the George Inn next door. A draper's house was completely destroyed.  Several constables were stoned and injured.  The Riot Act was read. Constables with carbines opened fire. At 3 in the afternoon the Dragoons arrived and the battle was halted. Having won 100 votes to Sheppard's 163, Champneys resigned and returned to Orchardleigh. Thomas Sheppard won the next three elections and remained Frome's MP until 1847.^[95]

One notable successor of Sheppard was elected in 1868: Thomas Hughes, author of Tom Brown's School Days, as a Liberal under Gladstone.

Healthcare

The town has a

The Frome Model is a programme to combat loneliness amongst residents, pioneered by a local GP, Helen Kingston, in 2013. It proved very successful and reduced emergency hospital admissions by 17% over three years when in the rest of the county they rose by 29%, even though demographics were similar. "There are no other interventions which have ever reduced population emergency admissions like this", said one doctor. The programme's success has been credited in part with attracting an influx of middle-class newcomers to the town. Frome is "at the vanguard" of a growing movement to better incorporate nonclinical solutions into medical care, according to one doctor.[97]^[98] Since 2016 there has been an effort to role out the scheme across the entire Mendip area.^[99]

Geography

The town rests on

The main areas of the town are (approximately clockwise from the north-west): Innox Hill, Welshmill, Packsaddle, Fromefield, Stonebridge, Clink, Berkley Down, Easthill, Wallbridge, The Mount, Keyford and Lower Keyford, Marston Gate, The Butts, Critchill, Trinity, and Gould's Ground.[101]

When Frome was founded in the 7th century AD, it lay in the centre of the Selwood Forest, Saxon Sealhwudu or 'Sallow Wood', also known as Coit Mawr, Great Wood, by the Welsh.^[102] It stretched from Gillingham in Dorset to Chippenham in Wiltshire, from Bruton to Warminster. It served as a boundary between Anglo-Saxon Wessex and the British kingdom of Dumnonia in the west. In 1086 it became a royal forest.^[103] Gradually deforestation took place. Frome was often called Frome Selwood. Today the nearby countryside is still richly wooded, for example on the Longleat, Maiden Bradley and Stourhead estates. Around the town the land is predominantly agricultural, with arable cropping, dairy farming and orchards. To the west of the town, on the edge of the Mendip Hills, there are large active limestone quarries, such as Whatley Quarry and Torr Works, formerly known as Merehead, along with disused quarries. Whatley Quarry is served by a dedicated railway line which branches off the main line at Frome, passes through the town centre and out through the Welshmill and Spring Gardens areas in the north-west quadrant of the town.

Along with the rest of

The population of Frome was 12,240 in the 1831 census, however it then declined to 11,057 in 1901 and remained between 11,000 and 12,000 until the 1970s. Since then, it has increased, nearly doubling to over 23,000 in 1991.^[53] In the 2011 census, the population was 26,203, comprising 11,863 (48.4%) males and 12,647 (51.6%) females. 7,674 (31.3%) residents were aged 16 or below, 13,150 (63.3%) between 16 and 65, and 3,686 (15.0%) aged 65 or over.^[105]

In the

The metal-working and printing industries which replaced wool as Frome's main industry have declined but not left the town. Singers still has a presence in the town, as does Butler and Tanner, although the latter (now named Butler Tanner and Dennis following a take-over) hit major financial difficulties in 2008, and made two-thirds of its workforce redundant.^[109][110]

Almost half of the economically active population of Frome commute to work outside the town (in Bath,

Markets are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays in the town centre: some in the Market Yard car park, and others in the former agricultural warehouse, the Cheese and Grain. From March to December, on the first Sunday of each month, a street market known as 'The Independent' is held. Attended by an average of 10,000 people, the main street is closed to traffic; it is filled with stalls that extend up Stony Street and St Catherine's Hill and to the main car park. Antiques, artisan wares, food and drink, designer & vintage clothing, plants fill the 150+ stalls.^[114] The Saturday cattle market was moved from the centre of the town to nearby Standerwick in the 1980s. In 2003, Frome was granted Fairtrade Town status.^[115]

A Vision for Frome 2008–2028 has been developed following a consultation with local people in the spring of 2008 which received over 3,000 responses.^[112] Mendip District Council and Mendip Strategic Partnership have consulted on a Community Strategy and Local Development Framework for the period to 2026 which includes building 2,500–2,600 new homes, providing more employment and office space, developing a new secondary school and two new primary schools, remodelling the town centre and encouraging a wider range of retailers and leisure providers into the town.^[111]

There have been a number of significant housing developments within Frome, many on former industrial sites, and these are continuing with plans for the redevelopment of a site at Saxonvale and Garsdale to include several hundred dwellings, shops and a 'cultural quarter' containing workshops for artists.^{[112][116][117][118]} In August 2018 Mendip District Council purchased two areas of Saxonvale, neglected for over twenty years. Combining this with land belonging to Frome Town Council, a new regeneration plan has been drawn up, now under public consultation.^[119]

Culture

Frome has a vibrant arts scene.^[120] The high-point is the annual ten-day Frome Festival in July, which in recent years has included more than 160 events held at various venues in and around the town.^[121] The town is host to a number of artists, many of whom open their studios to the public during the Festival.^[122] The event includes a Children's Festival.^[123]

There are a variety of cultural & community events that have become regular features of the town's life throughout the year: the Window Wonderland^[124] (early March), Frome Busks^[125] (late March), Apple Day^[126] (21 October), Fireworks^[127] (November) and Light the Night:^[128] lanterns and the Christmas Lights switch-on (late November). The Carnival^[129] (September) is part of the Wessex Grand Prix circuit of the West Country Carnival. A national Town Crier festival is held each year in June; for the third year running, it is the largest such festival in Britain, hosting 25 town criers.^[130]

There are two theatres in Frome: The Memorial Theatre was built in 1924 in memory of the fallen of the World War I,^[131] while the 240-seat Merlin Theatre is part of the Frome Community College campus.^[132] Frome is home to Somerset's first and only pub theatre: Nevertheless, Productions, which promotes new drama in small venues around the town.

Frome's only cinema, the Westway,[135] is in Cork Street in the town centre, which closed in March 2016 and re-opened February 2017, after changing hands and undergoing extensive refurbishment.^[136] A fire at the cinema in October 2016 was thought to have been started deliberately.^[137][138] There is an arts centre, The Black Swan,^[139] within which the information point for Discover Frome^[140] is based.

The Frome & District Agricultural Society holds an annual Agricultural & Cheese Show in September.^[141] This was formerly held on the Showground at Fromefield, but in recent years has moved to West Woodland, 2 miles (3.2 km) to the south of the town. Early markets were known as cheese fairs; the Agricultural Society was formed in 1861 and held its first fair. In 1875 the creation of the Market Hall (now the Cheese and Grain) and of a railway siding into the Cattle Market (now the main car park) established Frome as a cheese town – one sale alone recorded 28½ tons of Cheddar.^[142]

The Frome Society for Local Study^[143] was founded in 1958 to make the history of Frome and the district better known, and to preserve its historic buildings and records; there is an annual programme of winter lectures and summer visits to places of interest as well as a wide range of research, donations, and publications. It has funded plaques across the town, to mark significant buildings and prominent persons.^[144] The Frome Museum has a particular important collection of artefacts from Singer's bronze foundry and houses a rolling display of local history including a Cockey lamp and shop contents. The library and archive is open to researchers by appointment throughout the year.^[145]

Frome is served by two newspapers, the

Frome is home to the Frome Writers Collective – a not for profit organization. Its patron is Barry Cunningham OBE.^[153]

Frome's Cheap Street is a location in episode six of the first series of

Aside from a thriving café culture, there is a wide range of restaurants in Frome. A selection includes the Archangel,[160] formerly the Angel, the oldest inn in the town, which has an eclectic menu, as do the Fat Radish^[161] or the Stony Street House;^[162] others include menus that are French (Bistro Lotte^[163]), Thai (Thai Kitchen^[164]), vegetarian (Garden Café^[165]), vegan (The Good Heart^[166]), vegan friendly (Nook^[167]), Mediterranean (The High Pavement^[168]), Italian (Castello^[169]), even a tiny Southern Indian take-away (Lungi Babas^[170]).

Landmarks

The older parts of Frome – for example, around Sheppard's Barton and Catherine Hill – are picturesque, containing an outstanding collection of small late17th and 18th century houses.^[171] The Trinity area, which was built in the latter half of the 17th century and first half of the 18th, is a fine (and rare) example of early industrial housing. More than 300 houses were built between 1660 and 1756 in an 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.^[62] In this area is the elaborate former Selwood Printing Works. Stony Street, which leads into Catherine Hill, is a steep, cobbled road climbing out of the town centre. (Prior to the 1990s, Catherine Hill had a fully tarmac surface and double yellow lines.^{[citation needed]} Faux cobbles were installed in a bid to rebrand Frome a "heritage" tourist attraction.)^{[citation needed]} 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.^[62]

The bridge in the centre of the town over the River Frome was rebuilt and widened in 1821,^[172][173] at which time a terrace of houses was built along one side of it.^[174] It is one of only three bridges in England that carry buildings; the others are Pulteney Bridge in Bath and the High Bridge in Lincoln. 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 being in Willow Vale^[175]). It was restored in 1994.^[176][62] In the 1990s and early 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.^[177]

Frome has 370 listed buildings, the greatest number within Somerset, outside of Bath.

Frome is reputed to have one or more systems of tunnels beneath the streets of the older parts of the town. Some entrances are visible above ground; for example in the wall at the top of Stony Street, with other entrances in the cellars of shops and houses. Their purpose and full extent remain unknown but they have been investigated in recent years by at least one local group and a documentary has been made.[185]

Merchants Barton, in the Saxonvale area east of St John's church, dates to circa 1785, the approximate date of the Silk Mill or Thompson's Mill.^{[citation needed]} It is a passageway used by workers and employees of the textile crepe and silk industry that set up factories and mills in Saxonvale during the early eighteenth century.^[186] When these closed in 1925, an engineering company from Cardiff called Notts Industries^[187] settled in the lower part of Saxonvale and Bussmann Cooper, an American fuse manufacturer, took ownership of the upper part. During the mid-20th century, up to 300 mostly female workers in the engineering and fuse factories who walked to and from work along the Merchants Barton were referred to locally as the 'Bussmann Girls'.^{[citation needed]}

One of Frome's most ancient and unregarded structures, the Old Town Wall, runs along from Bath Street through into upper Saxonvale below Lidl,^[188] whilst the Old Slaughterhouse facade with its blocked-in coach arches and mixture of dressed and rubble stone sections is architecturally of significance in assessing the surviving fabric of previous barton buildings.^{[citation needed]}

Religious sites

The parish church of St John the Baptist, was built between the late 12th century and early 15th century replacing a 685 AD Saxon building. Major restoration work was carried out in the 1860s, including the construction of the Via Crucis, which is thought to be unique in an Anglican church.^[62][189] Outside the east end of the church is the tomb of Bishop Thomas Ken.^[190] The tower has eight bells, which bear inscriptions indicating that they were cast at various points between 1622 and 1792.^[191] A daughter church of St John's, Christ Church, was built in 1818 by George Allen Underwood,^[192] although considerable changes were made throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.^[62] St Mary's Church at Innox Hill was built in 1862–1864 to the designs of C.E. Giles as a chapel of ease to St John's; it is small with a decorated sanctuary ceiling.^[62][193] The Anglican Church of the Holy Trinity was built in 1837–38 by Henry Goodridge in the style of Commissioners' Gothic.^[194] It is unusual in that the altar is at the west end due to the position in which the church was built. The stained glass windows are near-contemporary copies of windows designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones.

In 1853,

Frome is served by the

Frome is served by a number of bus routes, the busiest being the D2 First West of England service to Bath, followed by the X67 and X34 services run by Faresaver of Chippenham. Other companies running bus services in Frome include FromeBus and Libra Travel.

The

The Town Council employs a resilience officer, one of only two at town council or parish level in the country;[201] a principal task is to support the strategic priorities for transport.^[202] Initiatives include a public-access car club, operated by the social enterprise Co-wheels.^[203] Electric charging points are available at the Cheese and Grain, the Town Hall, the Football Club and Frome Medical Practice.^[204]

Education

Frome has thirteen

There are two middle schools for pupils between 9 and 13 years of age: Oakfield Academy and Selwood Anglican/Methodist Middle School. The town's main college,

There are no further or higher education establishments in Frome, the closest third-level institution being the University of Bath. Somerset Skills & Learning, which provides apprenticeships and training for young people and adults, has a site in the town.^[208]

Media

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC West and ITV West Country. Television signals are received from the Mendip TV transmitter. ^[209]

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Somerset on 95.5 FM, Heart West on 102.6 FM, Greatest Hits Radio West Somerset on 107.5 FM, and FromeFM, a community based radio station which broadcast to the town on 96.6 FM. ^[210]

The town is served by the local newspaper, Frome Times. ^[211]

Sport and leisure

The Leisure Centre offers a wide range of activities including swimming, indoor bowls, squash and a gym,

Victoria Park offers sports such as Bowls, Tennis, Putting, Skateboard ramps and a Children's Playground. The Millennium Green has several marked walks and a picnic area close to a semi wild open space for local wildlife.[216] The town is at one end of the Mendip Way which is a 80 kilometres (50 mi) long-distance footpath across the Mendip Hills from Weston-super-Mare.^[217]

Badgers Hill is the home of Frome Town F.C., which in 2009 was promoted from the Western Football League into the Southern Football League. The team were promoted again in 2011 into the Southern Football League Premier Division.^[218] The Frome Town ladies' team also play at Badgers Hill. Frome Town F.C. has Youth/Mini section, launched in the 2010–11 season, which achieved FA Community Club Status in 2012. The Youth section covers players of all abilities from under 6's to under 18's.^[219] Starting in September 2019, the Frome Town 'Education and Football Academy' (part of a Southern League Football Academy) will offer the BTEC in Sport Level 3 qualification.^[220]

Frome Cricket Club plays cricket at the Agricultural Showgrounds on the Bath side of town. The club was formed in 1925 and plays in the West of England Premier League: Somerset Division.^[221] Somerset County Cricket Club used to use the ground and Harold Gimblett made his debut at the venue in May 1935.^[222] The club's most famed players are Colin Herbert Dredge, who played county cricket 209 times for Somerset from 1976 to 1988 and was known as the "Demon of Frome", Mark Harmon, who played for both Somerset and Kent and still plays for Frome Cricket Club and Alex Barrow, who played for Somerset, represented England at under 19 level and is now a player/coach for Exeter Cricket Club.

Founded in 1883, Frome Rugby Football Club has been at the very heart of Rugby Union in Somerset playing at Gypsy Lane.^[223] It has four senior teams and a thriving mini and junior section which ranges from Under 6's to Under 16's along with an Academy XV. The First XV, Second XV and Third XV all play in the English Rugby Union South West Division Championship; the First XV play in Wadworth 6X Southern Counties South league, the Second XV in Wadworth 6X Dorset & Wilts 2 North and the Third XV in The Bath Merit Table. The Fourth XV Veterans, known as the Cavalry, and the Fourth XV Academy play friendly, social fixtures against other local sides.^[224]

Two cycling clubs operate in the town: the Frome CTC,^[225] nicknamed the Coffee and Tea-Cake Club, and the Frome & District Wheelers.^[226] E-bikes are available for hire, courtesy of a Town Council initiative.^[227]

The

The Guinness World Record for the most people to row 500m each, in a 24-hour relay on one indoor rowing machine, was held in Frome when 678 rowers broke the record in June 2018.^[229] A new record was achieved in June 2019 for the highest number of players in a continuous eight-hour game of skittles, 593 individuals taking place, beating the previous record of 468.^[230] Both of these events raised money for a local charity, We Hear You.^[231] Unfortunately this latest record will not be verified by Guinness as there was no video recording of the event.^[232]

The Frome Half Marathon has taken place every year since 2001, in mid-July. It includes 10k, 5k and Family Fun Runs.^[233]

Frome is an accredited Walkers are Welcome town since 2018. An extensive list of walks and guides is available.^[234] Guided walks on a range of topics are now online.^[235] The East Mendip Way passes through Frome and gives access to an 80-kilometre (50 mi) long-distance footpath across the Mendip Hills.

Notable people

• Benjamin Baker, builder of the Forth Bridge, was born in Frome in 1840^[236] and is commemorated by a Frome Society for Local Study plaque.^[144]
• Charles Ball, founder of Ball & Welch department store chain in Australia.^[237]
• The Formula One racing driver and 2009 world champion Jenson Button was born in Frome in 1980. He went to Selwood Middle School, now Selwood Academy,^[238] in Frome. A street, Jenson Avenue, has been named after him,^[239] as has a new bridge over the River Frome 'The Jenson Button Bridge'.^[240] In May 2010, Button was awarded freedom of the town.^[241]
• Cara Dillon, Irish folk singer, and her husband, musician and record producer Sam Lakeman (brother of Seth Lakeman), have lived in Frome since 2002.^[242]
• The cricketer Colin Dredge was born in Frome in 1954.^[243]
• Edward Cockey (1781–1860) established an iron foundry and brought gas to Frome. He was born, worked and died in Frome.
• Eadred (or Edred) (923–955), King of England between 944 and 955, died in Frome on 23 November of that year.^[244]
• saxophonist, composer and arranger, lived in Frome.^[245]
• Eva Elwes (1876–1950), actress and playwright, born in Frome.
• Anna Friel, actress.^[246]
• Wilfred Dolby Fuller (1893–1947), English recipient of the Victoria Cross, worked as a local policeman and died in Frome.
• The philosopher Joseph Glanvill was Vicar of Frome from 1662 to 1666.^[247]
• Danny Goffey, drummer with the band Supergrass, lives in Frome.^[248][249]
• Clara Grant (1867–1949), educational pioneer and social reformer, lived in Frome in her youth.^[250]
• Oscar for Great Expectations in the last category, was born at 4 Portway in Frome in 1913.^[251]
• Alice Seeley Harris, pioneering documentary photographer, missionary and human rights activist, born in Frome in 1870. Commemorated by Frome Society for Local Study plaque.
• John Harris, journalist, writer and critic, lives in Frome.^[252]
• Charlie Higson of The Fast Show was born in Frome in 1958.^[253]
• Gary Joyce (born 1964), cricketer^[254]
• Simon King, naturalist and broadcaster, has a business in the town.^[255]
• David Lassman, author, journalist and scriptwriter has lived in Frome since 2011.^[256]
• Actor James Laurenson lives in the town.^[257]
• Pearl Lowe, English fashion and textiles designer, lives in Frome.^[248][249]
• Lois Maxwell, who played Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond film series from 1962 to 1985, lived in Frome from 1994 to 2001.^[258] Commemorated by Frome Society for Local Study plaque.
• Huey Morgan, American lead singer/guitarist from Fun Lovin' Criminals and radio presenter on BBC Radio 6 Music & BBC Radio 2 lived in Frome until 2018.^[259]
• Sir Charles Oatley, developer of one of the first commercial scanning electron microscopes, was born at 5 Badcox in Frome in 1904.^[260] Commemorated by Frome Society for Local Study plaque.
• Parfitt Brothers, architects in Brooklyn, New York
• Anthony Powell, author, died in Frome in 2000.
• William Henry "Billy" Reed, violinist, composer and biographer of Edward Elgar, was born in Christ Church Street in Frome in 1875.^[261]
• Kate Rew, author and wild swimmer.^[262]
• Christina Rossetti (poet, and sister of Dante Gabriel Rossetti), helped her mother run a day school in Frome in 1853–4.^[263] Commemorated by Frome Society for Local Study plaque.
• Elizabeth Singer Rowe (poet and devotional writer, first published by John Dunton). Commemorated by Frome Society for Local Study plaque.
• Henry Thomas Ryall, royal engraver to Queen Victoria, was born in Frome in 1811.^[264]
• John Webb Singer (1819–1904) was a bronze art founder and manufacturer of ecclesiastical metalwork. He was born, worked and died in Frome.
• Emma Sheppard (1813–1871) was a writer and workhouse reformer who lived and was buried in Frome.
• Thomas Sheppard (1766–1858) was the first MP for Frome after the Reform Act of 1832.
• Mavis Tate, campaigner for women's rights, was Frome's only female MP from 1937 to 1945.
• Siobhan Thompson, sketch comedian and comedy writer, grew up in Frome.^{[citation needed]}
• Betty Trask (1893–1983) writer of romance novels, lived and died in Frome
• Kathleen Vellacott-Jones (1907–1972), journalist
• Whose Line Is It Anyway? was born in Frome in 1959.^[265]
• Sir Charles Wilkins, the first translator of Bhagavad Gita into English, was born in Frome around 1749.^[266]
• Kerry Wilkinson, one of Amazon's top-10 best-selling authors worldwide for 2011,^[267] went to Oakfield Middle School and Frome Community College.^[268]

Twin towns

Frome has three twin towns: Château-Gontier in France,^[269] Murrhardt in Germany^[269] and Rabka-Zdrój in Poland.

Freedom of the Town

The following people have received the Freedom of the Town of Frome.

• Jenson Button: 4 May 2010.^[270]

References

• Gathercole, Clare (2003). "An archaeological assessment of Frome" (PDF). Somerset Urban Archaeological Surveys (English Heritage Extensive Urban Survey ). Somerset County Council. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 February 2019 – via Internet Archive.

Further reading

• Michael McGarvie, Frome Through the Ages: An Anthology in Prose and Verse, Frome Society for Local Study, Frome 2000,
  ISBN 0-948014-28-8
• John Payne (ed.), Working Memories; Frome workers tell their stories, Home in Frome with Millstream Books, Frome 2012,
  ISBN 978-0-948975-99-8
• Mick Davis and Valerie Pitt, The Historic Inns of Frome, Akleman Press, Bath 2015,
  ISBN 978-0-9560989-9-3
• Michael McGarvie, Frome Street and Place-Names: Their Origin and Meaning, Frome Society for Local Study, Frome 2017,
  ISBN 978-0-9930605-4-0
• Carolyn Griffiths, Woad to this & The Cloth Trade of Frome, Frome Society for Local Stud
• y, Frome 2017,
  ISBN 978-0-9930605-5-7
• Mick Davis and David Lassman, The Awful Killing of Sarah Watts, Pen & Sword True Crime, Barnsley 2018,
  ISBN 978-1526707307
  – an account of Frome's most infamous murder
• Mick Davis and David Lassman, Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths in & around Frome, Pen & Sword True Crime, Barnsley 2018,
  ISBN 978-1-52670-604-1
• Crysse Morrison, Frome Unzipped from Prehistory to Post-Punk, Hobnob Books, Gloucester 2018,
  ISBN 978-1-906978-55-6

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Frome, Somerset.

• Frome Town Council
• Discover Frome: visitor information, history & heritage
• Frome family and social history – David Smart, no longer updated
• Frome at
  Curlie
• Frome Festival
• Frome Children's Festival
• The Frome Independent Market