Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Trowbridge

TROWBRIDGE, an ancient town of Wilts, England, is situated on the river Mere or Biss, a feeder of the Avon, and on a branch of the Great Western Railway, 33 miles north-west of Salisbury and 971/2 west of London. The parish church of St James is an ancient stone structure in the Gothic style, with a west square tower, surmounted by a spire 159 feet in height, and a baptistery (1885). The site of the ancient castle was at the mound called Courthill, but all traces of it have long disappeared, it having been demolished before the reign of Henry VIII. Among the charitable institutions are the Edward and Yerbury almshouses (1698), the old men's almshouses, and the cottage hospital (1886). There are a market house and a town hall. Public gardens 4 acres in extent were opened in 1884. A water company (incorporated in 1873) supplies the town with water from the chalk hills in the neighbourhood of Biss. The principal industry is the manufacture of kerseymere and of broad and other woollen cloths, established as early as the reign of Henry VIII. The town is governed by a local board of health of twenty-one members. The population of the urban sanitary district (area 2080 acres) in 1871 was 11,508, and in 1881 it was 11,040.

The town was defended in behalf of Matilda against Stephen by Humphrey de Bohun. By Leland it is called Throughbridge or Thoroughbridge. Anciently it was a royal manor forming part of the duchy of Lancaster, having been granted by the crown to John of Gaunt. Afterwards it reverted to the crown and was given by Henry VIII. in the 28th year of his reign to Sir Edward Seymour. It again lapsed to the crown under Elizabeth, and in the 24th year of her reign was assigned to Edward, earl of Hertford. By marriage it passed to the Rutland family, who, however, eventually sold it. It formerly gave the title of baron to the Seymour family. The poet Crabbe was rector of the parish from 1814 to 1832.