208 
Early Annals of Trowbridge. 
By the Rev. W. H. Jonzs, M.A,, F.S.A., 
Canon and Prebendary of Salisbury. 
(E™=ZROW BRIDGE is, in respect of population, the largest town 
HZ) Y; in Wiltshire. Its history has never yet been fully written, 

and yet few towns have fairer claims to our notice, both on account 
of the old and interesting associations that are connected with it, as 
well as from the important position it has now assumed for some 
years as one of the principal seats of the woollen manufacture in the 
West of England. 
Some years ago’a brief sketch of its history, comprised in thirty 
pages, was attempted by Mr. James Bodman. His little book, 
written in 1814, has this value at all events, that as a connecting 
link between the present and the past it enables us to identify one 
or two points of interest, all traces of which have now disappeared. 
Otherwise it is a very superficial work, and of little worth. At best 
he is not over complimentary to his fellow-townsmen. He tells us 
that “though Trowbridge was renowned for trade, it could not in his 
time boast of first-rate professional gentlemen for such generally 
resided in more genteel towns or cities: ” and that of those who in 
his time inhabited Trowbridge, there were “ few rich but what had . 
come from poor, and few poor but what had sprung from rich an- 
cestors.” 
The following pages are offered as a contribution towards the 
history of Trowbridge, and may be regarded as two or three of 
the introductory chapters, dealing only with its annals in early days. 
Already two papers bearing more or less on the same subject—one 
on “ Terumber’s Chantry at Trowbridge,” and the other on “ Lord 
Clarendon and his Trowbridge ancestry ”—have appeared in this 
Magazine.! The complete history of this town however can never 
be given, unless a detailed account can be written on the rise and 
1 Wilts Arch. Mag., ix., 282, x., 240. 
