BU§ of the Wool Trade. 



225 



of concerning Trowbridge itself during the thirteenth century. All 

 that we can learn from the few and scanty notices that we do meet 

 with, are, so to speak, mere glimpses of its history. Thus much 

 however we can infer from them, that by the close of this period a 

 town had been formed here; that there was some form of local 

 government, the bailiff of the manor acting, in the place of the lord, 

 as a sort of chief magistrate ; and further, that the bailiff of the 

 Hundred of Melksham exercised jurisdiction over Trowbridge. 

 Thus in the Hundred Rolls we find the following entries under date 

 of 3 Edward I. (1275) 



"William Selinian and the Bailiff of the Hundred of Melksham, levied of 

 Walter de Molendino [of the Mill] of Trobrigg half a mark, and the same was 

 paid to the Sheriff of Wilts." 



"The Jury say that Walter le Mareschal and others by writ of Henry de 

 Nuny of Trobrigg went into the liberty of Werrainster, and seized forty-five 

 beasts belonging to John Mauduit, and carried by them by night in violation of 

 the peace to Trobrigg, and detained them fifteen days." 



The latter extract shews us at least that some " brawls " did occur 

 at Trowbridge, small in extent as the town then was, in the thirteenth 

 century, and that it was necessary even then that its denizens should 

 be occasionally " bound over to keep the peace/' 



It was no doubt during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries 

 that the foundation was laid of the wool trade to which Trowbridge 

 has owed its prosperity. I cannot tell by whom the art of weaving 

 was introduced into this town. But judging from the works com- 

 pleted in this place and neighbourhood by those who drew their 

 wealth from this source, there must have been Merchants of the 

 Staple here from the middle of the fourteenth century. It was in 

 1331 that King Edward III. granted protection to John Kemp — 

 the name is still known in Trowbridge — who came from Flanders to 

 settle in England, and who is described as u Textor pannorum 

 laneorum,"" a weaver of woollen cloths, and promised like protection 

 to fullers and dyers who might come to England from those parts. 

 The document is printed in Rymer's Feedera, iv., 4961, and is a 

 most interesting one, as by it the real foundation was laid of the 

 woollen manufacture in England. 



Most certainly there were about the middle of the fifteenth century 



