Frome

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Small market town on the outskirts of Somerset in the west-country that now includes the district of Selwood
Frome, pronounced"FROOM",has some real history. It is one of a number of Somerset places retaining its original Celtic place name. In the early 19th cent. it was a hotbed of political radicalism and the Riot Act was read from the balcony of the George Hotel. The vicar was shot in the pulpit during Sunday service for a pro-Tory sermon. Frome entered a long sleep in Victorian times and has never fully woken up. Up to the 70's it was still a proper market town with some decent shops. There were crowds of busy shoppers on a Wednesday and some industry. Much of it closed down in the 80's and 90's but there are still a lot of small businesses and the world-renowned Butler and Tanner printers. Gone forever is Singer's Art Metal Works which made the statue of Boadicea on Westminster Bridge and the "Justice" figure on the Old Bailey.

There are some wonderful historical houses and people find the town centre quaint and interesting
In the past, residents were generally known as "Froomites".
www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/place_page.jsp?p_id=14...
The Formula One racing driver and 2009 world champion Jenson Button was born in Frome in 1980. He went to Selwood Middle School in Frome, just one of the many notable people born or have lived in Frome
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   51°13'52"N   2°18'56"W

Comments

  • Frome was featured The Guardian's Weekend magazine during 2006 as a great place to move to, with nice period properties and most of the town under conservation. Yes, there are chavvy-scummers and little-shits-on-scooters everywhere. So does most parts of the country and certainly in the nearby much over-rated city of Bath. We used to live in Bath for several years and find life in Frome and its surrounding villages idyllic. I haven't noticed as any homeless drunkards/smack-heads around here yet, unlike every trip into Bath. And Frome doesnt' have hundreds of thousands of lost tourists taking up every inch of the place, nor 2 universities worth of students packed into your local and yacking on about their gap-year/coursework deadlines/pub crawls/'poverty'. The thing that spoils Frome is its proximity to the towns of Trowbridge (or Trog-bridge), Westbury and Warminster... Wiltshire altogether. It probably is quite dull for whining teenagers though. But they seem cheery on their scooters.
  • I live in frome and it rules and im 17 Frome Flyer i am no whinning teenager and there is plenty to do in frome we have as many pubs as most towns twice our size, we have a mcdonalds and much more.
  • Frome, pronounced"FROOM",has some real history. It is one of a number of Somerset places retaining its original Celtic place name. In the early 19th cent. it was a hotbed of political radicalism and the Riot Act was read from the balcony of the George Hotel. The vicar was shot in the pulpit during Sunday service for a pro-Tory sermon. Frome entered a long sleep in Victorian times and has never fully woken up. Up to the 70's it was still a proper market town with some decent shops. There were crowds of busy shoppers on a Wednesday and some industry. Much of it closed down in the 80's and 90's but there are still a lot of small businesses and the world-renowned Butler and Tanner printers. Gone forever is Singer's Art Metal Works which made the statue of Boadicea on Westminster Bridge and the "Justice" figure on the Old Bailey. There are some wonderful historical houses and people find the town centre quaint and interesting but it is a shadow of its former self, surrounded by miles of housing estates - a town unsure of what it wants for the future. In the past, residents were generally known as "Froomites".
  • I like that, Froomite.. Very good analysis.
  • http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Tourism-g504128-Frome_Somerset_England-Vacations.html
This article was last modified 12 years ago