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Lost Frome

From AD 950 to 1650, Frome was larger than Bath and originally grew due to the wool and cloth industries based here, helping to make Frome on of the wealthiest towns in the South West. It later diversified into metalworking and printing, although these have declined in the last 50 years.

The town grew substantially in the 20th century but still retains a very large number of listed buildings, however much of the substantial architecture and older buildings from the 1300’s, 1400’s and 1500’s have long since disappeared.

Or have they?

Many of the older streets in Frome have remained unchanged in their layout for a thousand years, and many of the buildings you now see dating from the 1700, 1800 and 1900 are in fact ‘modernised’ versions of the original, much older buildings that originally stood there. To this day, many share the same foundations, cellars and in some cases main support walls and other features of the original building. A good example of this is the Wheat Sheaves Inn on Bath Street, which has an 18th Century façade created when Bath Street was cut, but underneath and in the cellars, the medieval walls, archways and other structures remain.

Our excavation work and research continues, however, if the stories and myths about extensive tunnels prove to be as extensive as suggested, they all seem to originate from the older sites in the town from the time when Frome became more prosperous (1200 - 1700), although above ground the buildings have changed or even been completely replaced.

The earliest reliable maps we have date back only to the 1700’s, and are patchy at best. Other than the street plan north of the town centre, we have very little to go on and much of what Frome looked like before the late 1700’s is now lost.

We would particularly like to hear from anyone who has knowledge of this lost period of Frome’s history, 1200-1700 or is familiar with any of the older buildings in or around Frome – to help us piece together the background to why so many tunnels were apparently created here!