England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Frome St John

The Parish

The parish of Frome lies in the far east of Somerset forming a stretch of the border with neighbouring Wiltshire and lying roughly 12 miles south of the spa town of Bath. Frome sits at the former crossroads of two road the A352 (Midsomer Norton to Warminster) road with the A361 (Trowbridge to Shepton Mallet) road, the latter, a major trunk road, is now a bypass to the east of Frome. Frome  is a market town and borough, the head of a union and a regional centre for much of eastern Somerset and adjacent western Wiltshire. From has its origins in as early as c685 whence a monastery was founded on the southern banks of its eponymous River Frome. By Domesday it was already a major centre and market town but it was in the 17th century that Frome grew spectacularly, powered by the River Frome, Frome's mills became major centres for the woollen business such that by 1720 it was said that Frome exceeded the population of both Bath and Salisbury. It was the Industrial Revolution and the growth of mechanised mills in Yorkshire and similar areas that saw the collapse of that trade in or around 1840s that saw Frome went into decline. The wider parish, and it was an extensive one, was dominated by pasturage for the sheep that supplied the wool, early gazetteers estimated almost 70% of the parish acreage as under pasture. Modern developments shored up the town, the Great Western Railway "short cut", avoiding Bristol by the London to Exeter route, passes Frome to its east and grants it a station on this prestigious route. Today Frome remains a large market town, a regional retail centre and base for specialised trades as well as having some light industry and services to support its population. Like all such market towns it has expanded in modern times and now stretches both sides of the River Frome and covering an oval area of over 2 miles from southwest to northeast. The Frome drains north only a short distance before it meets the River Mells which continues northwards to meet the Avon just west of the Wiltshire town of Bradford on Avon, here matters turn west, passing through Bath and then Bristol and under the Avon's iconic bridge to meet the sea through the Bristol Channel. Frome is sited at around 80 metres above the sea around the central area whilst its southernmost suburbs rise to 110 metres, local high points in gently rolling countryside top out at just under 160 metres at Nunney to the southwest. As already mentioned Frome parish was an extensive one, one of the most extensive in its county, covering almost 7,100 acres it would have supported a population of around 11,800 parishioners. Again as already mentioned Frome in Domesday times was already an important settlement with a population sufficient to place it amongst the top 20% of settlements recorded in that book, The lion's share was held by King William but one Reinbald of Cirencester also held a substantial portion. The assets recorded were pretty impressive, 51 ploughs, meadows, pastures and woodland and no fewer than 4 mills, a precursor of the mills later to grow the town.

The Church

St John's church sits at the heart of the oldest parts of Frome, standing to the north of the A362 and east of the former route of the A361 (now renumbered as the B3090). It is perhaps obvious that the 7th century monastery would have founded a church and it would have been on this site but of that church nothing remains, there are scattered remains of what must have been the rebuilding of such a church dating from the Norman Romanesque period, Pevsner gives an estimate of 1160 - 1170 but it is to the Early English Gothic period that the first substantial fabric can be dated. The basal section of the tower, curiously placed where a southern transept would normally be given the cruciform layout adopted, shows fabric of a date between 13th and 14th century. Of the early 14th century is the northern St John's chapel which carries an estimated date of c1377. By this time the previous nave had been extended and a northern transept added. The 15th century, Perpendicular in style, saw the tower and spire completed to today's form as well as the addition of a typical clerestory of that period. Much change was done to the church through both Georgian and Victorian periods with no fewer than 4 campaigns highlighted in Pevsner. Change began in a piecemeal form as early as 1714 with a further piecemeal campaign of 1844. During the 1852 the church was embellished by "High Church" fittings whilst the campaign of the early 1860s was the most thorough and from that campaign is much of the external fabric that we see today. Church Street forms the northern and eastern edges of the churchyard and it is fortunate that at the eastern end is a convenient town car park allowing an extended visit. From here a flight of steps climbs into the churchyard forming the start of a major footpath crossing the site. The church is a large one and rather tall in its spire making for something of a challenge to the photographer to find positions adequate to capture the building in its majesty.