Frome

"FROME, (or Frome-selwood), a parish, market town, and parliamentary borough, in the hundred of the same name, county Somerset, 12 miles S. of Bath, 24 S.E. of Bristol, and 107 from London by the turnpike road, or 115 by the Great Western railway. It is situated on high ground in the vicinity of the river Frome, which flows through the lower part of the town, and is crossed by a bridge of five arches. It was formerly a part of the ancient forest of Selwood. The place is of great antiquity, being first historically mentioned near the end of the 7th century, in the reign of Ini, King of Wessex, though, from remains of a villa and other traces, it seems to have been a Roman station. In the early part of the 8th century a monastery was founded here by Ini's brother, Aldhelm, afterwards Bishop of Sherborne, and Alfred the Great gained his final and complete victory here over the Danes. After the dissolution of the monasteries the demesne came to the Fitz-Bernards, from whom it passed through several hands to the Thynnes and Boyles." From The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) Transcribed by Colin Hinson © 2003