Editing Frome (section)

=== Medieval ===

At the time of the [[Domesday Book|Domesday Survey]], the manor was owned by [[William I of England|King William]],<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Frome|volume=11|page=246}}</ref> and was the principal settlement of the largest and wealthiest [[hundred (administrative division)|hundred]] in Somerset. Over the following years, parts of the original manor were spun off as distinct manors; for example, one was owned by the [[Minster (church)|minster]], later passing to the [[Abbey House, Cirencester|Abbey at Cirencester]], which others were leased by the Crown to important families. By the 13th century, the Abbey had bought up some of the other manors (although it did let them out again) and was exploiting the profits from market and trade in the town.{{sfn|Gathercole|2003|p=5}} Local tradition asserts that Frome was a medieval borough, and the reeve of Frome is occasionally mentioned in documents after the reign of [[Edward I of England|Edward I]], but there is no direct evidence that Frome was a borough and no trace of any charter granted to it.<ref name="EB1911"/> However, the Kyre Park Charters of Edward's reign note a Hugh, lord of Parva (or little) Frome, as well as other witnesses. Additionally, [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]] granted a charter to Edmund Leversedge, then [[lord of the manor]], giving him the right to hold fairs on 22 July and 21 September.{{sfn|Gathercole|2003|p=5}} The parish was part of the [[Hundred (county subdivision)|hundred]] of [[Frome (hundred)|Frome]].<ref name="genuki">{{Cite web |title=Somerset Hundreds |url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/Miscellaneous/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119134349/http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/Miscellaneous/ |archive-date=19 January 2012 |access-date=8 October 2011 |publisher=GENUKI |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

[[File:Former Dye-House Frome.jpg|alt=Circular stone building with slate roof.|thumb|left|Former Wool Drying House, now part of The Black Swan Arts Centre]]

[[Hales Castle]] was probably built in the years immediately after the [[Norman conquest of England]] in 1066.<ref>Prior, Stuart. (2006) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=vuqjAAAACAAJ The Norman Art of War: a Few Well-Positioned Castles.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140707080113/http://books.google.com/books?id=vuqjAAAACAAJ&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1 |date=7 July 2014 }}'' Stroud, UK: Tempus. {{ISBN|0-7524-3651-1}}. p.71.</ref> The circular [[ringwork]] is {{convert|120|ft|m}} in diameter and stands on the northern slope of Roddenbury Hill, close to the [[Iron Age]] [[Roddenbury Hillfort]], to the south-east of Frome. It comprises banks and outer ditches and has an unfinished [[bailey (fortification)|bailey]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hales Castle |url=http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=202864 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003012739/http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=202864 |archive-date=3 October 2012 |access-date=22 July 2011 |website=Pastscape National Monument Record |publisher=[[English Heritage]] |df=dmy-all}}</ref> At a similar distance to the south-west of Frome stands [[Nunney Castle]], "aesthetically the most impressive castle in Somerset,"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pesvener |first=Nikolaus |title=The Buildings of England: North Somerset and Bristol |publisher=Penquin |year=1958 |isbn=0-300-09640-2 |location=London |pages=238}}</ref> built from 1373 onwards, surrounded by a moat.

In 1369, there was a record of 'three tuns of [[Isatis tinctoria|woad]]' being purchased by Thomas Bakere of Frome,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Griffiths |first=Carolyn |title='Woad to This' & The Cloth Trade of Frome |publisher=Frome Society for Local Study |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-9930605-5-7 |location=Frome |pages=155}}</ref> probably from France.&nbsp; Such a large quantity of the blue dye suggests a well-established trade for local dyers and clothiers.&nbsp; A 1392 survey of the town mentions [[tenterground]]s: fields of racks for drying the cloth and five [[fulling]] mills.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Griffiths |first=Carolyn |title=op.cit. |pages=213}}</ref> Where originally wool was exported to Flanders and Italy, more was increasingly retained at home for the production of cloth.&nbsp; Woolens such as [[broadcloth]] and the lighter [[Kersey (cloth)|kersey]] became primary products for the area.&nbsp; Surnames such as Webbe (weaver) or Tayllor appear in the early 14th century and there are explicit references to cloth makers in 1475.{{sfn|Gathercole|2003|p=5}} By 1470 Somerset was the largest producer after Suffolk, making most of the undyed white broadcloths.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Griffiths |first=Carolyn |title=op.cit. |pages=206}}</ref> The industry had become the town's principal base of employment.

On 12 April 1477, a widow, [[Ankarette Twynyho]] was taken from the manor house known locally as the Old Nunnery in Lower Keyford, accused by [[George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence]] of the murder of [[Isabel Neville, Duchess of Clarence]], who had died in 1476, probably of [[Postpartum infections|childbed-fever]] after birth of a short-lived son. At Warwick, she was charged with

{{blockquote|"having.....given the Duchess Isabel 'a venomous drink of ale mixed with poison' of which the Duchess has sickened from 10th October to Christmas, when she died. Ankarette protested her innocence, but a packed jury condemned her. She was sentenced and drawn to the gallows.....and hanged all within three hours."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jackson |first=J E |title=The Execution of Ankarette Twynyho: Frome Society Year Book Vol 12 |publisher=Frome Society for Local Study |year=2008 |location=Frome |pages=92}}</ref>}}

[[Fall of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence|Clarence himself was imprisoned]] in the Tower shortly afterwards and was executed for treason early in 1478. Ankarette's grandson Roger Twynyho received from [[Edward IV of England|Edward IV]] a full posthumous pardon for Ankarette. The petition he submitted to the king later that year describes fully the circumstances of the case, well illustrating the quasi-kingly high-handedness of Clarence.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fleming |first=Peter |title=Time, Space and Power in Later Medieval Bristol |date=16 December 2013 |url=http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/22171/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141205152211/http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/22171/ |archive-date=5 December 2014 |access-date=26 November 2014 |publisher=University of the West of England Bristol |df=dmy-all}}</ref>