Frome

Directory Information

Our Frome dentons directory (8th edition) is currently distributed to over 20,000 business and residential addresses in the Frome area. The Frome distribution area also includes the localities of Beckington, Chapmanslade, Corsley Heath, Mells, Nunney and Rode. For more information on our directories, please click here.

About Frome

Cheap Street, Frome

Cheap Street, Frome

Frome is the fourth largest town in Somerset with a population that has doubled in the last forty years to about 27,000 today. It is approximately 13 miles south of Bath and located at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills. The centre of the town, through which the River Frome runs, is surrounded by hills.

The town has grown substantially in recent years but still retains a very large number of listed buildings, and most of the town centre falls within a conservation area.

Frome is twinned with the towns of Château-Gontie in France and Murrhardt in Germany.

History

Jenson Button

Jenson Button

  • The name Frome comes from the Old English word ffraw meaning fair, fine or brisk and describing the flow of the river.
  • From 950AD to 1650, Frome was larger than Bath and originally grew due to the wool and cloth industry. In the early 1700s, Frome was an important commercial centre with its prosperity built on the wool and cloth trade. The peak of the local woollen industry came in the period from the 1500s to the 1700s. As the wool trade declined, Frome began to embrace the new engineering industries including metal-working and printing.   
  • The Formula One racing driver and 2009 world champion, Jenson Button, was born in Frome in 1980. 

Facts

  • Population – 24,510 (2001)
  • Governing Authority – Mendip District Council
  • Major Industries – Metal Working; Printing; Retail
  • Post Town – FROME
  • Postcode District – BA11
  • Dialling Code – 01373
  • Police – Avon and Somerset Police
  • Fire – Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service
  • Ambulance – South Western Ambulance Service

Discover Frome – useful links to town guides, what’s on and places to see

Frome market place

Frome market place

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