[25] The name Frome comes from the Proto-Brythonic word *frāmā (Modern Welsh ffraw), itself from Proto-Celtic *srōm- [26] meaning fair, fine or brisk and describing the flow of the river.

[27] The name was first recorded in 701 when Pope Sergius gave permission to Bishop Aldhelm to found a monastery "close to the river which is called From" (Latin: "juxta fluvium qui vocatur From").

Additionally, 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.

From 1665 to 1725 further major expansion occurred, including the building of a new artisans' suburb, now known as the Trinity area, one of the earliest purpose built industrial housing in the country.

In the mid-1720s, Daniel Defoe estimated that "Frome is now reckoned to have more people in it, than the city of Bath, and some say, than even Salisbury itself...... likely to be one of the greatest and wealthiest inland towns in England".

[50] The Sheppard family, settled in Frome since 1558, became dominant, building new factories, purchasing land and properties, being the first to bring in machinery; the establishment of turnpike roads improved access to markets home and abroad.

[65] In addition to church ornaments the firm developed new facilities, opened as the Frome Art Metalworks in 1866, and then the expertise to create large statues.

[66] The firm was responsible for the bronze statue of Boudica with her daughters in her war chariot (furnished with scythes after the Persian fashion), which was commissioned by Prince Albert and executed by Thomas Thornycroft.

[71] These survivors included Charlie Robbins[72] who was the model for the bronze statue forged by the Singer company which now stands as the memorial for the fallen of Frome.

Other industries such as printing, light engineering, metal casting, carpeting and dairying continued,[74] many taking old premises from the cloth mills and others being sited at the new Marston Road Trading Estate which led to growth after World War II, including the construction of council houses.

[87] There are a number of public green spaces within the town, both formal and informal; some are substantial such as the Victoria Park[88] or the Rodden Meadow;[89] others may be smaller but are valued within their neighbourhoods, such as Weylands[90] or the Dippy.

The Frome county constituency area included Weston, Radstock, Bathampton, Batheaston as well as freeholders in Bath; there were only 322 registered voters.

Thomas Bunn, a local man of property, recollected what he saw: When I went to vote for a member for the county the mob arranged themselves on each side of a long street, to pelt all who did not approve their favourite candidates.

The town has a National Health Service community hospital, originally operated by Somerset Primary Care Trust, located on the site of the former Showground at Fromefield.

The annual mean temperature is about 10 °C (50 °F) with seasonal and diurnal variations, but due to the modifying effect of the sea, the range is less than in most other parts of the United Kingdom.

[113][114] Almost half of the economically active population of Frome commute to work outside the town (in Bath, Bristol, Warminster, Westbury or further afield).

[116] Mendip District Council and Mendip Strategic Partnership have consulted on a Community Strategy and Local Development Framework for the period to 2026 which includes building 2,500–2,600 new homes, providing more employment and office space, developing a new secondary school and two new primary schools, remodelling the town centre and encouraging a wider range of retailers and leisure providers into the town.

[138] Locally based musicians include American saxophonist Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis and Irish folk singer Cara Dillon as well as hardcore punk bands More Than Life, Ghost of the Avalanche and Landscapes.

Frome's only cinema, the Westway,[139] is in Cork Street in the town centre, which closed in March 2016 and re-opened February 2017, after changing hands and undergoing extensive refurbishment.

[148] The Frome Museum has a particular important collection of artefacts from Singer's bronze foundry and houses a rolling display of local history including a Cockey lamp and shop contents.

[158] Frome has provided the backdrop to historical dramas, such as Poldark, broadcast in 2016 which has regular scenes shot in Gentle Street,[159] with a further shoot in December 2018[160] and Drover's Gold, filmed by BBC Wales in 1996.

The older parts of Frome – for example, around Sheppard's Barton and Catherine Hill – are picturesque, containing an outstanding collection of small late17th and 18th century houses.

Although about half the area was demolished in the 1960s under a Slum Clearance Order, before its historical importance was realised; the remainder was saved and was restored at a cost of £4 million between 1980 and 1984.

In the centre of the town, Cheap Street contains buildings dating to the 16th and 17th centuries and has a stream running down the middle fed by the spring at St John's Church.

[citation needed] It is a passageway used by workers and employees of the textile crepe and silk industry that set up factories and mills in Saxonvale during the early eighteenth century.

During the mid-20th century, up to 300 mostly female workers in the engineering and fuse factories who walked to and from work along the Merchants Barton were referred to locally as the 'Bussmann Girls'.

[citation needed] One of Frome's most ancient and unregarded structures, the Old Town Wall, runs along from Bath Street through into upper Saxonvale below Lidl,[182] whilst the Old Slaughterhouse facade with its blocked-in coach arches and mixture of dressed and rubble stone sections is architecturally of significance in assessing the surviving fabric of previous barton buildings.

[62] A Dissenters' Cemetery with Chapel at Vallis Road, was founded in 1851 by Frome's 'Free Churches', mainly Baptist, Congregational and Methodist, and has been the site of over 6,000 burials.

[204] The Leisure Centre offers a wide range of activities including swimming, indoor bowls, squash and a gym,[205] originally opened in 1974, and refurbished through October 2015 to May 2016.

The Millennium Green has several marked walks and a picnic area close to a semi wild open space for local wildlife.