[3] Eilert Ekwall suggests that the name is Brittonic, from the reconstructed word *bissi, cognate with Welsh bys and Cornish bis, litterally meaning "finger" with the transferred sense of "fork or arm of a river".

[10] For a semi-urban location, the country park has a rich variety of wildlife and includes areas of three UK Biodiversity Action Plan priority habitats.

It then flows through the Town Park, where a small constituent lake is haunt to wildfowl, before passing behind shops and industrial buildings in a Riverside Walk which was opened in 1993 by the Duke of Edinburgh.

[13][14] Before leaving the centre of Trowbridge, the Biss flows under the Town Bridge in roughly the location of the original river crossing which gives the town its name; in this area the river is home to the yellow water lily known as "Brandy Bottle" after the shape of its fruit and its characteristic scent.

Although Trowbridge is a former woollen cloth manufacturing town, for which a supply of water was required, the Biss was never substantial enough to satisfy the demands of that industry.