The River Frome flows from high up on the Cotswold escarpment in the north east of its catchment, initially heading southwards, and then turning to the west.

[14] Brookside is a detached three-storey house dating from the late 17th century, with two-storey additions made in 1730, which was part of Iles's Mill.

The narrow strip of land bordering the river to the south of the bypass is managed as Frome Banks nature reserve.

Nearby offices, cottages and a bridge form a group of listed buildings,[30] which are complemented by Fromehall Mills, immediately downstream.

Just before the junction, Nailsworth Stream fed Dudbrige Flour Mill, a five-storey building dating from 1849[32] which is now hemmed in by the car park of a Sainsbury's supermarket.

[37] The southern channel continues through the hamlet of Stanley Downton and under a viaduct on the Bristol to Exeter Railway to reach Beard's Mill.

[6] An underpass was constructed when the M5 motorway was built, and this will probably be shared with the Stroudwater Navigation when that is restored to link it back to the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal.

There has been a mill at the site since the Domesday Book was compiled in 1086, and it has been used for corn, fulling, wire and brass, and the production of animal feed.

[43] On the final section, it occupies the course of the Stroudwater Navigation for a short distance, passes under the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal as two separate channels at Saul Junction and enters the River Severn at a sluice at Upper Framilode.

[6] At Caudle Green the eastern side of the valley rises to the North Sea/Atlantic watershed, approximately one mile to the east.

It would bring coal to the flourishing woollen industry, and carry away their finished products, but the plan faced concerted opposition from the large number of mill owners, who depended on the river for their water power.

Commissioners were appointed, but the scheme languished, with a growing feeling that making the river navigable was not possible because of the large number of mills.

[44] One of the commissioners, John Dallaway, did not let the idea drop, and proposed a new scheme in 1754, running for 9.5 miles (15.3 km) from the Severn to Wallbridge.

Over half of the money needed was subscribed, but the plan was dropped in 1756,[45] when an alternative was suggested by John Kemmett, Thomas Bridge and two other gentlemen.

The boats were too large for the tiny river, the costs were prohibitive, while the difficulties of transferring the goods over 14 walls were likely to be time consuming and damaging to the cargo.

It was a canal separate from the river, which reached Chippenham Platt at the end of 1777, and was opened to Wallbridge, just under 8 miles (13 km) from the Severn at Familode Lock, on 21 July 1779.

To improve the capacity of the river channel, the intervening strip of land was removed, and bulldozed into the southern side of the canal.

[62] In the early 1970s, the weirs at Whitminster were modified, so that much of the water flowing down the river could be diverted into the remains of the Stroudwater Navigation, and from there into the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal.

Work on the Purton site began on 24 August 1970, and a 46-inch (1.2 m) pipeline was constructed to carry the treated water to Pucklechurch service reservoir, 17.8 miles (28.6 km) away.

Planning permission was obtained in March 2021 for infrastructure improvements, which include the demolition of modern additions to Port Mill.

On Fowler's death, it was acquired by the Thames and Severn Canal Company, and Richard William Walter Hancox was the last recorded miller.

Ernest Gimson, a resident of Daneway, used the wood to produce chairs, a process which was aided by a water-powered pole lathe.

[73] The operation of so many mills on a relatively short river required significant engineering skill, both in the design of the channels and of the waterwheels, to gain the maximum amount of power at each site.

They were further affected in the 1830s, when the East India Company ceased trading, and a lucrative market in 'stripe' cloth with China consequently disappeared.

Some people emigrated, to New South Wales in Australia, to Yorkshire and to Shrewsbury, but few of the cloth mills in Chalford survived, and they turned to the manufacture of silk and walking sticks instead.

A significant player in the industry was William Dangerfield, who started making walking sticks in 1845 at Gussage Mill, on the Toadsmoor Brook.

They then moved to Churches Mill at Woodchester, where they made walking sticks for the National Health Service until 1990, becoming the last survivor of the industry in the district.

[79] Below Sapperton the Frome runs adjacent to the Thames and Severn Canal, parts of which have been restored, although much remains disused.

Changes to water drainage to reduce flooding, carried out by the Severn River Board in 1957 and 1958, resulted in the Ruscombe or Randwick brook discharging into the canal route instead of passing under it through a siphon beneath Foundry Lock.

Like many rivers in the UK, the chemical status changed from good to fail in 2019, due to the presence of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS), and mercury compounds, none of which had previously been included in the assessment.