[1] Long a market town, the Kennet and Avon canal to the north of Trowbridge played an instrumental part in the town's development, as it allowed coal to be transported from the Somerset Coalfield; this marked the advent of steam-powered manufacturing in woollen cloth mills.

In the 10th century, written records and architectural ruins begin marking Trowbridge's existence as a village.

In the 1086 Domesday Book the village of Straburg, as Trowbridge was then known, was recorded as having 24 households, well endowed with land, particularly arable ploughlands, and rendering 8 pounds sterling to its feudal lord a year.

The most notable member of the family was Henry de Bohun, born around 1176, who became lord of the manor when he was about 15 years of age.

In the base of the tower of the present day church, below the subsequently added spire, can be seen the Romanesque architecture of the period.

Thus before the start of the Tudor period, the towns of south-west Wiltshire stood out from the rest of the county with all the signs of increasing wealth and prosperity during the period of trade recovery led by exports begun under Yorkist Edward IV and, still more, during expansion under Henry VII, when England's annual woollen exports increased from some 60,000 to some 80,000 cloths of assize.

However, mechanisation was resisted by workers in traditional trades; there were riots in 1785 and 1792, and again in the era of Luddism (1811–1816) owing to the introduction of the flying shuttle.

[11] Thomas Helliker, a shearman's apprentice, became one of the martyrs of the Industrial Revolution in 1803 when he was hanged at Fisherton Jail, Salisbury.

It had over 20 woollen cloth producing factories, making it comparable to northern industrial towns such as Rochdale.

Clark's Mill is now home to offices; straddling the nearby River Biss is the "Handle House", formerly used for drying and storage of teazles used to raise the nap of cloth.

[14] In its place a bedding industry developed, initially using wool cast off from the mills; the company now known as Airsprung Furniture Group was started in the town in the 1870s.

This was finally shut in 2000 following several changes of ownership and its equipment was sold to North Korea, where it forms the core of the Taedonggang brewery, just outside Pyongyang.

Legal & General acquired the land and construction of St Stephen's Place Leisure Park began in 2012.

In April 2009, building work started on one of the town's biggest brownfield sites, the former Usher's bottling plant.

[20] There is much of architectural interest in Trowbridge, including many of the old buildings associated with the textile industry, and the Newtown conservation area, a protected zone of mostly Victorian houses.

This three-storey building with an Italianate clock-tower[22] was presented to the residents of the town by a local mill-owner, Sir William Roger Brown, in 1889 to celebrate Queen Victoria's golden jubilee.

Trowbridge civil parish is divided into seven electoral divisions,[26] each electing one member of Wiltshire Council.

[27] Trowbridge is within the South West Wiltshire parliamentary constituency, which has been represented by Andrew Murrison (Conservative) since its formation in 2010.

[32] Coinciding with this increase, a considerable conversion of arable fields and some riverside meadows to residential estates took place.

A nearby leisure development includes an Odeon cinema and several food vendors (Wagamama, Nando's etc.).

Sir William Cook, born in Trowbridge in 1905, was involved with the development of the British nuclear bomb at Aldermaston in the 1950s, becoming the establishment's deputy director.

[53][54] Nick Blackwell, professional boxer and former British middleweight champion, is from Trowbridge, as are footballer Nathan Dyer (who played for Leicester City in the 2015-16 season[55] when they won the Premier League), disgraced[56] snooker player Stephen Lee, and Daniel Talbot, winner of the 4 × 100 m relay at the 2017 World Athletics Championships in a time of 37.47sec – the third fastest time in history.

[57] Tom Gale, high jumper who represented Great Britain at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics; went to school in Trowbridge.

Trowbridge Rugby Football Club, whose ground is at Hilperton to the northeast of the town, play in Southern Counties South.

Trowbridge Sports Centre, on the same site as The Clarendon Academy, has the town's only indoor swimming pool.