The Trowells, who derived their name from a hamlet situated midway between Derby and Nottingham, acquired property in the ‘vicus faborum’ in Derby itself, and by the early 14th century had set up in business as producers of woollen cloth. Among their number were an MP of 1320 and a bailiff of 1344-5. Richard was perhaps one of the sons of John Trowell, the parliamentary burgess of 1362.
In 1390 Trowell sold four messuages and some land in Derby and Chaddesden to William Groos, but he retained other properties, including, for term of his life, three houses, the reversionary interest in which was to be granted in 1392 to St. Mary’s priory by members of the Tuchet family in association with William Pakeman. Trowell is last heard of in 1400, when he and his fellow bailiff were appointed by the sheriff to be custodians of the chattels forfeited by Ralph Stathum, a Derbyshire man who had supported the earl of Huntingdon in his rebellion against the new King.