Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for WELLINGTON

WELLINGTON, a town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a division, in Salop. The town stands at a convergence of railways, near Watling-street, 2 miles NE of the Wrekin, and 10½ E of Shrewsbury; was originally called Watling-town from Watling-street; was the place where Charles I., in 1642, mustered his forces and issued his first proclamation; is a seat of petty-sessions and county courts, a polling place, and a nominal borough, governed by a mayor and constables; publishes two weekly newspapers; carries on much trade as the centre of a populous mining and agricultural territory, and as a seat of malt-kilns, timber-yards, saw-mills, iron-foundries, nail-works, and glass-works; has recently undergone much extension and improvement, in result of its trade, and from increased facility of railway communication; presents a well built and prosperous appearance; and has a head post-office,‡ designated Wellington, Salop, r. stations with telegraph, a banking-office, several good inns, covered markets and a town hall in the Italian style, erected in 1867 at a cost of about £10,000, a corn exchange of 1868, two mineral springs with baths over them, a modern and handsome parochial church, another modern church, five dissenting chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel, an endowed school, alms houses, a workhouse, a weekly market on Thursday, and twelve annual fairs. Pop. in 1861, 5,576. Houses, 1,162.

The parish contains 7 townships and 3 hamlets, and comprises 8,757 acres. Real property, £48,376; of which £7,652 are in mines, £3,592 in ironworks, £281 in canals, and £726 in gasworks. Pop. in 1851, 11,554; in 1861, 12,998. Houses, 2,545. The head living is a vicarage united with Eyton, and the living of Christchurch is a vicarage, in the diocese of Lichfield. Value of the former, £842;* of the latter, £197.* Patron of the former, T.Eyton, Esq.; of the latter, the Vicar of W. The vicarage of Hadley and the p. curacies of Ketley and Lawley are separate benefices.—The sub-district includes greater part of Wrockwardine parish, and comprises 12,863 acres. Pop., 14,046. Houses, 2,756.—The district comprehends also Wombridge and Ercall-Magna sub-districts; and comprises 33,528 acres. Poor rates in 1863, £7,984. Pop. in 1851, 20,729; in 1861, 23,873. Houses, 4,607. Marriages in 1863, 195; births, 919,- of which 83 were illegitimate; deaths, 529,-of which 225 were at ages under 5 years, and 14 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 2,139; births, 7,613; deaths, 4,842. The places of worship, in 1851, were 16 of the Church of England, with 5,673 sittings; 1 of Independents, with 286 s.; 2 of Baptists, with 479 s.; 1 of Quakers, with 420 s.; 10 of Wesleyans, with 2,546 s.; 1 of New Connexion Methodists, with 196 s.; 13 of Primitive Methodists, with 1,800 s.; and 1 of Roman Catholics, with 250 s. The schools were 15 public day-schools, with 1,143 scholars; 49 private day-schools, with 905 s.; 24 Sunday schools, with 3,470 s.; and 3 evening schools for adults, with 71 s.-The division is part of South Bradford hundred, and contains 18 parishes. Acres, 51,252. Pop. in 1851, 32,337. Houses, 6,329.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a division"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Wellington AP/CP       Wellington Urban CP       Wellington SubD       Wellington RegD/PLU       Shropshire AncC
Place names: WATLING TOWN     |     WELLINGTON
Place: Wellington

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