Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for WELLINGBOROUGH

WELLINGBOROUGH, a town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in Northamptonshire. The town stands on a declivity near the river Nen, and near the intersection of the Midland railway and the Northampton and Peterborough railway, 10 miles NE by E of Northampton; takes its name from chalybeate springs, which were used by Charles I., and are still of great note; was extensively destroyed by fire in 1738; is a seat of petty sessions and county courts, and a polling place; publishes a weekly newspaper; carries on a considerable trade in corn, shoe-making, boot-making, and the smelting of iron ore; comprises four principal streets, diverging from a central market-square; presents a modern and pleasant appearance, recently much improved; and has a head post-office,‡ a r. station with telegraph, two banking-offices, two chief inns, a police station, a recently-formed promenade, a corn exchange of 1861, built at a cost of £3,500, an ancient church restored in 1861, and surmounted by a lofty spire, another church of 1867, built at a cost of £4,500, two Independent chapels, four other dissenting chapels, a public cemetery, a literary institute, with an extensive library, an endowed grammar-school with £87 a year, another endowed school with £55, national and British schools, a workhouse built at a cost of £5,000, a town-estate £800, some general charities, a weekly market on Wednesday, and three annual fairs. Pop. in 1861, 6,067. Houses, 1,279.

The parish comprises 4,490 acres. Real property, £19,828; of which £200 are in gasworks. Pop. in 1851, 5,297; in 1861, 6,382. Houses, 1,312. The increase of pop. arose from the extension of the shoe manufacture, and from the erection of a smelting furnace. Hatton Hall is the chief residence. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Peterborough. Value, £400.* Patron, Q. Vivian, Esq.—The sub-district contains nine parishes. Acres, 17,865. Pop., 10,885. Houses, 2,306.—The district includes also Earls-Barton and Higham-Ferrers subdistricts, and comprises 55,505 acres. Poor rates in 1863, £11,742. Pop. in 1851, 21,367; in 1861, 24,224. Houses, 5,199. Marriages in 1863, 174; births, 970,-of which 38 were illegitimate; deaths, 583,-of which 264 were at ages under 5 years, and 12 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1,969; births, 8,298; deaths, 5,070. The places of worship, in 1851, were 27 of the Church of England, with 8,486 sittings; 8 of Independents, with 2,655 s.; 12 of Baptists, with 2,374 s.; 2 of Quakers, with 500 s.: 15 of Wesleyans, with 2,904 s.; 2 of Primitive Methodists, with 110 s.; 1 undefined, with 150 s.; and 2 of Latter Day Saints, with 50 s. The schools were 24 public day-schools, with 1,513 scholars; 28 private day-schools, with 530 s.; 43 Sunday schools, with 4,151 s.: and 3 evening schools for adults, with 41 s.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Wellingborough CP/AP       Wellingborough SubD       Wellingborough RegD/PLU       Northamptonshire AncC
Place: Wellingborough

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