Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for WELLINGTON

WELLINGTON, a town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in Somerset. The town stands on a gentle elevation, near the Bristoland Exeter railway, at the foot of the Blackdown hills, 6½ miles SW by W of Taunton; gives the titles of Viscount, Earl, and Duke to the family of Wellesley; is a seat of petty-sessions and county courts; is governed by a portreeve and some other officers; publishes two weekly newspapers; carries on woollen manufacture and iron-founding; comprises five streets, containing many respectable residences; and has a head post-office,‡ designated Wellington, Somerset, a r. station with telegraph, a banking office, two chief inns, a police station, a market house and town hall, a library and reading room, a fine ancient church with graceful later English tower, a handsome modern church, a neat Independent chapel of 1861, five other dissenting chapels, national and British schools, alms houses with £149 a year, a workhouse, a weekly market on Thursday, and two annual fairs. Pop. in 1861, 3,689. Houses, 793.—The parish includes three hamlets, and comprises 5,195 acres. Real property, £21,088; of which £30 are in gasworks. Pop. in 1851, 6,415; in 1861, 6,006. Houses, 1,261. The manor belonged to Alfred the Great; was given to the see of Wells; passed to the Somersets and the Pophams; and belongs now to the Duke of Wellington. A pillar, monumental of Wellington and Waterloo, stands on a lofty hill, 2½ miles S of the town; figures conspicuously over an extensive picturesque landscape; and was designed to be surmounted by a bronze statue of the hero of Waterloo. The living is a vicarage, united with Trinity and West Buckland chapelries, in the diocese of Bath and Wells. Value, £1,084.* Patron, Mrs. Pulman.—The sub-district contains six parishes. Acres, 13,563. Pop., 8,305. Houses, 1,745.—The district comprehends also Culmstock, Milverton, and Wiveliscombe sub-districts; and comprises 60,454 acres. Poor rates in 1863, £12,378. Pop. in 1851, 22,121; in 1861, 20,480. Houses, 4,356. Marriages in 1863, 134; births, 577,-of which 31 were illegitimate; deaths, 380, -of which 125 were at ages under 5 years, and 22 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1,305; births, 6,147; deaths, 3,919. The places of worship, in 1851, were 27 of the Church of England, with 9,367 sittings; 5 of Independents, with 1,451 s.; 6 of Baptists, with 1,692 s.; 3 of Quakers, with 372 s.; 8 of Wesleyans, with 1,416 s.; 3 of Bible Christians, with 345 s.; and 1 undefined, with 200 s. The schools were 19 public day-schools, with 1,373 scholars; 37 private day-schools, with 933 s.; 37 Sunday schools, with 2,915 s.; and 4 evening schools for adults, with 49 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: Wellington AP/CP       Wellington SubD       Wellington RegD/PLU       Somerset AncC
Place: Wellington

Go to the linked place page for a location map, and for access to other historical writing about the place. Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.