To CHESTER, LIVERPOOL, MANCHESTER, & all intermediate places, the Shropshire Union Railway & Canal Co. from Commercial wharf, daily—James Smith, manager; Pickford and Co. collecting agents
Barges, on the Severn, to Bridgnorth, Bewdley, Stourport, Worcester, and Gloucester, from E. H. Lowe’s warehouse, Mardol quay, two or three times a week
WELLINGTON,
WITH THE VILLAGES OF WROCKWARDINE, WOMBRIDGE, KETLEY AND NEIGHBOURHOODS.
Wellington is a market town and parish in the hundred of Bradford, 144 miles N.W. from London, and 11 E. from Shrewsbury. The town is situated near the ancient Roman Watling Street, about two miles from the Wrekin, a lofty mountain, which rises from the plain to the height of 1,200 feet above the bed of the Severn. The face of the country around here, is diversified by mountainous tracts of land, and rich valleys; while another wide portion is an even surface, fertile, and in a perfect state of agriculture. During the great civil war, this was the first place of rendezvous of Charles I. On the 19th September, 1642, the king mastered his forces near the town, and having commanded his military orders to be read, delivered, in person, the remarkable address mentioned by Clarendon. Wellington-under-the-Wrekin, as it is sometimes called, to distinguish it from Wellington in Somersetshire, is neatly built, contains a number of good houses, is gas-lighted, and has received considerable improvements; among these may be mentioned the erection of a new and handsome church, and a neat market-hall.
The government of the town is vested in a mayor and constables, and two clerks are appointed to regulate the markets: these officers are nominated at the manorial court, held annually in November by Lord Forester the lord of the manor. The magistrates sit in petty sessions weekly, upon business connected with the hundred; and a County Court is held monthly in Church-street, for the recovery of debts not exceeding £50—the town being included in the twenty-seventh circuit of towns. Wellington is a polling station at the election of members to represent the northern division of the county. The trade of this place is of some consequence—seated at it is, in the centre of a productive coal and lime district; besides which, the many works are of considerable magnitude; there are many malting and flour mills, and the trade in hops, seeds and timber, is somewhat extensive. The town contains several excellent inns—the principal are the ‘Bull’s Head,’ in New-street, and the ‘Charlton Arms,’ in Church-street. We notice the ‘Admaston Hotel’ under Wrockwardine village. Wellington is now included in the advantages derived from the rail—the Shrewsbury and Birmingham line intersects the town, and the Wellington and Stafford branch of the Shropshire Union Railways communicates therewith; a station erected in the centre of the town, is used in common by both lines.
The parish church of All Saints, is a light and modern edifice of freestone; a portion of it is supported by iron pillars, and the same material is employed in the window frames, thereby imparting a light appearance to the whole: the living is a vicarage, with the rectory of Eyton on the Wild Moors annexed, in the patronage of Thomas Eyton, Esq.; the present incumbent is the Rev. Benjamin Banning. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists, and Roman Catholics. The principal charities are a free school for teaching poor children of both sexes; another conducted upon the national plan; an almshouse for six poor women; a dispensary, recently established, and a new and commodious Union Workhouse—the latter, for the reception of the poor of eleven parishes, of which Wellington is the centre. Amusement and instruction are derived from a concert-hall, billiard and news-rooms, and a mechanics’ institute; all of which are of recent establishment. A mile from the town is Apley Castle, the seat of St. John S. Charlton, Esq.; and about the like distance westward, is Orleton Hall, the residence of the Hon. R. C. Herbert. The market is held on Thursday; the fairs March 29th, June 22nd, September 29th and November 17th. The fairs and markets are well attended; at the September fair a great weight of butter and cheese is disposed of; the others are chiefly for horses, cattle, sheep and pigs. Fairs (or cattle markets) are likewise held on the last Tuesday in the months of January, February, April, May, July, August, October, and December. The parish contained, in 1841, 10,990, and in 1851, 11,554 inhabitants.
Two miles W. by N. from Wellington, is the village of Wrockwardine, the parish of which embraces a large coal and iron district. Within the parish at Admaston, about a mile from Wrockwardine, are two valuable springs—one chalybeate, the other sulphureous. An admirably conducted hotel and boarding house, with hot and cold baths, have been erected here at a considerable expense; and the waters being found beneficial in cases of rheumatism, it is resorted to by many afflicted with that complaint, and other visitors. The Shrewsbury Canal passes through the parish, and the river Tern washes its northern border. The parish church of Saint Peter, is a venerable structure of red stone, substantially built: the benefice is a discharged vicarage, in the gift of the Crown; the Rev. George Lavington Yate is the present incumbent. There has been erected a handsome district church, or chapel of ease. The parish contained, by the returns for 1841, 2,731 inhabitants, and by those for 1851, 3,107.
Wombridge is a parish, in the same division as Wellington—the village being about three miles east from that town. The Shrewsbury, Shropshire and Marquess of Stafford’s Canals forms a junction in this parish, which is intersected by the Watling Street of the Romans, and the main road to Holyhead—also by several tram-roads from the coal and iron works at Ketley, &c. The parish church is dedicated to Saint Leonard: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the presentation of the family of Charlton. The parish contained, in 1841, 2,057, and in 1851, 2,166 inhabitants.
POST OFFICE, New-street, Wellington, Benjamin Smith, Post Master.
Arrival of the Mails—From London, Wolverhampton, Birmingham, and the North, every morning at half-past six. From Shrewsbury and Montgomeryshire, every evening at seven; and from Ketley, Oakengale, High-Ercall and Uppington, every evening at half-past five.