WALCOT, OR WALCOTT,
a small township in the parish of Wellington, comprising 408a. 3r. 27p. of land, at the census in 1841 had nine scattered houses and forty-three inhabitants, chiefly engaged in agricultural pursuits. The township is situated four miles south-west by south from Wellington. The landowners are Lord Berwick, Miss Cludde, Mr. George Walmsley, and Mrs. Ann Walmsley. The soil in this locality is a mixture of sand loam, with a portion of gravel. The river Tern bounds the township, and is crossed by a stone bridge of three arches, built by subscription in 1782; and the Shrewsbury and Wellington line of railway intersects the township, and has a station here.
The chief residents are Susannah Cotterill, farmer; William Cotterill, farmer and corn miller; Thomas Plant, farmer, the Grove; Ann Walmsley, farmer; John Walmsley, the Cottage.
WAPPENSHALL AND LEEGOMERY
is a township in the parish of Wellington, embracing 834a. 0r. 15p. of land, but of which there was no separate return of the population at the census of 1841. Wappenshall is situated about two and a half miles N.E. from Wellington, where there is a respectable inn, a wharf and warehouses on the banks of the Shropshire union canal, which here branches off to Wolverhampton; there is also a branch of the extensive iron works and collieries in the immediate vicinity, which from thence passes on to Coalport. The land here is the property of the Duke of Sutherland. Leegomery House, a good residence pleasantly situated a mile and a quarter N.E. from Wellington, is occupied by William Shakeshaft Lawley, Esq. A short distance from Leegomery is a corn mill, also in this township. The rectoral tithes are commuted for £194. 14s. St. John Chiverton Charlton, Esq., is the impropriator. The vicarial tithes are commuted for £70. 12s. The principal residents are Harriet Balliss, farmer, Wappenshall; William Shakeshaft Lawley, Esq., Leegomery House; John Tomlinson, corn miller; John Tranter, wharfinger and vict., Sutherland Arms.
WITHINGTON
is a parish and small rural village in a retired part of the county, six miles W. from Wellington; which comprises 1,135a. 0r. 13p. of land, the principal owners of which are Andrew William Corbet, Esq., R. D. Edwards, Esq., Rev. Thomas Husband, and Mr. Bernard Hiles. At the census in 1801 the parish had a population of 170 souls; 1831, 193, and in 1841 there were 44 houses and 219 inhabitants. Rateable value, £1,694. 12s. The Church is a plain structure, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, consisting of nave and chancel, with a tower in which are two bells. The chancel, which is the most ancient part of the building, is of stone, and the body of the church of brick. The interior has a neglected appearance. Upon a stone in the nave, there is a brass plate, with the figure of a person in priestly habiliments, with the following inscription in old English characters:—“Here lieth buried Mr. Adam Graffton, the most worshipful priest living in his days, sometime chaplain to the famous princes, King Edward V. and Prince Arthur; Archdeacon of Stafford, Warden of the Battlefield, Dean of St. Mary’s College, in Salop, and parson of this church: deceased the 20th of June, A.D. one thousand five hundred and thirty, whose soul God keep.” Another brass plate, with the figure of a man and a woman and seven children, remembers John de Onley and family, and is dated 1500. There are neat marble tablets to the memory of Peter Blakeway, who died in 1808; to Elizabeth Browne, who died in 1788; and to the Rev. Corbet Browne, rector of this parish and Upton Magna, who died in the year 1807, aged 80 years. The living is a perpetual curacy, subordinate to the rectory of Upton Magna. The Rev. Corbet Browne is the incumbent: Rev. Thomas Honeyman, curate. This township is intersected by the Shrewsbury Canal. A sum of £16 mentioned in the charity returns of 1786, as given by Andrew Peplow in 1728, appears to have been lost many years ago, by the insolvency of the person in whose hands it was placed.
Browne Rev. Corbet, rector, The Rectory
Browne Corbet, jun., farmer
Edwards Rann Dolphin, Esq.