Webden - Weever

Webden

WEBDEN, a hamlet, in the parish of Tidenham, poor-law union of Chepstow, hundred of Westbury, W. division of the county of Gloucester; containing 176 inhabitants.

Webheath-Yields

WEBHEATH-YIELDS, a township, in the parish of Tardebigg, union of Bromsgrove, Upper division of the hundred of Halfshire, Droitwich and E. divisions of the county of Worcester; containing 792 inhabitants, and comprising 2024 acres.

Weddington (St. James)

WEDDINGTON (St. James), a parish, in the union of Nuneaton, Atherstone division of the hundred of Hemlingford, N. division of the county of Warwick, 1 mile (N.) from Nuneaton; containing 77 inhabitants. It is bounded on the east by the Watling-street, and comprises 919 acres, whereof 90 are woodland; the soil is in general marly. The river Anker runs through the parish. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £8. 10. 7½.; patron, the Rev. Samuel Bracebridge Heming, M.A.: the tithes have been commuted for £176. 19.; there is a glebe-house, and the glebe contains 45 acres. The church, built about the year 1736, is a brick edifice with a tower, and contains 90 sittings.

Wedgwood

WEDGWOOD, a township, in the parish of Wolstanton, union of Wolstanton and Burslem, N. division of the hundred of Pirehill and of the county of Stafford, 3 miles (N. E.) from Burslem; containing 132 inhabitants. This township, which comprises 431 acres of arable land, is supposed to have been originally the residence of the Wedgwood family, several of whom have been eminent for their improvements in the earthenware and porcelain manufacture.

Wedhampton

WEDHAMPTON, a tything, in the parish of Urchfont, union of Devizes, hundred of Swanborough, Devizes and N. divisions of Wilts, 3¾ miles (N. E.) from East Lavington; containing 237 inhabitants.

Wedmore (St. Mary)

WEDMORE (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Axbridge, hundred of Bempstone, E. division of Somerset, 6 miles (S. by E.) from Axbridge, and 8 (W. by N.) from Wells; containing 3995 inhabitants. This place, originally called Wet-moor, was the residence of the West Saxon monarchs. Few districts have undergone such rapid and extensive improvement: within memory, the immediate neighbourhood was usually under water nine months in the year. The parish comprises 10,000 acres of rich pasture, and the situation of the village is extremely pleasant, being considerably elevated above the adjacent level, which from the drainage effected during the last half century, has been rendered valuable land. There are some quarries of building-stone. Two sheep and cattle fairs are held, one in July, on the first Monday after St. James's day, and the other on the last Monday in September. The ancient borough of Wedmore, by which distinction a part of the parish is still known, is under the superintendence of a portreeve, chosen annually at the manorial court, with water-bailiffs, constables, and other officers. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Wells (the appropriators), valued in the king's books at £20. 8. 6½.: the appropriate tithes have been commuted for £340, the vicarial for £210, and certain impropriate tithes for £30; there are 63 acres of glebe. The church contains accommodation for 700 persons, and is a handsome cruciform edifice in the later English style, with a stately tower at the intersection; on each side of the chancel is a chapel, and annexed to the south aisle is another chapel of smaller dimensions. Over the porch is a library, the gift of the Rev. Mr. Andrews, a former vicar. Blackford district Chapel, erected in 1824, contains 320 sittings; and a district chapel built in 1828 at Theale, 349 sittings. There are places of worship for Baptists and Wesleyans.

Wednesbury (St. Bartholomew)

WEDNESBURY (St. Bartholomew), a markettown and parish, in the union of West Bromwich, S. division of the hundred of Offlow and of the county of Stafford, 19 miles (S. S. E.) from Stafford, and 117 (N. W.) from London; containing 11,625 inhabitants. This place, denominated by the Saxons Weadesbury or Wodensbury, and now commonly called Wedgebury, was fortified in 916, against the Danes, by Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great: at the Conquest it was held in royal demesne. The town is of considerable consequence, having rapidly increased of late years in wealth and population: the shops are lighted with gas from the works at West Bromwich, three miles distant. A mechanics' institute was established in 1838. The trade consists principally in the manufacture of articles of iron, both cast and wrought, such as screws, hinges, gun-locks, gun-barrels, coach-ironmongery, agricultural implements, apparatus for gas-lights, &c, many of which are for exportation. In the vicinity are numerous mines, yielding a superior kind of coal, which, from its great heat, is admirably adapted for the forges; and a species of iron is here manufactured, termed Damascus iron, of which the best gun-barrels are made; it passes through several processes, and when finished throws up a beautiful figure on the surface of the barrel by some chymical application. The works of Messrs. James Russell and Sons, where wrought-iron gas-tubes, patent machinery, and other articles are manufactured, employ 200 hands. On a small rivulet are an extensive manufactory for edgetools, and some corn-mills. A branch of the Walsall and Birmingham canal extends to the western extremity of the town; and about a mile from it is the Bescotbridge station of the Liverpool and Birmingham railway, which passes through the parish. The market is on Friday; and fairs take place on May 6th and August 3rd, for cattle. The town is governed by a constable chosen at the manorial court held here in October. The parish comprises by admeasurement 2096 acres, of which between 300 and 400 are broken up by pits.

The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £4. 3. 4., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £301; impropriators, Sir E. D. Scott, Bart., and E. T. Foley, Esq. The church, occupying an elevated site supposed to be that of the ancient castle, and commanding a beautiful prospect, is a fine structure principally in the later English style, with an octagonal east end, and contains some old wooden seats, and monuments to several families of eminence. It underwent a complete repair in 1827-8, at an expense of £5600, towards which the Incorporated Society gave £500; the organ cost £500, and was the gift of Benjamin Wright, Esq., of Birmingham. Two new ecclesiastical parishes have been formed under the act 6th and 7th Victoria, cap. 37; called, respectively, St. John's and St. James'. St. John's church, consecrated in May 1846, is in the early English style, with a tower, and cost about £4000, partly defrayed by the Church Commissioners: the tower is temporarily covered with slate; the spire, when erected, will cost £500. The length of the edifice is 130 feet, the width 54 feet, and the height, to the apex of an open timbered roof, 50 feet: above one-half of the seats are free. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Crown and the Bishop of Lichfield, alternately; income, £200. St. James' church, of which the first stone was laid in May 1847, is also in the early English style, with a tower; it contains 870 sittings, and was erected at a cost of £2500. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the same patronage, with an income of £150. At Moxley is an incumbency for parts of Wednesbury, Darlaston, and Bilston parishes. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, Primitive Methodists, and Wesleyans. William, the first lord Paget, secretary of state to Henry VIII., was a native of the town.

Wednesfield

WEDNESFIELD, a township, in the parish and union of Wolverhampton, S. division of the hundred of Offlow and of the county of Stafford, 2 miles (N. E. by E.) from Wolverhampton; containing 3168 inhabitants. Edward the Elder, in 911, defeated the Danes here, when two of their kings, two earls, and nine other chiefs, were slain; and there were formerly two barrows on the supposed site of the battle, one of which has been levelled. The township comprises 3326a. 3r. 11p. Coal and ironstone are plentiful, and three or four mines are at present in operation: locks and keys, chain-cables, and other articles in iron, are manufactured. The Essington and Wyrley canal, and the Liverpool and Birmingham railway, run through the township, the Wolverhampton station of the latter being within its limits. A good hotel has lately been built by John Gough, Esq. A pleasure-fair is held on the Monday nearest to the 25th of June. The living of Wednesfield is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of Mr. Gough, with a net income of £136: the tithes have been commuted for £1011. 16. 6., payable to the Duke of Cleveland. The chapel, dedicated to St. Thomas, is a plain brick building, erected in 1750, and enlarged in 1843, to accommodate 885 persons, at the cost of the patron and parishioners, assisted by grants from the Diocesan and Incorporated Societies. There are places of worship for Wesleyans and Lady Huntingdon's Connexion.

Weedon

WEEDON, a hamlet, in the parish of Hardwicke, union of Aylesbury, hundred of Cottesloe, county of Buckingham, 2¾ miles (N.) from Aylesbury; containing 428 inhabitants.

Weedon, or Weedon-Bec (St. Peter and St. Paul)

WEEDON, or Weedon-Bec (St. Peter and St. Paul), a parish, in the union of Daventry, hundred of Fawsley, S. division of the county of Northampton, 4 miles (S. E. by E.) from Daventry; containing 2195 inhabitants. This place is supposed by Camden and other antiquaries to be the Benevenna of the Romans, but that station is now generally referred to Borough Hill, near Daventry. Wulfhere, the first Christian king of Mercia, had a palace here, which, after his death, was converted by his daughter Werburgh into a nunnery, of which she became abbess, and which was destroyed by the Danes in the ninth century. William the Conqueror made a religious establishment at this place a cell or alien priory to the abbey of Bee, in Normandy, whence Weedon derived the affix to its name. The parish comprises 2000 acres by admeasurement, and is watered by the river Nene, which takes its rise a few miles distant; some of the land is very rich, the surface is undulated, and the scenery pretty. The village, situated in a valley, is divided into Upper and Lower Weedon; the latter portion is partly on the Holyhead road, at its junction with the road from Northampton to Daventry. The London and Birmingham railway passes through the parish, and has a station here. An act was passed in 1846 for a railway hence to Northampton, about six miles in length. Shoes are extensively manufactured, for the sale-shops in London, and for exportation, especially to the West Indies; and many young females are engaged in making lace. Above the village is the royal military depôt, one of the most magnificent establishments of the kind in Europe, consisting of a handsome centre with two detached wings forming the residence of the principal officers, and, on the summit of the hill, barracks for 500 men, where troops are always stationed. At the bottom of the lawn are eight storehouses and four magazines, which, till within a few years, contained 240,000 stand of small arms, exclusively of a proportionate quantity of artillery and ammunition. A cut communicating with the Grand Junction canal affords a facility of conveyance for stores to any part of the kingdom. Attached to the buildings are shops for artificers of every kind connected with the establishment, and an hospital with accommodation for sixty patients. A part of the buildings is now converted into additional barracks, and another part into a military prison. Courts leet are held occasionally, and a court baron annually; near Dodford Mill is a spot called Gallows Furlong, where criminals were anciently executed. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £11; net income, £240; patron and impropriator, T. R. Thornton, Esq., of Brockhall. The tithes were commuted for land in 1776, and there are 18 acres of old glebe. The church, with the exception of the tower, was taken down and rebuilt in 1825: the parsonage-house occupies the site of the ancient palace of Wulfhere. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans; and a school endowed with about £100 per annum. The Roman Watling-street passes through the parish.

Weedon-Loys (St. Peter and St. Mary)

WEEDON-LOYS (St. Peter and St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Towcester, hundred of GreensNorton, S. division of the county of Northampton, 6¼ miles (W. by S.) from Towcester; containing, with the hamlets of Milthorpe and Weston, 501 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6. 17. 6.; net income, £462; patrons and impropriators, the Provost and Fellows of King's College, Cambridge. In the neighbourhood is a mineral spring called St. Loy's or St. Lewis's well.

Weeford (St. Mary)

WEEFORD (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Lichfield, S. division of the hundred of Offlow and of the county of Stafford, 4 miles (S. S. E.) from Lichfield; containing, with the hamlets of Packington and Swinfen, 426 inhabitants, of whom 276 are in the township of Weeford. This place is supposed to have taken its name from a ford on the line of the Roman Watlingstreet, called Way-ford. Within the parish is the lowe termed Offlow, which gives name to the hundred. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £80; patron, the Bishop of Lichfield.

Week (St. Mary)

WEEK (St. Mary), a parish, in the union and hundred of Stratton, E. division of Cornwall, 6 miles (S.) from Stratton; containing 788 inhabitants. This place, which appears to have been formerly of more importance than it is at present, is in old records denominated a borough, and the occupiers of certain fields are still called Burgage-holders. The parish is situated on the road from Launceston to Stratton, and comprises 5600 acres, of which 216 are common or waste. Stone is quarried for building and for the repair of roads. The surface is undulated, and some of the higher grounds command views of the surrounding scenery, which is finely varied. Fairs for bullocks and sheep are held on the 29th of July, 15th of September, and the Wednesday before Christmas-day. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £17, and in the gift of SydneySussex College, Cambridge: the tithes have been commuted for £450, and the glebe comprises 84 acres, with a house. The church, situated on elevated ground, is an ancient building with a stately tower. The Wesleyans have a place of worship. A chantry, with a free school, was founded and endowed in the time of Henry VIII., by Dame Thomasine Percival, but was suppressed in the reign of Edward VI.; some portions of the building may be traced, and the well is still remaining. Adjoining the churchyard is the site of an old fortress, called Castle Hill.

Week

WEEK, a hamlet, in the parish of South Brent, union of Axbridge, hundred of Brent with Wrington, E. division of Somerset; with 72 inhabitants.

Week

WEEK, a tything, partly in the parish of Drayton, but chiefly in that of Curry-Revell, union of Langport, hundred of Abdick and Bulstone, W. division of Somerset; containing 60 inhabitants.

Week

WEEK, or Wick, a tything, in the parish of St. Cuthbert, without the limits of the city of Wells, union of Wells, hundred of Wells-Forum, E. division of Somerset; containing 93 inhabitants.

Week

WEEK, a hamlet, in the parish of Stogursey, union of Williton, hundred of Cannington, W. division of Somerset; containing 28 inhabitants.

Week (St. Mary)

WEEK (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Winchester, hundred of Buddlesgate, Kingsclere and N. divisions of the county of Southampton; adjoining the city of Winchester (N. W. by W.), and containing 341 inhabitants. On the boundary of this parish formerly stood the church of St. Anastasia; and another, dedicated to St. Mary, is supposed to have existed in 1300, at Fullflood, in Week, to which the present church was a chapel. In the field opposite the site of the church of St. Anastasia, are some remains of intrenchments thrown up by the royal army under Lord Hopton, previously to the battle of Cheriton. The seal of Ælfric, Earl of Mercia in the tenth century, notorious for his treacheries, was found a few years since in afield here, and presented to the British Museum. The parish comprises 1000 acres by computation: it is traversed by the road from Winchester to Stockbridge, and the Winchester station of the South-Western railroad is situated within its limits. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £12. 19. 2., and in the gift of the Bishop of Winchester: the tithes have been commuted for £250, and the glebe comprises one acre. Part of the parish is bounded by the old castle walls of Winchester; the ancient fosse which surrounded the western walls of the city has been filled up, and thirteen houses erected on the site, within this parish. The union workhouse is situated here.

Week

WEEK, a tything, in the parish of Bourne, poorlaw union of Whitchurch, hundred of Evingar, Kingsclere and N. divisions of the county of Southampton; containing 88 inhabitants.

Weeke-Champflower, in the parish of Bruton, county Somerset.—See Wyke-Champflower.

WEEKE-CHAMPFLOWER, in the parish of Bruton, county Somerset.—See Wyke-Champflower.

Weekley (St. Mary)

WEEKLEY (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Kettering, hundred of Corby, N. division of the county of Northampton, 1¾ mile (N. E. by N.) from Kettering; containing 271 inhabitants. It is situated on the road from Kettering to Stamford, and comprises 1560a. 2r. 23p., of which about 264 acres are woodland, and the rest arable and pasture. The soil is marked by several varieties, consisting in some parts of light earth, and in others of clayey admixtures. Boughton House, here, the seat of the Duke of Buccleuch, is a very large mansion in the Elizabethan style, with splendidly painted ceilings, and containing many original portraits of celebrated characters of the reigns of Elizabeth, James I., &c, with other valuable paintings. In the park are some noble cedar-trees, limes, and chesnuts, and fine old elms, disposed in avenues several miles in length, giving to the scenery of this part of the county its distinguishing features. Limestone is found in the parish, and is used for building and the repair of roads. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £9. 0. 5.; net income, £94; patron, the Duke of Buccleuch. The tithes were commuted for an allotment of land in 1807; there is a glebe-house, and the glebe contains 70 acres. The church is ornamented with a spire, and the interior, which is very neatly furnished, contains some monuments to the Montagu family, among which is one to Edward Montagu, Knt., chief justice of the king's bench, who died in 1555. A school is endowed with land producing £17 per annum; and near the south side of the church, is an hospital for seven poor men and two widows, endowed with property in land, valued at £130 per annum, by Sir Edward Montagu. The remains of Weekley Hall, now converted into cottages, are encompassed by a moat.

Weel

WEEL, a township, in the parish of St. John, Beverley, union, and liberties of the borough, of Beverley, E. riding of York, 2¼ miles (E.) from Beverley; containing 133 inhabitants. This township, called in Domesday book Wela, comprises 1075 acres, of which a portion was inclosed in the year 1785, under an act then passed. The abbey of Meaux held some property here.

Weeley (St. Andrew)

WEELEY (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union and hundred of Tendring, N. division of Essex, 9½ miles (S. S. E.) from Manningtree; containing 580 inhabitants. The parish comprises 2051 acres, of which 30 are common or waste land; the situation is pleasant, and the soil fertile. Here were formerly extensive barracks. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £12, and in the gift of Brasenose College, Oxford: the tithes have been commuted for £578, and the glebe contains 7 acres. The church has an embattled tower built of remarkably large bricks. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Weelsby

WEELSBY, a hamlet, in the parish of Clee, union of Caistor, wapentake of Bradley-Haverstoe, parts of Lindsey, county of Lincoln; comprising about 1000 acres, and containing 61 inhabitants. This place, which is said to have once contained a village, is included within the parliamentary borough of Great Grimsby. The handsome seat of Weelsby House is situated a short distance south-east of the town.

Weethley (St. James)

WEETHLEY (St. James), a parish, in the union of Alcester, Alcester division of the hundred of Barlichway, S. division of the county of Warwick, 3 miles (S. W. by W.) from Alcester; containing 57 inhabitants, and comprising about 583 acres. The living is annexed to the rectory of Kinwarton: the tithes have been commuted for £100.

Weeting

WEETING, a parish, in the union of Thetford, hundred of Grimshoe, W. division of Norfolk, 2 miles (N.) from Brandon-Ferry; containing 303 inhabitants. This parish is on the road from London to Lynn, through Brandon; and is bounded on the south by the Lesser Ouse, which separates the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Weeting Hall is a beautiful residence: in the park are situated the church of All Saints, and the ruins of St. Mary's. The parish contains about 1500 acres of plantation, well stocked with game; and on the Broomhall estate is a fine sheet of water called the Mere, abounding in wild-fowl and fish. A fair for cattle is held at Broomhall, in July. The living comprises the united rectories of All Saints and St. Mary, valued jointly in the king's books at £18. 9. 9½.; net income, £470; patrons, the Master and Fellows of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge: the glebe contains 140 acres. Some slight remains exist of an Augustine priory founded at Broomhall about the time of King John, and granted by a bull of Clement VII., in May 1528, to Cardinal Wolsey. Within the park are the ruins of a moated castle; and about two miles to the north-east are "Grimes Graves," with a mound or keep on the east side, the whole covering about fourteen acres. On the south is a dyke called the Devil's Ditch; and about half a mile to the east are the remains of Weeting Cross, much resorted to by pilgrims in former times, when visiting the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Weeton

WEETON, with Preese, a township, and ecclesiastical parish, in the parish of Kirkham, union of the Fylde, hundred of Amounderness, N. division of Lancashire, 3¼ miles (N. W. by W.) from the town of Kirkham; the township containing 545 inhabitants. This place, in Domesday book called Widetun, was early in the family of Walter. Theobald de Botiller, a descendant of Theobald Walter, held the manor in the 33rd of Henry III.; and in the reign of Edward III., James, son of Edmund le Botiller or Butler, Earl of Ormonde, was the lord. The manor was eventually held by Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Butler, Lord Ossory, who in 1673 was married to the 9th Earl of Derby, from whom it has descended to the present earl. The township comprises 2824 acres, of which 64 are common or waste land; the surface is rather elevated, and the soil tolerably good. Evidence of the former consequence of the place exists in its court baron, its bailiff, and its ancient fair for horned-cattle, and small wares, held on Trinity-Monday and the following day. The Preston and Wyre railway passes through.

The township, together with Great and Little Plumpton, and Greenhalgh, form the ecclesiastical parish of Weeton: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar of Kirkham. The tithes of Weeton township have been commuted for £386 payable to the Dean and Chapter of Christ-Church, Oxford, and £51. 19. 11. to the vicar. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, was built in 1842, at a cost of £600, and is in the early English style, with a campanile turret. There is a Methodist place of worship; and adjacent to the church is a school. In Sept. 1846, a labourer, while cutting a trench near the Roman military way at Weeton, discovered a Roman-British celt of superior workmanship and size, very sharp at the edge, and made of bellmetal.

Weeton

WEETON, a township, in the parish of Harewood, Upper division of the wapentake of Claro, W. riding of York, 6 miles (E. N. E.) from Otley; containing 385 inhabitants. It is situated on the north side of the Wharfe, and comprises about 1250 acres: the village is a short distance from the river. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Weetsleet, or Weetsted

WEETSLEET, or Weetsted, a township, in the parish of Long Benton, union of Tynemouth, E. division of Castle ward, S. division of Northumberland, 6 miles (N. by E.) from Newcastle; containing 1003 inhabitants. This township, which is the most northern in the parish, comprises 2229a. 2r. 7p., and is intersected by the road from Newcastle to Morpeth. A large colliery was opened at Seaton-Burn, within its limits, by Lord Ravensworth and partners, in 1841-2; and at Wideopen are some extensive quarries of stone. The tithes of corn and hay have been commuted for £365. 11., and those payable to the vicar for £25.— See Seaton-Burn.

Weetwood

WEETWOOD, a township, in the parish of Chatton, union of Glendale, E. division of Glendale ward, N. division of Northumberland, 2 miles (N. E.) from Wooler. It lies east of the road between Wooler and Berwick, and upon the north bank of the Till, at a short distance south from Horton Castle; and is delightfully situated. A fair is held on Whit-Tuesday, when there are very large shows of cattle, horses, and sheep: servants, also, are hired at this fair.

Weever

WEEVER, a township, in the parish of Middlewich, union, and First division of the hundred, of Eddisbury, S. division of the county of Chester, 4¼ miles (W. S. W.) from Middlewich; containing 191 inhabitants. It comprises 992 acres, partly a clay and partly a sand soil.