Wainfleet - Walcott

A Topographical Dictionary of England. Originally published by S Lewis, London, 1848.

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'Wainfleet - Walcott', in A Topographical Dictionary of England, (London, 1848) pp. 432-436. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp432-436 [accessed 17 March 2024]

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Wainfleet

WAINFLEET, a market-town, in the union of Spilsby, Marsh division of the wapentake of Candleshoe, parts of Lindsey, county of Lincoln, 39½ miles (E. S. E.) from Lincoln, and 128 (N. by E.) from London; containing 2257 inhabitants. In the time of the Romans, the whole province is said to have been supplied from this place with salt made from sea-water; and a road across the fens, still called the Salters' road, is supposed to have been the Roman way between Bannovallium and Lindum. Wainfleet returned one burgess to the grand council in the 11th of Edward III.; and, in 1359, supplied two ships of war for the armament prepared for invading Brittany. The town is situated on a creek, in a marshy district; but in consequence of the inclosure of the East fen, the waters have been carried off by a wide drain to Boston Scalf, which has so reduced the creek as to preclude the entrance of any but small craft. It is believed that the town was formerly higher up the river, chiefly because the old church of All Saints, taken down in 1820, stood at High Wainfleet, about a mile and a half distant. The river is here called the Haven, and further up the Limb; it is navigable for three miles, and might easily be improved and extended. The market is on Saturday; and fairs are held on the third Saturday in May for cattle, and on October 24th for sheep, and for pleasure.

The town comprises the parishes of All Saints, St. Mary, and St. Thomas, containing respectively 731, 140, and 1386 inhabitants. All Saints' parish contains by admeasurement 1590 acres, of which 530 are arable, and 1060 meadow and pasture; the soil is partly heavy, and partly of lighter quality. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £16. 3. 6½., and in the patronage of the Crown: the tithes have been commuted for £406. 9., and the glebe comprises 23 acres. The present church was built at an expense of £3000. St. Mary's parish contains 5874a. 1r. 19p. of arable and pasture land, in nearly equal portions. The living is a perpetual curacy, valued in the king's books at £8. 13. 4.; net income, £201; patrons and impropriators, the Governors of Bethlehem Hospital, London, whose tithes have been commuted for £620. St. Thomas' parish comprises 24a. 26p. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Barnes family; there is a burialground, but no remains of the church. The Society of Friends and the Wesleyans have places of worship. A free grammar school was founded in 1424, by William Patten, generally known as William of Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, lord high chancellor of England in the reign of Henry VI., and founder of Magdalen College, Oxford; the master receives a stipend of £11. 6. 8. per annum, and has, in addition, 17 acres of land and a rent-free residence. Another school is supported by the governors of Bethlehem Hospital; and some lands producing £23 per annum, and about £13 from various bequests, are appropriated to the poor.

Waitby

WAITBY, a township, in the parish of KirkbyStephen, East ward and union, county of Westmorland, 1¾ mile (W.) from Kirkby-Stephen; containing 54 inhabitants. It comprises 972 acres, of which 450 are common or waste land. A school was erected in 1680, by James Highmore, citizen of London, who endowed it with £400, now producing £40 per annum, and who also left £5. 5. per annum to the poor.

Waith (St. Martin)

WAITH (St. Martin), a parish, in the union of Louth, wapentake of Bradley-Haverstoe, parts of Lindsey, county of Lincoln, 6¾ miles (S. by E.) from Grimsby; containing 49 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £2. 14. 2.; net income, £86; patrons and impropriators, the Haigh family. The tithes were commuted for land and corn-rents in 1807.

Waitham-Hill

WAITHAM-HILL, with Mosshouses, Marshfield, and Herdhouse, an extra-parochial district, adjacent to the chapelry of Broughton-in-Furness, in the union of Ulverston, hundred of Lonsdale north of the Sands, N. division of the county of Lancaster; containing 36 inhabitants.

Wakefield (All Saints)

WAKEFIELD (All Saints), a borough, markettown, and parish, and the head of a union, in the Lower division of the wapentake of Agbrigg, W. riding of York; containing, with the townships of Alverthorpe with Thornes, and Stanley with Wrenthorpe, and the chapelry of Horbury, 29,992 inhabitants, of whom 14,754 are in the town, 30 miles (S. W. by W.) from York, and 184 (N. N. W.) from London. This place, from the discovery of Roman coins, and from some slight traces of a military road intersecting the parish, about two miles from the town, has by certain writers been regarded as the site of a Roman station connecting Cambodunum with Legeolium. Its name, in the Domesday survey Wachefeld, is of Saxon origin. In the reign of Edward the Confessor, it formed part of the royal demesnes; and, after the Conquest, was granted by Henry I. to William, Earl Warren, with whose descendants it remained till the reign of Edward III., when, in default of issue male, it escheated to the crown, and was given by that monarch to his fifth son, Edmund de Langley, upon whom he conferred the title of Earl of Cambridge, and who, in the reign of Richard II., was for his important services created Duke of York. On his decease, the manor came into the possession of his son Edward, Earl of Rutland, from whom, in failure of heirs, it passed to Richard de Coningsberg (second son of Edmund de Langley), who had married Anne, daughter of Roger de Mortimer, Earl of March, and whose son Richard, aspiring to the crown in the reign of Henry VI., was killed at the battle of Wakefield. From this time, the manor remained in the crown, till the reign of Charles I., who granted it to Henry, Earl of Holland, by marriage with whose daughter it was conveyed to Sir Gervase Clifton, of Clifton, in the county of Nottingham. After passing into the hands of other families, it was purchased in 1700, by the first Duke of Leeds, of the heirs of Sir Christopher Clapham; and is now the property of Sackville Walter Lane Fox, Esq., who married the daughter of the late Duke of Leeds.

Arms.

In 1460, after the battle of Northampton, in which the Lancastrians had sustained a signal defeat, and Henry VI. had been taken prisoner, his queen, Margaret, raised an army of 20,000 men in this part of the country. The Duke of York advanced to oppose her with a body of 5000 men, but on his arrival near Wakefield, learning the great superiority of her numbers, retired to Sandal Castle, his baronial residence, and resolved to wait the arrival of his son, the Earl of March, with the remainder of his forces. The queen, however, appearing before the castle with the main body of her army, commanded by the Dukes of Somerset and Exeter, York suffered himself to be provoked to battle, and drawing up his forces on Wakefield Green, the rear of his army was attacked by some troops which the queen had placed in ambush, while his front was engaged with the main body of the queen's army. The battle soon terminated in the total defeat of the Yorkists, and the duke and 3000 of his men were left dead on the field; the duke's body being recognised among the slain, the head was taken off by Margaret's order, and affixed to the gates of York. The spot where the duke fell, about a mile from the town, was formerly inclosed with a fence; and a gold ring was found in that vicinity some few years since, which is supposed to have been worn by him. During the parliamentary war, the town suffered materially from the hostilities of the contending parties, by which it was alternately occupied. On one occasion, General Fairfax was despatched from Leeds to dislodge the royalists, who, having taken possession of the town, had drawn themselves up in battle array, and who maintained their position against all his efforts, till he brought two pieces of cannon to bear upon them from the churchyard.

The town is principally situated on the gentle acclivities of an eminence rising from the banks of the Calder, over which is a handsome bridge of eight arches, affording a commodious approach from the south. It contains some spacious and regular streets of well-built houses of brick, is paved and flagged, lighted with gas, and supplied with water under acts of parliament. Great improvements have been made within the last few years, more especially on the north side, where some handsome ranges of houses have been erected, with numerous detached mansions surrounded with shrubberies and plantations, forming a pleasing appendage to the town, called St. John's, or St. John's Place. A public library and newsroom is supported by subscription, for which a building has been erected in Wood-street, containing an assembly-room, in which concerts and other public amusements take place; also rooms for a mechanics' institution, consisting of upwards of 500 members, and having a library of 1300 volumes. The building, which is in the Grecian style, and of the Ionic order, is highly ornamental to the neighbourhood in which it is situated. A literary society was established in 1827; and a geological society, of which Earl Fitzwilliam is president, has a valuable and well-assorted museum. The theatre, in Westgate, was erected by James Banks, Esq., by whom it was leased to Tate Wilkinson and his trustees; in 1836 Mr. Banks' heirs sold it to Mr. Joseph Smedley: it is usually opened in September, by the York, Hull, and Leeds company. Under the newsroom and library in Wood-street are some public baths. The works for lighting the town were erected at an expense of £12,500, raised in £25 shares, by a company incorporated by act of parliament in 1822; they contain four gasometers, one of which will hold 24,000 cubic feet of gas. An act for a better supply of gas was passed in 1847.

The manufacture of woollen-cloths, and the spinning of worsted-yarn, were formerly carried on to a very great extent, affording employment to nearly the whole population: Leland, describing the town, says, " it standeth now al by clothyng." But these manufactures have been principally transferred to other towns in the West riding, chiefly to Leeds, and the trade is now mainly in corn, cattle, and wool. The shares of the original proprietors of the Tammy Hall, a spacious building erected for the sale of the lighter kinds of woollen-stuffs, have all been purchased; and the building has been converted into a power-loom factory. A small portion of the inhabitants, are still employed in making woollen and worsted goods. There are also some large dyeing establishments, works for the manufacture of starch, several breweries and malting establishments, roperies, copperas-works, iron-foundries, and some yards for building boats and sloops. The trade in corn is very extensive; according to the official returns, more wheat is sold here than at any other market in the north, and warehouses for storing corn have been erected on so large a scale that 200,000 quarters may be deposited in them at once. Near the bridge is the Soke mill, in which, with the exception of the inhabitants of Ossett, who have purchased their exemption, all persons within the jurisdiction of the soke are compelled to grind their corn. Great quantities of barley are grown in the neighbourhood, and more malt is made here than in any district of equal extent in the kingdom. The trade in wool is also very considerable; large quantities, the produce of the vicinity, are sold to the manufacturers in the adjacent towns. Coal, with which the surrounding districts abound, is brought to the town by tramroads from the several collieries, and is sent in sloops to various places. The river Calder was made navigable in 1698, and the Aire and Calder Navigation Company have their principal station near the bridge, with extensive wharfs and warehouses on the north side of the river, whence fly-boats start daily to Goole and Selby, and also to Dewsbury, Halifax, Todmorden, and Manchester. The navigation opens a direct communication with Hull, the East riding of York, Lincolnshire, and the whole of the eastern coast; the Barnsley canal with Barnsley and Sheffield; and the Calder and Hebble navigation, and the Huddersfield canal, with the southern part of Lancashire. The Midland line of railway passes about two miles to the south-east of Wakefield, where is the Oakenshaw station; and the Manchester and Leeds railway runs through the town, being conveyed by a viaduct of several arches over Kirkgate. An act was obtained in 1845 for a railway to Pontefract, Snaith, and Goole, 27 miles long.

The market, which is on Friday, is abundantly supplied with corn and provisions of all kinds; and a large market on alternate Wednesdays, for fat-cattle and sheep, is numerously attended from distant parts of the country. The market-cross, built by subscription about the year 1720, is a handsome structure of the Doric order, consisting of a circular colonnade, with entablature and cornice, and crowned by a lofty dome: a spiral staircase within affords an ascent to a large room lighted by a lantern, in which the commissioners for paving, lighting, and watching, hold their meetings. From the confined area of the market-place, the corn-market was many years since removed to the top of Westgate, where a spacious corn-exchange, of the Corinthian order, was erected at an expense of £10,000, under the superintendence of Mr. Moffat, of Doncaster; the great room is 99 feet in length, 46 in width, and 36 high. The cattle-market is held in an area on the south side of the town, comprising about 3½ acres, fitted up with pens and the various accommodations. An act for establishing a new general market-place was passed in 1847. Fairs for horses, horned-cattle, and pedlery, are held on the 4th and 5th of July, and on the 11th and 12th of November, the latter being also a statute-fair for hiring servants.

The town was formerly under the superintendence of a constable, appointed and sworn into office by the steward of the manor, at the court leet, which takes place half-yearly at the Moot-hall in Kirkgate. At present it is governed by a corporation, for which a charter was granted by Her Majesty in privy council, in November 1847. A petty-session for the district is held on Monday, by the county magistrates; and the Christmas quarter-sessions for the West riding are held by adjournment from Knaresborough, in the court-house in Wood-street, a handsome and appropriate building, first opened for the Christmas session of 1809. The powers of the county debt-court of Wakefield, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Wakefield. In the town are, the West riding register-office, a substantial stone building, enlarged by the erection of a fireproof wing in 1829; and the office of the clerk of the peace. The house of correction for the riding, near the bottom of Westgate, is an extensive pile of building constructed on the improved plan, the whole well adapted for classification; the prisoners are employed in weaving coarse cloths, calico, and linsey, and in other work. The town was constituted a parliamentary borough, with authority to send one member to parliament, by the act 2nd of William IV., cap. 45, the right of election, as in all the new boroughs, being vested in the householders registered to the annual value of £10 and upwards: the borough contains an area of 1036 acres. The parish comprises about 9000 acres; the soil, though various, is generally fertile, and the substratum abounds with different kinds of mineral produce.

The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £29. 19. 2.; net income, £537; patron, the Crown; impropriators, the Ramsden family, and others: the vicarial tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1793. The parochial church, situated on an eminence in the centre of the town, was erected in 1329, on the site of a Norman structure, and, with the exception of the tower and spire, was rebuilt on a large scale in 1469. It was subsequently partially reconstructed at various times; and the upper portion of the spire, which had been blown down by a violent gale, and never properly restored, was renewed in 1823. The lofty square embattled tower and the handsome spire are together 237 feet high. The interior abounds with elegant detail; the chancel is separated from the nave by an elaborately-carved screen of oak, and contains some rich tabernacle-work. An afternoon lectureship was founded in 1652, by Lady Camden, who endowed it with £100 per annum, in the gift of the Mercers' Company; and an evening lectureship was established by subscription in 1801, which is in the patronage of seven trustees, including the vicar. The district church dedicated to St. John, erected under a special act of parliament, at an expense of £10,000, in 1795, is finely situated in a spacious cemetery. It is a handsome structure in the modern style, with a tower surmounted by a cupola and dome, and contains more than 1000 sittings. The east window is embellished with scriptural subjects in stained glass: the altar-piece is ornamented with representations of the Crucifixion, the Agony, and the Resurrection of the Saviour; and in niches above are two figures representing the Law and the Gospel, painted to resemble sculpture. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar; net income, £118. Holy Trinity church was built at an expense of £4000, wholly by subscription; it is in the early English style, with a steeple, and contains 1000 sittings, of which one-third are let at a nominal rent, and the remainder are wholly free. This church was consecrated by the Bishop of Ripon, September 30th, 1843, and the living is in the patronage of Trustees. Two districts, named respectively St. Andrew's and St. Mary's, were endowed in 1844 by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners: the living of each is in the gift of the Crown and the Bishop alternately. The church for St. Andrew's district, built in 1845, is in the early English style, containing 700 sittings. On the bridge over the Calder is a chapel, supposed to have been erected by Edward III., and which was rebuilt by Edward IV. in memory of his father the Duke of York, who fell in the battle of Wakefield. It is a beautiful structure in the decorated English style, about ten yards in length and eight in width; the west front is extremely rich in detail, is divided into compartments by buttresses with canopied niches, and adorned with delicate tracery and every embellishment for which that graceful style is distinguished. The chapel was restored in 1847-8, at a cost of £2000. Churches have been erected at Alverthorpe, Horbury, Stanley, and Thornes, which are noticed under their several heads. There are also places of worship for Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents, Primitive Methodists, Wesleyans, Unitarians, and Roman Catholics.

The Free grammar school was established in 1595, by charter of Queen Elizabeth, and is endowed with property given by the Saville family, and various subsequent donations, producing an income of about £360. It is under the direction of fourteen governors, who are a body corporate, and appoint a head master with a salary of £160, and an usher with a salary of £80. Belonging to the foundation are six exhibitions of £80 each per annum, of which two to Clare Hall, Cambridge, were instituted by Thomas Cave; one to Queen's College, Oxford, by Lady Elizabeth Hastings; and three to either of the universities, by John Storie. The building is handsome and commodious, and contains a good library. Among the eminent persons educated here, were, Richard Bentley, D.D.; Dr. John Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury; and Dr. John Radcliffe, the munificent founder of the Radcliffe library at Oxford; all three of them natives of the town. The West Riding proprietary school, for which a spacious building, capable of receiving 250 scholars, was erected in 1833, after a design by Richard Lane, Esq., of Manchester, was established by a company of proprietors with a capital of £15,000. The Green-coat charity school was founded in 1707, by the trustees of the charity estates, and is endowed with lands given by various benefactors, including a gift of land appropriated by John Storie, in 1674, to the instruction of poor children. The whole produces an income of nearly £600 per annum, of which £73. 10. are paid to the master and £30 to the mistress of the school, and the remainder chiefly expended in clothing.

The almshouses in Almshouse-lane were founded in 1646, by Cotton Home, who endowed them with tenements and land now worth £161 per annum, augmented in 1669 with a similar bequest, producing £121; the funds altogether amount to £300 a year, of which five shillings per week are paid to ten women and £9 per annum to a nurse, and the remainder distributed among the inmates in coal and provisions. Almshouses for ten men, adjoining the former, were established in 1669, by William Horne, who assigned to them property now yielding £150 per annum, from which each of the almsmen receives £11. 14., with coal and some provisions. The whole of the almshouses were rebuilt in 1793. There are houses also at Brooksbank for five persons, founded in 1580, by Leonard Bate, who endowed them with property now valued at £46 a year. The management of all these almshouses is vested in the governors of the grammar school, who have likewise the distribution of a bequest by John Bromley, producing more than £700 per annum, for clothing and apprenticing boys, with whom £5 are given as a fee, £3 per annum to the master to provide clothing, and on the expiration of the youth's indentures, £5 to the master and £15 to himself if he has conducted himself well: £40 are distributed yearly from the fund among poor housekeepers. The town has also a bequest by Lady Bolles, in 1662, for apprenticing children, producing £56 per annum. The Dispensary, in Silver-street, was established by subscription, in 1824; its annual expenditure averages £400 per annum, and the number of patients 700. The House of Recovery for patients under contagious fever, on Westgate Common, was instituted in 1826, and has accommodation for ten patients. The West Riding pauper lunatic asylum, established under an act of parliament in 1808, was opened in 1818, and has since been considerably enlarged: the building cost £50,000. There are numerous provident institutions; benefit and friendly societies; and a savings' bank, in which the deposits amount to £50,000 and the number of depositors is about 1200. The poor-law union of Wakefield comprises 17 townships or places, containing a population of 45,648. Besides those already noticed, Dr. Thomas Zouch, Joseph Bingham, M.A., author of Origines Ecclesiasticæ, and Dr. John Burton, author of the Monasticon Eboracense, were natives of the town.

Wakeley

WAKELEY, an extra-parochial liberty, formerly a distinct parish, in the union of Buntingford, hundred of Edwinstree, county of Hertford, 2 miles (S. W.) from Buntingford; containing 7 inhabitants, and comprising 437 acres of land.

Wakering, Great (St. Nicholas)

WAKERING, GREAT (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union and hundred of Rochford, S. division of the county of Essex, 4½ miles (E. N. E.) from Southend; containing 860 inhabitants. It lies near the mouth of the Thames, where is a small convenient haven; and is traversed by the road to Foulness Island. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £20. 13. 4.; patron, the Bishop of London; impropriator, T. Clough, Esq. The great tithes have been commuted for £640, and the vicarial for £290; the impropriate glebe comprises 60, and the vicarial 2, acres. The church is a neat substantial structure, with a tower and spire. There is a place of worship for Independents.

Wakering, Little (St. Mary)

WAKERING, LITTLE (St. Mary), a parish, in the union and hundred of Rochford, S. division of Essex, 4½ miles (N. E. by E.) from Southend; containing 301 inhabitants. This parish is bounded on the south by the parish of Great Wakering, and includes Potten Island, which is formed by the river Bromhill and the haven of Wakering. It comprises 2694 acres, whereof 439 are common or waste. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £12, and in the gift of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London: the great tithes have been commuted for £390, with a glebe of 18 acres; and the vicarial for £235, with 2 acres and a house. The church is a small ancient edifice, with a tower, on which are the armorial bearings of Bishop Wakering.

Wakerley (St. Mary)

WAKERLEY (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Uppingham, hundred of Corby, N. division of the county of Northampton, 6¾ miles (E.) from Uppingham; containing 216 inhabitants. It is bounded on the east and north by the river Welland, separating it from the county of Rutland; and consists of 1804 acres. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £11. 12. 6.; net income, £100; patron, the Marquess of Exeter.

Walberswick (St. Andrew)

WALBERSWICK (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union and hundred of Blything, E. division of Suffolk, 1¾ mile (S. W. by S.) from Southwold; containing 339 inhabitants. It comprises by measurement 1672 acres, and is intersected by the navigable river Blyth, which falls into the sea at its northern extremity. The living is a perpetual curacy, held with that of Blythburgh; net income, £41; patron, Sir C. Blois, Bart.: the tithes have been commuted for £193. The church is in ruins, but a part of the south aisle has been fitted up for divine service: from the extent of the remains, it is probable that the place was formerly of much greater importance than it is at present.

Walberton (St. Mary)

WALBERTON (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of West Hampnett, hundred of Avisford, rape of Arundel, W. division of Sussex, 3½ miles (W. S. W.) from Arundel; containing 561 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the road from Arundel to Bognor, and comprises about 1500 acres, of which 100 are pasture, and the remainder arable land. The living is a discharged vicarage, with that of Yapton united, valued in the king's books at £10. 19. 2.; net income, £468; patron and appropriator, the Bishop of Chichester. The church is principally in the early English style. John Nash, in 1732, bequeathed a house and some land, with a rent-charge of £12, for teaching children. In a field near Airsford House was found, in the year 1817, a coffer of gritstone, resembling that of Petworth, containing numerous vessels of glass and Roman pottery of rude construction.

Walburn

WALBURN, a township, in the parish of Downholme, union of Richmond, wapentake of Hang-West, N. riding of York, 5 miles (S. W.) from Richmond; containing 24 inhabitants. It comprises about 1600 acres of high moorland, set out. in farms.

Walby

WALBY, a township, in the parish of Crosbyupon-Eden, union of Carlisle, Eskdale ward, E. division of Cumberland, 4 miles (N. E. by N.) from Carlisle; containing 49 inhabitants. The village appears to have derived its name from its situation near the great Roman wall.

Walcombe

WALCOMBE, a tything, in the parish of St. Cuthbert, without the limits of the city of Wells, in the union of Wells, hundred of Wells-Forum, E. division of Somerset; containing 31 inhabitants.

Walcot (St. Nicholas)

WALCOT (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of Sleaford, wapentake of Aveland, parts of Kesteven, county of Lincoln, 1½ mile (N. W.) from Folkingham; containing 173 inhabitants. This place appears to have formed part of the possessions of Sempringham Priory, and two pieces of land in which the monks of that convent had a prison are still called the Granges. The parish comprises by measurement 1750 acres, of which 754 are arable, 958 meadow and pasture, and 3 woodland: the soil is fertile, and easily convertible; the surface is undulated, and in parts hilly. There are some quarries of stone used chiefly for the roads. The living is a vicarage; net income, £159; patron and impropriator, Sir G. Heathcote, Bart., whose tithes have been commuted for £165. The church is principally in the decorated English style, with a tower surmounted by a fine crocketed spire: in the south aisle is a beautiful canopied niche with buttresses terminating in pinnacles; the east window is of very elegant design, and the church has some remains of ancient stained glass. On the edge of the fens is a powerful mineral spring.

Walcot (St. Swithin)

WALCOT (St. Swithin), a parish, in the union of Bath, partly within the city of Bath, and partly in the hundred of Bath-Forum, E. division of Somerset; containing 26,210 inhabitants. The parish includes those parts of the city lying on the north, north-east, and north-west sides of the parish of St. Michael; also some handsome ranges of buildings on the declivities of Lansdown and Beacon hills.—See Bath.

Walcote

WALCOTE, a hamlet, in the parish of Misterton, union of Lutterworth, hundred of Guthlaxton, S. division of the county of Leicester, 1¾ mile (E. by S.) from Lutterworth; containing 521 inhabitants. This is a large irregularly-built village, situated about half a mile east of the parish church. The soil in the vicinity is a dark rich mould, resting upon sand, with some gravel. At the inclosure of the commons in 1797, an allotment of eleven acres was awarded to the poor; of this, about three acres are let for £5. 10. a year, and the remainder is divided into garden-plots, and let to poor families at the rate of 9d. per hundred yards. The proceeds, £19, are distributed in the winter season among all the poor of the village. Walcote chapel, dedicated to St. Martin, has been destroyed. Land was assigned in lieu of tithes, in 1797.

Walcott

WALCOTT, a chapelry, in the parish of Billinghay, union of Sleaford, First division of the wapentake of Langoe, parts of Kesteven, county of Lincoln, 8¾ miles (N. E. by N.) from Sleaford; containing 633 inhabitants, and comprising 3138a. 2r. 34p. The chapel is dedicated to St. Oswald. There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists.

Walcott (All Saints)

WALCOTT (All Saints), a parish, in the Tunstead and Happing incorporation, hundred of Happing, E. division of Norfolk, 5¼ miles (E. by N.) from North Walsham; containing 172 inhabitants. It is situated on the eastern coast, and comprises 696a. 1r. 35p., of which 674 acres are arable. The living is a perpetual curacy, valued in the king's books at £30; net income, £80; patron and appropriator, the Bishop of Norwich, whose tithes have been commuted for £321. The church is a handsome structure in the decorated and later English styles, with a lofty square embattled tower; on the south side of the chancel are three sedilia of stone, and a piscina of elegant design. About thirty years since, a portion of waste land, containing nearly five acres, was awarded as a compensation to the poor for the loss they were sustaining by the inclosure; the proceeds are laid out in the purchase of coal.

Walcott

WALCOTT cum membris, a hamlet, in the parish of Holy Cross, Pershore, union, and Upper division of the hundred, of Pershore, Pershore and E. divisions of the county of Worcester, 2 miles (N. by W.) from Pershore; containing 383 inhabitants.