Wellingborough, a market town and parish in the hundred of HAMFORDSHOE, county of NORTHAMPTON, 10 miles (N.E. by E.) from Northampton, and 67 (N.N.W.) from London, containing 4454 inhabitants. The name is derived from the wells, or springs, that abound here, of which that denominated Red Well was formerly in such repute for its medicinal properties, that, in 1626, Charles I. and his queen resided in tents during a whole season, for the purpose of drinking its salubrious water at the source. In 1738, the town was nearly destroyed by fire, and rebuilt on the slope of a hill nearly a mile northward from the navigable river Nen : it consists of several streets lighted and pitched, the principal of them meeting in the market-place; the houses, built of red sand-stone, which abounds in the vicinity, are of modern style and handsome appearance. The chief articles of manufacture are boots and shoes, and bobbin-lace; the former was very extensive during the war, and is still consideranle; and the latter, though on the decline, employs many females and children: a silk-mill has been recently established. The market was granted by King John, at the request of the monks of Croyland abbey, the proprietors of the manor, which was subsequently held by Queen Elizabeth, after the dissolution; it is on Wednesday, and is a very considerable corn market. Fairs are on the Wednesdays in Easter and Whitsun-weeks, and October 29th; the last is a large one for livestock. Manorial courts are held annually in October; and petty sessions for the division, every week by the county magistrates, who assemble at the town hall, which has been recently erected by the feoffes, and is used for vestries and other public meetings.
The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Northampton, and diocese of Peterborough, rated in the king's books at £24. 1. 8. and in the patronage of Quintus Vivian, Esq. The church, dedicated to All Saints, is a spacious and handsome structure, combining specimens of the different styles of English architecture, with an elegant tower and spire; on the south side ia a Norman door, and in the interior are some ancient screen-work and stalls; the east window is richly ornamented with sculpture and tracery: the exterior is protected by an iron palisade. There are three places of worship for Independents, and one each for Baptists, the Society of Friends, and Wesleyan Methodists. A free grammar school, adjoining the church-yard, was founded in the 2nd of Edward VI., and endowed with the revenue of a guild of the Blessed Virgin, formerly attached to the church; the funds have received considerable augmentation from subsequent benefactors, and are under the management of sixteen feoffes: the head and under masters are elected by the inhabitants assessed to the land tax, and receive certain shares of the annual income. In 1711, a copyhold house was bequeathed by John Freeman, Esq., to be used as a charity school, in which twenty five boys are taught to read, and twenty five girls to read, sew and make lace: the salaries to the master and the mistresses are derived from invested legacies given by Samuel Knight, Mary Roan, and John Robinson, together with four-eighths of the rental of fifty-five acres of land, producing about £137.10. per annum, the remainder of which is appropriated to the head and under master of the free grammar school, and to two aged inhabitants not using parochial relief. There is a gift of land for the use of the poor, made, in the reign of Elizabeth, by a person unknown. The chalybeate spring, which flowed about half a mile northwest of the town, is now covered over, and, with other streams, supplies the reservoir of a corn-mill.
