Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/827

Rh WIELD. 819 WIGGENHALL ST. GERMAN 3. are earthenware works. The principal residence is Widwortliy Court, the mansion of Sir E. M. Elton, Bart., who is chief landowner. The living is a rect. in the dioc. of Exeter, val. 200. The church, dedicated to St. Cuthbert, contains the effigy of a knight in armour and a monument by Bacon to J. Marwood. The register dates from 1540. There is a school partially endowed. WIELD, a par. in the hund. of Bishop's Sutton, co. Hants, 6 miles W. of Alton. The living is a perpet. cur. in the dioc. of Winchester, val. 70. The church, dedicated to St. James, contains a monument to Sir Richard Wallop, an ancestor of the Earl of Portsmouth. The Primitive Methodists have a chapel. WIER, an islet in Wier Sound, one of the Orkney group, coast of Scotland, 1 mile S.E. of Rousay. WIGAN, a par., post, and market town, municipal and parliamentary borough, exercising separate juris- diction, but locally in the hunds. of West Derby and Salford, co. Lancaster, 17 miles N.W. of Manchester, 30 S. of Lancaster, and 195J N.W. of London by rail- way, or 199 by road. It has stations on the London and North-Western and the Lancashire and Yorkshire railways. The par. contains, besides the borough and tnshp. of its own name, the tnshps. of Abram, Aspull, Billinge Chapel End, Billingo Higher End, Dal ton, Huigh, Hindley, Ince, Orrell, Pemberton, Up Holland, and Winstanley. It is situated on the banks of the Douglas, which rises under Rivington Pike, and was made navigable in 1719 to its junction with the Ribble, but which is now superseded by the I/eeds and Liverpool canal. From the junction of three Roman roads at this point it has been supposed to occupy the site of a Roman station ; but seems rather to owe its origin to a castle built during the Saxon period, and suid to have been the scene of some sanguinary struggles between the Saxons and Britons. It is a borough by prescription, having been first chartered by Henry III., and sent two members to parliament twice in the reign of Edward I., but not again till that of Edward VI. In Lcland's time it was "as big as Warrington, but better builded." In the Civil War it took the side of the Royalists, and was often the head-quarters of the Earl of Derby, who, in 1651, was defeated here by Colonel Ijlburne.. In 1745 it was visited by Prince Charles Edward the Pretender, who was sheltered in the Bishop- gate house for several days, while he was endeavouring to effect his escape from the kingdom. Under the Municipal Reform Act it was divided into five wards Tiz., Scholes, St. George's, Queen-street, Swinley, and All Saints' wards 'and is governed by a mayor, 10 aldermen, and 30 town councillors, assisted by a recorder, coroner, town clerk, and other officers, with the style of " mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of the borough of Wigan." The borough, the bounds being those of the township, returns two members to parliament. The mayor is returning officer. The population of the borough in 1851 was 31,948, and in 1861, 37,658, inhabiting 6,696 houses. The town, which stands on teveral acclivities, consists of the old town on the right, and of the more modern suburb of Scholes on the left bank of the Douglas, here spanned by several bridges. Both are irregularly built, the streets of the oliler portion being narrow and crooked, but in the modern part there are several new streets of good houses; the main street is nearly a mile and a half ill length, running N. and S., from which the other treets diverge towards the E. and W. It is lighted with gas, paved, and well supplied with water. The public buildings are the townhall, in the market-place, rebuilt in 1720 ; the Public Hall, in King-street; Moot Hal), Corn Exchange, and Commercial Buildings, mechanics' institute and reading-rooms, library and museum, dispensary, borough gaol, a pillar to Sir J. Tyldesley, the Royalist, put up by Sheriff Rigby in 1679 ; theatre, union poorhouse, savings-bank, two com- nii-rciul banks, corn-mills, gas-works, besides about 20 factories and spinning mills, comprising some of the I&rgost in the kingdom. An extensive coal-field sur- rounds the town, yielding cannel and other coal ; and the easy means of transit by water and railway give peculiar facilities for manufactures, which are carried on to a large extent. The staple productions are calicoes, fustians, and other cotton, fabrics; linens, checks, cotton twist, ginghams, and table-cloths ; there are besides several brass and iron foundries, iron forges, corn -mills, blacksmiths' workshops, rope -walks, and dye works. Wigan is the head of a Poor-law Union, new County Court district and superintendent registry. It is likewise a sessions town and polling place for the county elections. In the immediate vicinity of the town are The Larches, Bellingham Lodge, and West- wood House, to which last is attached a Roman Catholic chapel, dedicated to the Sacre Cceur. The living is a rect.* in the dioc. of Chester, val. 1,600. The parish church, dedicated to All Saints, was restored in 1850, and contains monuments to the Bradshaighs of Haigli from the reign of Edward III., and a monument to Bishop Hale, who was once rector. The other churches are St. George's, erected in 1781 ; St. Thomas's, St. Catherine's, and St. James's. There are besides eight churches in the parish, most of which are in the patron, of the rector, the Hon. and Rev. G. T. 0. Bridgeman, M. A., who is also rural dean. The Independents, Wesleyans, Primitive and Free Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, and Christian Brethren have chapels. There are a free grammar school, founded in the reign of James I., which has an income from endowment of 250 ; a blue-coat school, established in 1773, but now united with the National schools; also National, British, Roman Catholic, Wesleyan, ragged, and Sunday schools. The local charities produce about 1,200 per annum, includ- ing the school endowments. Market days are Monday and Friday. Fairs are held on the day before Holy Thursday, 27th June, and 28th October. WIGBOROUGH, GREAT, a par. in tho hund. of Winstree, co. Essex, 7 miles S.W. of Colchester, its post town. The parish is bounded on tho S. by a creclc of the river Blackwater, called the Verley, and at high water about 100 acres are inundated. The village, situated on the road from Maldon to Colchester, was formerly of much greater importance than at pre- sent. At the hamlet of Salton-Wigborough were an- ciently extensive salt works. The manor at the time of Domesday survey belonged to the Abbess of Burking, and subsequently passed to the priory of St. Osyth. Near the church is a tumulus, supposed to mark tho spot where those slain in a battle with tho northern pirates were buried. The living is a rect. in the dioc. of Rochester, val. .600. The church is dedicated to St. Stephen. There is a chapel for Independents at Tiptree Heath. A number of ancient coins, iu an earthen jar, were found in the marshes at the end of the last century. WIGBOROUGH, LITTLE, a par. in the hund. of Winstree, co. Essex, 1 mile S.E. of Great Wigborough. The land is marshy pasture, chiefly belonging to the governors of the Charter House, London, who are lords of tho manor. The parish is bounded on the N. by the Mersea Channel, and on tho S. by Verley Channel. The village is on Verley Creek, at the mouth of the river Blackwater. The living is a rect. in the dioc. of Rochester, val. 252, in the patron, of tho Charter House. The church is dedicated to St. Nicholas. WIGDON, a tythg. in the par. of Yeovil, co. Somerset. WIGGENHALL ST. GERMAN'S, a par. in the hund. of Freebridge-Marsland, co. Norfolk, 7 miles N.W. of Downham Market, and 4 S.W, of Lynn. The village is divided by the river Great Ouso into two por- tions, connected with each other by a bridge. The sur- face is flat, and a considerable portion of the land lies below high-water mark. The four Wiggenhalls are all in the manor of Fitton, and are for the most part below the level of the river Ouse, which is confined by higli banks, and in this part of its course conducted through an artificial channel called tho " Eau Brink" cut, which was straightened in 1835. The living is a vie. in the