A Heritage Trail brochure has been produced outlining
a brief history of Wellingborough and four of its larger parishes.
The Trail commences at The Castle, guiding its readers through the lives of some of the more colourful characters of the town – John Askham, Shoemaker poet, Sir Christopher Hatton and Hannah Sparke, heroine of the Great Fire of Wellingborough.
It also introduces some of the town’s finest historic buildings – Swanspool House Croyland Hall and Abbey, Tithe Barn and All Hallows Church.
Chester House Farm is a Grade II* listed building within a 40 acre Scheduled Ancient Monument. The site includes an Iron Age Village, Roman ruins and a deserted medieval village; 16th Century structures make up farm buildings. The project is to develop the site as a possible Heritage Gateway and visitor attraction.
The Town Centre Trail is approximately just over 1½ miles. It encourages local people and visitors to take an active interest in the history that has shaped the town of today and encourages visits to the local museums and sites of historical significance and interest.
The Council recently adopted a Shop Front Design guide to set the standard for Shop Fronts in the town and this in turn will preserve the historical element of the properties within the town centre.
A Brief History of Wellingborough
Although there is evidence of pre-historic and Roman occupation in the area, Wellingborough is essentially Anglo-Saxon in origin, occupied by an Anglo-Saxon war band in the early sixth Century, "Wendeling burh" - the stronghold of Waendel's people.
The Domesday Book of 1086 shows that approximately 250 people lived in "Wendleburie" at that time and from AD 948 to 1539 much of the area was in the hands of the fenland monastery of Crowland.
The Dissolution of the Monasteries handed ownership of the land back to the Crown. Queen Elizabeth I gave the manor and other parish land to Sir Christopher Hatton and a smaller portion to the Earl of Leicester. Sir Christopher bought the latter out, but division came again in 1616 when the old manor was purchased by the Earl of Warwick.
The two manors finally came together again when both were bought in the early nineteenth Century by John Vivian.
Early in the Civil War, the town was plundered for two days as a reprisal for its Royalist stance and prior to the Battle of Naseby in 1645, the town was full of Parliamentarian troops.
During the anarchic period after the long and bitter struggle between Crown and Parliament, the "Diggers", a party of agrarian communists led by Gerrard Winstanley, organised some of the people of Wellingborough to dig, plough and cultivate common land on the outskirts of the town.
At this time the "Wellinborrow" Digger manifesto mentions that 1169 persons in the town (with a population then of little more than 2000) were in extreme poverty. Following this uprising the elite Parliamentarian soldiers moved in, destroyed the community and forced the inhabitants to disperse.
The enclosure of the common fields was discussed at The Hind in 1765 and shortly after the main roads were turnpiked and toll gates erected at the four main entrances to the town.
Traditional cottage industries began to decline and soon Wellingborough had a reputation for shoe making, this remaining its most important industry until the mid twentieth century.
With the Industrial Revolution came an expansion of the town and since the Second World War there has again been dramatic changes in the size and make-up of the population, with an influx of people mainly from London and other cities.
Wellingborough is now very much a multi-cultural town, being the home to a wide number of ethnic minority groups - of Afro-Caribbean and Asian origin, Irish, Polish, Italian, Ukrainian, Chinese and Vietnamese descent. This is reflected in some of the more recent buildings - the Hindu Centre and Muslim Mosque.
Museum
The Wellingborough Museum is housed in Dulley's Baths, built in 1892 as an indoor swimming pool by David Dulley, a brewer in the town. In 1920, the building was bought by George Cox and converted into a shoe factory. Cox's moved to larger premises in 1995, and the building is being fitted out as The Wellingborough Museum.
The building displays the collection of artefacts owned by the Winifred Wharton Trust, previously shown in Croyland Hall in Wellingborough.
Opening Hours: Monday to Saturday 10am - 4.30pm. Open most Bank Holidays.
Admission: Free, donations gratefully received.
Address: The Wellingborough Museum, Dulley's Baths, 12 Castle Way, Wellingborough, Northants NN8 1XB.
Car parking is free in the town.
Telephone: 01933 276838
Fax: 01933 222740
Email: wellingboroughmuseum@msn.com