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Norfolk: Welney
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William White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk 1883
[Transcription copyright © Pat Newby]
WELNEY, 10 miles S.W. of Downham, 5 miles E. from Manea station, 13 miles S.E. from Wisbech, and 10 miles S.E. from March, is a village and extensive parish in the cultivated fens of the Great Bedford Level. Like Upwell and Outwell, it lies partly in the Isle of Ely and county of Cambridge, and partly in Norfolk, the counties being divided by the Welney or Croft river, which runs through the village, in the hundreds of Wisbech and Clackclose, in the union and county court district of Downham, Lynn bankruptcy district, rural deanery of Fincham, Clackclose petty sessional division, archdeaconry of Norfolk, diocese of Norwich, and Upwell polling district of West Norfolk, in the Bishop of Ely's manor of the Isle of Ely, and in C.W. Townley, Esq.'s manor of Beaupré Hall. It had 1026 inhabitants in 1881 - 527 in Norfolk, and 499 in Cambs.; the acreage is 3628A. 2R. 34P., in Norfolk, rateable value, £5919 10s.; and 1816A. 0R. 19P. in Cambs., rateable value, £3425 15s.
The principal landowners are Messrs. F.R. Beart, W.R. Beart, Morley Beart, William Little, James Failes, and Joseph Morton. A little above the village the River Croft is crossed by those broad drains, called the Old and New Bedford rivers, which open a direct navigation to the Ouse at Denver sluice. The New Bedford, commonly known as the Hundred-foot river, is spanned by a handsome suspension bridge of great height,and 63 yards 2 feet long, built by the late Rev. W. Gale Townley at his own expense, in 1826, from a design of Capt. Brown.
In 1848 the old church was taken down, and a new one erected. The new CHURCH, dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin, is a neat building of ragstone, with white stone dressings, in the Early English style, and consists of chancel and nave, with a turret over the chancel arch, containing two bells. It is seated for 420, and has a handsome stained-glass east window. The Registers are amongst the oldest in the deanery, dating from the year 1642.
The rectory, formerly consolidated with Upwell, has been a separate living since 1862 (see Upwell), and is now in the patronage of C.W. Townley, Esq., Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire. The present rector is the Rev. Edward Russell Wilford, M.A., J.P., who is also a surrogate in the diocese of Norwich, and diocesan inspector of schools in the deanery of Fincham. He has a tithe rent-charge of £1258 18s. 2d., and 13 acres of glebe. A new rectory-house, in the Elizabethan style, was built in 1864.
The Church of England old School, at which the children of the poor receive a free education, was erected at the same time as the new church, and is attended by 120 children. The Hundred-foot Bank Church of England School, commonly called the Mission School, was built in 1874. At this school the children of the poor likewise receive a free education, and is attended by 73 children. Both these schools were built by Marshall's Charity. The Mission School is also licensed for Divine service.
The parish contains the following chapels:- A Primitive Methodist Chapel, near Suspension Bridge, erected in 1872, at a cost of £175; it contains 172 sittings. There is also a small Primitive Methodist Chapel, near the old Bedford bank, erected in 1839. Zion Chapel (Calvinistic Baptist) was erected in 1873, at a cost of £270; it contains 120 sittings.
The funds of Marshall's Charity are derived from lands left by William Marshall, Esq., who in 1661 bequeathed 466A. 0R. 36P. of fen land, in a place called the Wield, the proceeds of which were to be applied as follows:- 'One-third for repairing the church, and the bridge leading to it; one-third for relieving poor widows and apprenticing poor children; and the other third for repairing the highways of Welney.' The charity is vested in the hands of trustees, who hold their annual meeting on the third Friday in June. The estate, which formerly realised only £70 a year, has now so increased in value as to bring in a net income of about £500 a year. This income being found more than necessary for the objects named by the donor, a new scheme was approved by the Court of Chancery in 1819, for the future application of the net rents and profits, by which one-third part is applied annually for relieving poor widows and apprenticing poor children, and two-thirds are applied in repairing the church, bridge, and highways, and in supporting the schools. A new set of trustees was appointed in 1881, the whole roll consisting of nineteen names. In the same year as the church and old school were built, the charity had six almshouses erected for poor widows who, in addition to living rent free, are allowed 4s. 6d. a week.
POST, and MONEY ORDER OFFICE, and SAVINGS BANK at Mr. George Stoke's. Letters arrive by mail cart at 6.35 a.m., and are despatched at 5.35 p.m., viâ Wisbech, through Upwell, which is the nearest Telegraph Office.
Those marked 1 are in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, and the rest are in Norfolk.
1 Baker Barnaby blacksmith
Barker William beerhouse and coal dealer,
Suspension bridge
1 Bearcock Walter schoolmaster, Old School
1 Beart Mrs
Beart Morley farmer and landowner
1 Bensley John, jun. farmer
1 Bidwell Thomas beerhouse
Blows Jno. carpenter, bldr. & whlwrt
1 Blows William vict. Happy Home
1 Boyce William carrier & gardener
Camm John bootmaker and shopkpr
1 Campbell Jno. Whitefield vict. Eagle Inn, manure agent
and bootmaker
Coe Charles vict. Lamb & Flag
1 Dalton Samuel farmer
1 Dalton T.W. grocer, draper, boot factor
and butcher
Failes James farmer and landowner
1 Farrow James corn miller
Green James W. farmer and landowner, The Grange
Grimes John farmer and beerhouse,
Hundred-foot bank
1 Hutchinson Robert carpenter
1 Jacobs Jeremiah parish clerk
1 Jackson Jph. grocer, draper, baker, pork
butcher, farmer, and
landowner, Suspension bridge
1 Kent John bricklayer and builder
Lavender Henry beerhouse
1 Loveday Wm. farmer, steam thrashing machine
proprtr. & brickmkr
1 Lunn John farm bailiff
Morton Joseph farmer and landowner
Papworth Robert farm bailiff, Hundred Foot bank
1 Prethero William farmer
1 Pryer Joseph farmer
1 Rudland John bootmaker
Rumble John toll collector, Suspension bridge
1 Say Mrs Elizabeth laundress
Scott Wm. farmer, Hundred Foot bank
Scotting Geo. beerhs. Suspension bridge
1 Sisson Mrs. beerhouse
1 Smith Mrs Adelaide dressmaker
Snelling William draper
Stokes Charles cattle dlr. and carrier
1 Stokes Geo. grcr. draper, & postmstr
1 Stokes James farmer
1 Taylor Edward shopkeeper, Suspension bridge
Thompson Charles schoolmaster, Mission School,
Hundred-foot bank
Watkinson Robert hardware dealer and hawker
Watson Thomas farm bailiff, Fen
Welbourne Rufus blacksmith, Suspension bridge
1 Wilford Rev. Edward rector, surrogate and diocesan
Russell, inspector of schools in Fincham
M.A., J.P. rural deanery, and secretary for
the S.P.G. The Rectory
Winter John farmer and steam thrashing machine
proprietor
Winter Mrs Mary Ann grocer, draper, and baker
CARRIERS - Wm. Boyce, to Wisbech, Tues. Thurs. & Sat.; Chas. Stokes, to Ely, Thurs., and Wisbech, Sat.
Manea is the nearest Railway station
See also the Welney parish page.
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Copyright © Pat Newby.
July 2015