Towns & Parishes
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"WALLINGFORD is a market town, and ancient borough, both corporate and parliamentary, in the hundred of Moreton ; 45 miles W. by N. from London, and 13 S. by E. from Oxford--situated on the banks of the Thames, about 3 miles from the Wallingford-road station on the Great Western Railway... The name, "Wallingford," is said to be derived from Gaullen, or the Roman Vallum, both signifying a place surrounded by a wall or fortification--from which, with its ford over the Thames, is deduced its appellation... The malt trade once flourished here most prosperously ; for a number of years, however, it has been on the decline, yet there still remain some respectable establishments in that business.
Wallingford comprises the parishes of St. Mary the More, St. Peter, St. Leonard, and Allhallows; the three first-mentioned only have churches... There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, Weslyan and Primitive Methodists, and Calvinists... The land round Wallingford is in a high state of cultivation, very fertile, and, though rather flat, the general appearance of the country is cheerful and agreeable... The borough of Wallingford contained, in 1831, 2,467 inhabitants ; and at the last census (1841) 2,824."
[From Pigot & Co's Directory of Berkshire, 1844]
Wallingford is within the Wallingford Registration District.
Wallingford in The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868), transcribed by Colin Hinson
Wallingford All Hallows in The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868), transcribed by Colin Hinson
See the chapter on the Wallingford Poor Law Union on Peter Higginbotham's "The Story of Workhouses" Web site at http://www.workhouses.org.uk/.
Records of Wallingford Poor Law Union are held at Berkshire Record Office and include Guardians' minute books (1835-1930); 1854-1932); Births (1909-45); Deaths (1909-42); Cottage Homes relief lists (1901-24).
