Wellingborough
Set upon a hill, almost entirely ringed by flowing waters where the Rivers Ise and Nene meet, the old market town of Wellingborough is dominated by the parish church of All Hallows.
The handsome 13 th century tower and spire of All Hallows rise from among a cluster of trees in the centre of town, attracting the eye by a combination of symmetry of spire and contrasting bands of light and dark yellow limestone within the masonry of the tower. The spire soars to a dizzy height of 165ft and is flanked by bold pinnacles, while the tower offers a west doorway encompassing three orders of architecture, an unusual circular window and a fascinating 18 th century clock. The main body of the church building is 600 years old. The east window provides a superb example of 14 th century craftsmanship highlighted by delicate tracery. The south aisle, together with the small chapel adjacent to the porch, are 15 th century additions, but the two-storey porch itself belongs to the 14 th century topped with a 15 th century vaulted roof. The 600-year-old nave arcades are most impressive, as is much of the fine woodcarving found throughout. Examples of the latter include 15 th century screens set within 14 th century arches to divide chancel from chapels. However, pride-of-place within the church goes to the exquisite carvings found on the misericords of six beautifully preserved 14 th century stalls. These delightful carvings represent an ale-wife with customer, a mermaid, a wood-carver, an eagle, two lions and a fox and goose.
The church is also noted for its marvellous timber roofs. The panelled roof of the chapel belongs to the 15 th century as does the roof covering the south aisle, but the roofs over the nave and north aisle belong to a more modern age. All Hallows is again remarkable for its glowing stained glass especially that of the west window in the south aisle and most notably the lovely circular window in the tower.
The great tower seen from a distance across the Nene Valley belongs to St Mary's Church, one of the finest modern churches in England, and fully complements the medieval spire of the nearby parish church. Built between 1906-30, the architect Sir Ninian Comper wisely chose for the exterior the same contrasting colour scheme in local stone as that employed by the medieval masons for their church. St Mary's great height, with its enormous windows, lend it an atmosphere of immense light and space so that the interior has a cathedral-like impressiveness, an impression further enhanced by stately pillars that rise toward the clerestory and the huge stone fans of the vaulted roof. The whole of the fan-vaulted plaster roof is a handsome sight, with delicately carved bosses and lantern-like pendants suspended between the fans. The fittings of the church are equally magnificent in wood, iron and glass. The screen round the chancel has wooden pillars painted in blue and gold and linked by some splendid ironwork. Constructed above the west side of the screen is a singing gallery, which offers a finely traceried frontage.
Among the other churches in Wellingborough are several imposing buildings. St Barnabus, rebuilt in 1954 employing light brown brick, has a square tower. All Saints Catholic church, constructed in 1867-8, offers large traceried windows and some fine stained glass, but no tower. The Congregational Church, built in medieval style in 1875, on an unusual egg-shaped plan with projections, drew approval in 1925 as ‘the most successful experiment in free church architecture in this country'.
King Charles I's queen, Henrietta Maria, is reported to have stayed at the White Swan coaching inn. Though that good establishment is alas no more, from its windows the queen would have seen the Golden Lion, which is still standing in Sheep Street with its overhanging timber and plastered gable. Clustering around the Golden Lion, is a quaint group of gabled cottages with their roofs overhanging the same street. About the time of the royal visit in the early to mid 17 th century, the splendid Hind Hotel was nearing completion. The Hind has three identical gables and attractive windows that look out upon the Market Square below; in addition, it boasts a porch that reaches over the pavement supported by fluted Corinthian piers. Inside is a 17 th century staircase, a fine stone fireplace and a room with noble oak beams called the Cromwell Room. Rumour has it that the latter is so called because Oliver Cromwell stayed at the Hind on his way to defeat the Royalists at the Battle of Naseby in 1645.
A house called Croyland Abbey was once the property of the monks of Croyland Abbey in nearby Lincolnshire, the Abbot of Croyland having charge of Wellingborough's Saxon church in 948. This large, rambling house has dormer windows in its sloping roof, part of which is 500 years old, together with a fine 17 th century staircase. Standing nearby is an enormous medieval tithe barn, with its 15 th century stone walls and thatched roof still intact. These several buildings escaped a devastating conflagration in 1738, which burned down most of the town within a space of 4 hours.
Wellingborough also has a famous public school that appears to have sprung from a much older grammar school founded in the reign of Richard II (1377-99), but refounded in 1595. Some of the older buildings remain to us located near the parish church -- a handsome block with gables and transomed windows dated to 1617. The public school was transferred in 1881 to new buildings in the Queen Anne style, located on the London Road.
In a cottage in Wellingborough in 1825 John Askham was born, a poet not famous like John Clare, but with a similar muse and suffering a similar fate. Askham enjoyed nature but had little time to enjoy it, for he worked hard, remained poor and in his later years was stricken with paralysis rendering him quite helpless. Yet, despite all this, he brought out five sets of poems over a 30-year period, and as a recognition of his work received a grant of £50.00 from the Queen's Bounty. He died in his 70 th year at his house, named after the more famous Northamptonshire poet John Clare, and was buried in Wellingborough cemetery in 1894.