WRINGTON, a parish (formerly a market-town)
in a detached portion of the hundred of BRENT-with-WRINGTON,
county of SOMERSET, 7 miles (N. N. E.)
from Axbridge, containing, with the tything of Broadfield,
1349 inhabitants. This place, which is situated near
the Mendip hills, is not distinguished either for
trade or for any branch of manufacture; the inhabitants
are principally employed in agricultural pursuits,
especially in the cultivation of teasel,  of which great
quantities are produced in the neighbourhood, for the
supply of the clothiers in the adjoining districts, who use
it in dressing the cloth. The town consists principally
of two streets, intersecting each other obliquely, with
other houses irregularly built, and in detached situations.
The market, originally granted in the reign of
Edward II., was held on Tuesday; and a fair was held
annually on the 9th of September; but both have
fallen into disuse. The county magistrates hold petty
sessions here.
The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Bath,
and diocese of Bath and Wells, rated in the king's books
at £39. 9. 4., and in the patronage of the Marquis of
Cleveland. The church, dedicated to All Saints, and
situated at the south-west extremity of the town, is a
spacious and handsome structure, in the later style of
English architecture, with a square embattled tower,
surmounted by angular turrets crowned with pinnacles.
There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyan
Methodists. Mr. George Legg, in 1704, bequeathed
nine acres of land, now producing £20 per annum,
for the instruction of twelve children of both sexes in
reading the bible. The school of industry, in which
from thirty to forty children were instructed, and which
was partly supported by a dividend on £50 stock, the
bequest of Mrs. Webb, has been united to the National
schools which have been established; and Sunday
schools, in connexion with the established church and
the dissenting congregations, are supported by subscription.
Mrs. Hannah More resided for twenty-five years
in a cottage, built by herself and sisters, at Barley
Wood, in this parish; and John Locke, the eminent
philosopher, was born in an old thatched house on the
north side of the churchyard, in 1632; after his decease,
in 1704, an urn with an appropriate inscription
was presented by Mrs. Montague to Mrs. Hannah
More, and erected in the pleasure grounds at Barley
Wood. Dr. John Rogers, an eminent divine, held the
rectory of this parish, where he passed a considerable
portion of his time.