All Round the Wrekin - Wellington

Wellington To Domesday and Beyond

Wellington is a market town with a long and illustrious past, which appears to have been founded in Anglo Saxon times and may have been in existence for up to 1400 years. At the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086, Roger de Montgomery, a prominent supporter of King William and the first Earl of Shrewsbury, was Lord of Wellington Manor but was not resident in the area. The survey, which only lists heads of households, recorded just 33 citizens (including a priest) living in the local community and, until the mid 13th Century, Wellington seems to have been little more than a self-contained village, consisting of a few houses located around The Green in front of All Saints parish church. During the 12th and 13th Centuries, the situation began to change and the improving quality of medieval roads led to an increase in commercial traffic between market towns, which may have influenced one of the most important turning points in Wellington’s history.