W E L 



The city of Wells is feated in a valley, furrounded by 

 lofty hills, and has fome fpacious ftreets. It was firft made 

 a free borough in the reign of Henry II., by the intereft 

 of Joceline, its bifhop. It -afterwards received a char- 

 ter from king John, by which it was provided with a weekly 

 market ; by queen Elizabeth's charter, the corporation con- 

 fdts of a mayor, recorder, feven matters, and fixteen common- 

 council men. Wells has fent two members to parliament 

 from the earlieft period : the right of eleftion is in the 

 mayor, mafters, burgelTts, and freemen. The voters are 

 about live hundred ; the mayor is the returning officer. By 

 the return to the population aft of the year i8l i, the number 

 of houfes is Itated to be 930 ; of inhabitants 5156. Six an- 

 nual fairs are held here ; and markets on Wednefdays and 

 Saturdays. The corporation have a fpacious town-hall for 

 the difpatch of their bufinefs ; where alfo the aflizes are held. 

 Under this hall is an hofpital, founded by bifhop Bubwith, 

 for the maintenance of thirty poor men and women. Here 

 are feveral other alms-houfes, particularly thofe endowed by 

 Nathaniel Steel and fon, for thirty -two men and women, who 

 are allowed three (hillings each per week, with a great-coat 

 for the men, and a gown for the women, once in two years. 

 A charity -fchool was alfo erefted here for twenty boys and 

 twenty girls, in the year 17 14. 



Near the village of Wookey, which is fituated about two 

 miles north-weft from Wells, is a remarkable cavern, called 

 Wookey Hole. In its front is an affemblage of vaft rocks, 

 which rife to the height of at leaft two hundred feet, almoft 

 covered with trees and plants fpringing out of the fiflures. 

 On the left fide of a deep ravine is a natural terrace, which 

 leads to the mouth of the cavern, and through the middle of 

 it runs a clear rapid rivulet, that rufhes out of an arch thirty 

 feet in height, and forty in breadth, impetuoufly making its 

 way over an irregular bed of rocks. Hence, an opening 

 not more than fix feet high, condufts into a fpacious vault, 

 eighty feet in height, entirely covered with ftalaftites. Near 

 this is a fimilar, though fmaller vault ; and beyond them, a 

 low paflage leads to a fpace nearly circular, and about one 

 hundred and twenty feet in diameter, with a vaulted roof 

 forty feet in height. Near this area is what the vulgar call 

 the Witch's Brewhoufe, where a great number of fingular 

 configurations of ftalaftite are obfervable, to which corre- 

 fpondent appellations have been given, fuch as the boiler, 

 furnace, &c. To the left is what is called the hall, which is 

 very lofty, the centre of the roof being at leaft one hundred 

 feet above the ground. The whole length of the cavern is 



fuppofed to be fix hundred feet CoUinfon's Hiftory of 



Somerfetlhire, 3 vols. 4to. Maton's Obfervations on the 

 Weftern Counties, 1797. Davis's Concife Hiftory of the 

 Cathedral Church of Wells, 1 809. 



Wells, a townlhip of New York, in Montgomery 

 county, erecEled in 180J from the N. part of Northampton 

 and Mayfield, bounded N. by Franklin county, E. by 

 Eflex, Wafhington, and a fmall part of Saratoga county, 

 S. by Northampton and Mayfield, and W. by Johnftown, 

 about fifty-five miles long and eight miles wide. The 

 country is rough and mountainous, and the foil light, fandy, 

 and barren. It has numerous lakes and ponds, which 

 abound with trout and other cold-blooded fifh, affording 

 good food as well as fport for the angler. Pezeeke lake 

 bears the name of an Indian, and lake Pleafant is a pleafant 

 lake, with a fine beach of white fand. 



Wells, a fea-port town of England, in the county of 

 Norfolk, with a harbour at the mouth of a fmall river, of 

 difficult accefs, on account of the Shifting fands at the en- 

 trance. The chief trade is in corn, malt, and coals ; and of 

 late an oyfter-fiftiery has been eftabliftied : it has no market. 



W E L 



The population in i8ii was 2683. Near on the W. of 

 Wells IS Holkliam-hall, the magnificent feat of T. W. Coke, 

 efq. M.P. Wells lies 118 miles N.E. from London.— Alfo, 

 a town of Weft Florida, fituated on the W. fide of St. An- 

 drew's bay. N. lat. 30° 25'. W. long. 850 50'.— Alfo, a 

 town of America, in the diftrift of Maine, and county of 

 York, at the bottom of a bay to which it gives name, 

 between Capes Porpoife and Ncddik, containing 4489 inha- 

 bitants ; 20 miles S.W. of Portland. N. lat. 43° 20'. W. 



long. 70° 32' Alfo, a town of Vermont, in the county of 



Rutland, containing 1040 inhabitants; 10 miles S.W. of 

 Rutland. 



Wells, a river of Vermont, which runs into the Con- 

 nefticut. 



Wells'x Creek, a river of Kentucky, which runs into the 

 Ohio, N. lat. 38° 47'. W. long. 84° 27'. 



Wells'j Falls, a cataradl in the river Delaware; 13 

 miles N.W. of Trenton. 



Wells'j Pqfage, an inlet on the weft coaft of North 

 America, branching off from Broughton's Archipe- 

 lago. 



WELMICH, or Welmenach, a town of Germany, in 

 the circle of the Lower Rhine, on the right bank of the 

 Rhine ; i mile from St. Goar. 



WELMINA, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of Leit- 

 meritz ; 5 miles W. of Leitmeritz. 



WELOVAR, a town of Croatia ; 16 miles S.E. of 

 Creutz. 



WELP, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of Konig- 

 ingratz ; 3 miles S.E. of Toplitz. 



WELPSHOLTZ, a town of Germany, in the county 

 of Mansfield, memorable on account of a viftory which 

 Lothario, duke of Saxony, obtained over Henry V. in tha 

 year 1 11 j. 



WELS, a town of Auftria, on the river Traun. This 

 is fuppofed to have been an ancient town of the Norici, and 

 by the Romans called Ovilara, or Ovilaba. Others fay it 

 was built by the emperor Valerian after his expedition 

 againft the Scythians in Pannonia. The emperor Maximi- 

 lian I. died here; 11 miles S.S.W. of Linta. N. lat. 

 48° 10'. E. long. 14°. 



WELSBACH, a river of Thuringia, which runs into 

 the Unftrutt, near Thomafbruck. 



WELSCHBILLIG, a town of France, in the depart- 

 ment of the Sarre; 18 miles N.N.E. of Luxemburg. 



WELSCHBIRKEN, a town of Bohemia, in the eircle 

 of Prachatitz ; 6 miles N.N.W. of Prachatitz. 



WELSE, a river of Brandenburg, which runs into the 

 Oder, near Vierraden. 



WELSH Glaive, or Bill, in Military Antiquities, a 

 kind of bill, fometimes reckoned among the pole-axes, 

 which was formerly much in ufe. 



WELSHPOOL, anciently Trallwng, a large and po- 

 pulous market-town, partly in the hundred of Pool and 

 partly in that of Cawrl'e, in the county of Montgomery, 

 North Wales, is fituated on the bank of the river Severn, 

 8 miles N. from the county-town, and 169 miles N.W. by 

 W. from London. It confifts of one long and fpacious ftreet, 

 with another fmaller, croffing it at right angles, and feveral 

 other collateral branches of leffer dimenfions ; and is the 

 largeft and beft-built town in the county. From the 

 manners and language of the inhabitants, it has every ap- 

 pearance of an Englilh town ; theWelffi being fpoken here 

 by few perfons. An air of urbanity and opuknce pervades 

 the place, chiefly owing to the intercommunication with the 

 more polilhed parts of the kingdom, and to the extenfive 

 trade in flannels ; great quantities of which are nianufadlurecl 



P p 2 here. 



