W I s 



Anthony Gell, efq. who endowed it with lands which now 

 produce \-ol. per annum. He alfo founded an alms-houfe 

 for fix poor men, to which he gave a rent-charge of 2o/. ; 

 this has been augmented by fubfequent benefaftions. In 

 the town was formerly a meeting-houfe for Prefbyterians, 

 but it is now occupied by a congregation of Independents. 

 Here are alfo chapels for Baptills and Wefleyan Metho- 

 difts. In the population return of the year i8i i, the inha- 

 bitants of this town are enumerated at 3474, occupying 777 

 houfes. The pariih of Wirkfworth is extenfive, and in- 

 cludes, befides the town, fourteen townfhips or villages, 

 fome of which are very populous. — Beauties of England 

 and Wales, vol. iii. Derby (hire. ByJ. Britton and E.W. 

 Brayley, 1803. Lyfons' Magna Britannia, vol. v. Der- 

 by (hire, 1817. 



WIRNAU, a town of the county of Henneberg ; 

 c miles S.E. of Smalkalden. 



WIRRAL, or WiREHALL, a ftrip of land in the 

 county of Chefter, extending from the city of Cheiler 

 to the fea, between the rivers Dee and Merfey. 



WIRREY, or St. Andrew, one of the Shaint iflands. 

 N. lat. 57° 53'. W. long. 6" 19'. 



WIRSRUM, a town of Sweden, in the province of 

 Smaland ; 46 miles N.N. W. of Calmar. 



WIRSTBERGHOTZEN, a town of Weftphalia, 

 in the bilhopric of Hildefheim ; 8 miles S. of Hilde- 

 fheim. 



WIRSUNG, John George, in Biography, was a native 

 of Bavaria, ftudied medicine at Padua, and was a difciple of 

 Veiling. In 1642 he publilhed the difcovery of the 

 pancreatic duft, with which his name is connefted ; and in 

 the following year he was affaninated by a Dalmatian, 

 under the influence of a paflion excited by having been 

 filenced by him in a pubhc difputation. Haller. Eloy. 



WISANGI, in Geography, a town of Sweden, in 

 Weft Bothnia, on the Tornea ; 95 miles N.N.W. of 

 Tornea. 



WISBADEN, a town of Germany, in the principality 

 of Nalfau Saarbruck Ufingen. This town was known 

 to the Romans, and the Heidentfche Maur, or Heathen 

 Wall, which runs through the prefent town of Wilbaden, 

 appears to be a work of that nation ; and a part of the 

 boundaries of this town are derived from the hned trenches 

 thrown up by Drufus, oppofite to Mentz, for the covering 

 of the Rhine. In the days of the kings of the Franks, in 

 this town was a royal court. At Widjaden are fome medi- 

 cinal fprings, formerly in great repute ; 5 miles N.W. of 

 Mentz. N. lat. 50° 3'. E. long. 8° 9'. 



WISBECH, a large market-town in the county of 

 Cambridge, England, gives name to a himdred and a 

 deanery, and is fituated m the extreme northern part of the 

 county, about 30 miles N. from Ely, 42 from Cambridge, 

 and 90 from London, in the fame direftion. Wilbech is a 

 great mart for corn, about 100,000 quarters being annually 

 exported from thence by the river Oufe, and the canals 

 communicating with Cambridge, Lynn, and other towns. 

 Other articles of export are rape-feed and long wool, of 

 which great quantities are fent to the York(h;re clothiers. 

 Timber, from Northampton(hire, is alfo embarked for the 

 fervice of the navy. The principal imports are, coals, deals, 

 ui(d wine. The river is navigable up to Wifbech, at fpring- 

 tides, flowing fix or eight feet, for veflels of 60 tons, which 

 are conftantly employed in the corn trade, to London, 

 Hull, and other ports. Prior to the Norman Conqueft, 

 Wifbech belonged to the convent of Ely. In 107 1 Wil- 

 liam of Normandy ere^ed a caftle of ftone at the town ; 



WIS I 



but this being difmantled, a new caftle of brick was built ' 

 on the fcite, between 1478 and 1483, by Morton, bi(hop ' 

 of Ely, and which became the epifcopal refidence. Being 

 purchafed by fecretary Thurloe during the interregnum, it j 

 was rebuilt after defigns by Inigo Jones. Reverting at the \ 

 Reiloration to the fee of Ely, it was fold fome years ago, \ 

 and on the ground of the detached buildings fome good j 

 houfes have been erefted. The church is a fpacious, hand- j 

 fome fabric, although of a fingular conftru&ion, having two 

 naves and two aides. The naves are lofty, and feparated ' 

 by fight flender pillars, with pointed arches ; the aides, 

 which are the moft ancient, are divided from their refpeftive 

 naves by low maffy pillars and femicircular arches. The 

 tower of the church is beautiful, and notwithftanding the 

 antiquity attributed to it, is proved by records to have 

 been erefted polterior to 1520. Wilbech, with the ad- , 

 jacent country, has frequently fuffered by inundations, par- 

 ticularly in 1236, when great numbers of fmall craft, 

 cattle, and men, were dellroyed. In 1437, by a breach in 

 the bank of Wifcech fen, upwards of 4000 acres of land 

 were overflowed. But the greateft devaftations of this kind 

 occurred in Nov. 16 13, by the fpring-tide concurring with 

 a violent N.E. wind ; and in March 1614, by the melting 

 of the fnow in the country. In 161 1 the inhabitants ob- 

 tained a renewal of their charter, which conftituted them 

 a body corporate, by the ftyle of the burgeffes of Wid)ech ; 

 but the right of the eleftion of the ten capital burgeffes was 

 limited to the poffeffors of freeholds of the value of 40J. per 

 annum. The executive officer, the town-baihfi^, although a 

 perfon wholly unknown to the charter, has the entire ma- 

 nagement of the eftates and affairs of the corporation. 

 The annual income under the management of thefe capital 

 burgeffes, allotted to public and charitable purpofes, 

 amounts to about 80c/. A principal objeft of this charge 

 is the maintaining of beacons and buoys, and the clearing of 

 the channel of the river Oufe or Wis, from which the town 

 takes its name ; precautions highly neceffary, on account of 

 the fhifting fands between the town and the fea. Among 

 the improvements made in Wifbech of late years, muft be 

 mentioned the flone bridge of one elfiptic arch, and the new 

 cuflom-houfe. The ftreets are paved, lighted, and watched, 

 at the expence of the corporation. The trade of Wifbech 

 has much increafed of late years, through the improved ilate 

 of the drainage and navigation of the fens. The neighbour- 

 ing lands are in high cultivation, and are chiefly appropriated 

 to grazing. The fheep and oxen grow to a great fize ; and 

 confiderable numbers are fent off twice every week to 

 London. The inhabitants are almoft wholly employed in 

 commerce, the town pofTefling no kind of manufafture, al- 

 though the furrounding country produces vaft quantities of 

 wool, hemp, and flax. The canal, opened not many years 

 ago, extending from Wifbech river to the river Nene at 

 Outwell, and thence to the Oufe, affords a communication 

 with Norfolk, Suffolk, and the weftern counties, and which 

 proves very beneficial to the town. In 1781 a literary 

 fociety was eftablifheJ in Wifbech, and the education of 

 youth is provided for by a free-fchool, and by two charity- 

 fchools, fupported by fubfcription. The diflenters from 

 the eftablifhed church are not numerous, but have their re- 

 fpeftive places of worfhip. The parifh, containing 6308 • 

 acres, is in the greateft part a very rich arable and pafture 

 land. In 1676 the inhabitants of Wifbech were computed 

 to be 1705; in 1801 they amounted to 5004 ; and in 181 1 

 to 6300: the inhabited houfes were 1237. — Beauties of 

 England ; Cambridgefhire. By J. Britton and E. W. 

 Brayley, 8vo. 1802. Magna Britannia, by the Rev. D. 

 Lyfons and S. Lyfons, 4to. 1808. 



WISBERG, 



