My title is just a joke because I do know that Wellington boots were named after the Duke of Wellington, but as we went to visit the pretty little Somerset town of Wellington on Saturday, not the city in New Zealand, I did wonder what the connection was between the Duke and the town. I have looked this up before but I had to refresh my memory…
Wellington himself, Arthur Wellesley, took the title of Viscount Wellington of Wellington and Talavera from Wellington here in Somerset in 1809, and later became he the Duke of Wellington. A 175 foot monument in his honour was built on a high point on the Blackdown Hills and can be seen for miles around. The town of Wellington is on the River Tone (which I have mentioned recently in connection with the present flood situation in south Somerset) and is not far from Devon. It is an ancient town, with the name deriving from the Saxon Weolingtun… if it hadn’t changed we would be wearing weolingtuns, and splashing through puddles in weollies!
The town is situated on the old road from Exeter to Bristol, a major highway and it became a centre for cloth making which enabled its traders to find markets to the north and to the south. It is a pretty town, with many fine eighteenth century buildings; there was a fire in the town in 1731, so I guess that many of the fine houses date from that period.
Lois Elsden 