Wallingford. From Eighty Picturesque Views of the Thames and Medway.
Text accompanying the engraving
The town of Wallingford, which is pleasantly situated on the right bank of the river, was, in days of yore, one of the principal places of the Attrehatii, mentioned in Caesar's Commentaries. Here are some curious remains of the castle, said to have been built by the Romans, destroyed by the Saxons and Danes, and afterwards rebuilt by William I, who fortified it so strongly as to enable it to resist many terrible assaults made on it, at various periods. During a number of reigns, it was a favorite resort of royalty, until the time of Cromwell, by whom it was probably dismantled; as from that period it gradually fell into decay. The town was originally of great extent, containing, according to Leland, fourteen parish churches, now reduced to four; namely, St. Peter's, St. Mary's, St. Leonard's and All-Hallows. It is said that the town was depopulated by the plague, in the year 1348. Formerly, two members were sent hence to parliament; but, by the operation of the late reform-bill, one of them was lopped off; the population not amounting to more than 2476. . . . The Thames, on leaving Wallingford, widens its stream, flows on circuitously to the left, and soon reaches the villages of Newnham-Murrell and Mongewell. [51-52]
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Text and formatting by George P. Landow. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the University of California Library and the Internet Archive and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite it in a print one.]
Bibliography
Fearnside, W. G. Eighty Picturesque Views of the Thames and Medway, Engraved on Steel by the First Artists. London: Black and Armstrong, [n.d. after 1837]. Internet Archive version of a copy in the University of California at Berkley Library. Web. 30 March 2012.
Last modified 30 April 2012