Wratza

Wratza (Vratz'a), a town of Bulgaria, 43 miles NE. of Sofia. Pop. 10,924.

Wrekin

Wrekin (Ree'kin). See Shropshire.

Wrexham

Wrexham (Rex'am), a town of Denbighshire, called sometimes the 'metropolis of North Wales,' on an affluent of the Dee, 12 miles SSW. of Chester. Its church, destroyed by fire in 1457, and rebuilt in 1472-1520, is a fine Perpendicular structure, whose tower, 135 feet high, contains ten bells of singular sweetness, and is one of the 'seven Wonders of Wales.' Judge Jeffreys was born close by, at Acton; and Bishop Heber wrote ' From Greenland's Icy Mountains' in the vicarage. Wrexham is situated in the heart of a mining district, and has far-famed breweries, tanneries, etc. It was incorporated in 1857, and with Denbigh (q.v.), etc. returns one member. Pop. (1851) 6717; (1901) 14,966. See Palmer's History of Wrexham (4 vols. 1893).

Wrington

Wrington, a Somerset parish, 10 miles SSW. of Bristol. The church has one of the finest towers in England. John Locke was born here.

Wrotham

Wrotham, a town of Kent, 6 miles ENE. of Sevenoaks. Pop. 3575.

Wroxeter

Wroxeter (Rox'eter), a village of Shropshire (pop. 535), on the Severn, 6 miles SE. of Shrewsbury. It occupies the site of the Roman station of Uri-conium, an important place on Watling Street. See T. W. Wright, Uriconium (1872).

Wu-chang

Wu-chang. See Hankow.

Wu-chow

Wu-chow, a Chinese treaty port on the Si-kiang, in Kwang-si, 180 miles W. of Canton.

Wudwan

Wudwan, or Wadhwan, a native state of Kathiawar, W. India. Area, 237 sq. m.; pop. 50,000, mostly Mohammedans. Wudwan town (pop. 27,000) is 110 miles NW. of Baroda by rail.

Wu-hu

Wu-hu, a Chinese treaty port, near the Yang-tsze, 50 miles above Nanking. Pop. 122,000.

Wupper

Wupper (Voop'per), or Wipper, a right-hand tributary (40 miles long) of the Rhine, between Cologne and Dusseldorf. It has a strong current, and drives hundreds of mills, so that the Wupper-thal, especially round Barmen (q.v.) and Elber-feld (q.v.), is one of the most populous and industrial in Germany. The interest of the inhabitants in missions is conspicuous.

Wyborg

Wyborg. See Viboro.

Wye

Wye, a beautiful river of Wales and England, rises in two copious springs on the SE. side of Plinlimmon, not 2 miles from the head-water of the Severn (q.v.). It thence flows 150 miles in a generally south-east direction through or along the borders of the counties of Montgomery, Radnor, Brecknock, Hereford, Monmouth, and Gloucester, till it enters the Severn's estuary below Chepstow. At Chepstow the tide has been known to rise 47 feet above low-water mark. The chief affluents are the Lug and Ithon on the left, and the Monnow, Caerwen, and Irfron on the right. Salmon-fishing has greatly improved again. The Wye is not much of a boating river, though a pair-oar has been rowed down it from Boughrood, above Hereford. The part of it separating Monmouth from Gloucester is that chiefly visited for its singular beauty. See Chepstow, Tintern, Ross, etc, and works by Gilpin (1782), Heath (1800), Ritchie (1841), Howitt (1863), and Bevan (1887).