"Myself, I have long been convinced that there is no authority -whatever for catting the old Parish Church St. Luke's. That it is wrongly so called I have no doubt, but how it came about is a matter of conjecture; one explanation is that the fair, or as it used to be the market, always takes place soon after the feast of St.Luke, and is called St. Luke's fair. After a period when the name of the dedication ceased to be used it is probable that when the custom was revived of giving Churches the name of their dedication, it was hastily presumed that the dedication must be St. Luke's, for the same reason that the feasts of other parishes are connected with the dedication of the Church, but we must remember that a fair or market is not a feast, and inasmuch as by a Royal Charter of King John there were two other fairs or markets at other times of the year, the is no more reason for connecting the dedication of the Church with the feast of St. Luke than with any feast taking place at the time of the other two fairs. However this may be, there is not a record to be found shewing St. Luke to be the dedication of the Parish Church, but of the dedication being All Saints or All Hallows there is overwhelming proof, and I am indebted to the Rev. R. M. Sergeantson, of St. Sepulchre's. Northampton. for the following evidence:
In the "Valor Ecclesiasticus" of Henry VIII no dedication is given in the case of Wellingborough.
Going through 28 wills, dating from 1513 to 1531, of Wellingborough parishioners, 19 mention the dedication as All Saints or All Hallows (the same thing) whilst the rest give no dedication. There was no trace whatever of St. Luke.
Ecton's "Thesaurus" which is a book giving the value of livings, gives All Saints as the dedication as late as 1754.
As to local histories, Bridges' 1720 gives the Church as dedicated to All Saints, and Coles' 1836 says the same.
To use the name of All Saints would produce great confusion seeing there is now another All Saints in the town. We could use the ancient name of All Hallows, though it seems that the familiar custom of catting it the Parish Church would be the simplest, and yet this name is hardly satisfactory to half the town which claims All Saints as its Parish Church. At any rate it is erroneous to call our Church St. Luke, which it is not. We have had no Dedication Festival. Now I hope to keep the feast and Octave of All Saints in the future in connection with our Church dedication."
Rev. R. Smeaton again repeated the above information in August 1912.
He also added:-
"I mention this because there appears to be some misconception that through a private fad of my own the church has been called of late the church of All Hallows. This has, of course, been done only in the interest of truth. It does not seem right to change the ancient title of dedication, and the title is, without any doubt whatever, All Hallows. It is interesting to notice that the dedication of St. Luke has been also erroneously applied to the parish church of Great Doddington, the right title of which is St. Nicholas."
To the collectors of old postcards marked St. Luke's, and any new parishioners, I hope the above explains the confusion and confirms that:
we really are All Hallows.
S.G.B.