The title of Baron Welles has been created three times.
Its first creation was for Adam de Welles on 6 May 1299 in the Peerage of England by writ of summons.
The title was created a second time in the Peerage of England by writ of summons for Sir Richard Hastings on 15 November 1482 and became extinct on his death.
The third creation was on 8 January 1781, in the Peerage of Ireland, for Thomas Knox, later Viscount Northland.
It is now a subsidiary title of the Earl of Ranfurly.