Wokingham Town Hall (Wokingham) | museum, tourist information centre/center

 museum, tourist information centre/center, town hall

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Traditional town hall at the centre of Wokingham, including a small local museum, rooms for civil wedding services, and some impressive old paintings. Part of the lower town hall is taken up by shops and a restaurant/cafe with outdoor seating, and there are occasional book fairs, jumble sales, etc. inside. A market with local farmers' produce and other items is held once or twice per week.

Wokingham was once famous for its bull-baiting. In 1661 George Staverton left a bequest in his will giving two bulls to be tethered in the Market Place and baited by dogs on St Thomas' Day (21 December) each year. The bulls were paraded around the town a day or two before the event and then locked in the yard of the original Rose Inn which was situated on the site of the present-day Superdrug store. People travelled from miles around to see the dangerous spectacle. A number of dogs would be maimed or killed during the event and the bulls were eventually destroyed. The meat and leather were distributed amongst the poor people of the town. Some of the spectators also sustained fatal injuries. In 1794 on the morning after the bull-baiting Elizabeth North was found dead and covered with bruises. In 1808 55-year-old Martha May died after being hurt by fighters in the crowd. The cruel 'sport' was prohibited by the Corporation in 1821 but bulls were still provided at Christmas and the meat distributed to the poor. Bull-baiting was banned by Act of Parliament in 1833.

Northern Wokingham, centred on Ashridge, was always officially a detached part of Wiltshire. This area extended well into the town centre (and the area currently where the Dowlesgreen, Norreys and BeanOak estates currently are situated) until transferred to Berkshire in 1844. The ancient parish was divided in 1894 into urban and rural civil parishes, Wokingham Without forming the latter.

Wokingham "proper" currently consists of the town centre, with main residential areas radiating in all directions. These include Woosehill to the west, Emmbrook to the northwest, Dowlesgreen, Norreys, Keephatch and Bean Oak to the east and to the south Wescott and Eastheath.