Wokingham is a small town and civil parish in Berkshire in the south east of England, close to Reading. It covers an area of 557 acres and, according to the 2001 census, has a population of 30,403. It is the seat of the Wokingham local government district, previously known as Wokingham Rural District.

Geography

Wokingham is located on the Emm Brook in the Loddon Valley in central Berkshire. It sits between Reading and Bracknell and originally grew up in a band of agricultural land on the western edge of Windsor Forest. The soil is a rich loam with a subsoil of sand and gravel. Suburbs include Emmbrook, Matthewsgreen, Dowlesgreen, Woosehill, Limmerhill and Eastheath. Older names include Woodcray and Luckley Green.

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

History

Wokingham means 'Wocca's people's home'. Wocca was apparently a Saxon chieftain who also owned lands at Wokefield in Berkshire and Woking in Surrey. In Victorian times, it was known as Oakingham and the acorn with oak leaves is the town's symbol.

The courts of Windsor Forest were held at Wokingham and the town had the right to hold a market from 1219. It has remained a small market town all its life. From the 14th to the 16th centuries, it was well known for its bell foundry which supplied many churches across the south of England.

Wokingham was once famous for its Bull-Baiting, the bulls being provided by a 1661 legacy. The last bull bait in the country happened here in 1832, despite a ban having been in place since 1821.

In 1723, the 'Black Act' was passed in Parliament to make it an offence to black one's face in order to commit criminal acts. It was named after an infamous band of ruffians, known as the 'Wokingham Blacks' who terrorised the local area.

Government

Wokingham is governed by Wokingham Town Council. This consists of twenty-five councillors who represent the four wards of the town: Emmbrook, Evendons, Norreys and Wescott. The councillors are elected every four years and every year they elect one of their number as Mayor and Chairman of the Council. The present town hall was erected in 1858. The Wokingham constituency's MP is the Conservative John Redwood and he has represented the town since 1987.

Institutions

The Lucas Hospital, almshouses founded in 1663 for sixteen elderly men from the surrounding parishes.

Well-known schools:

• Holt School, founded 1931 in the Dower House of Beche's Manor
• Luckley-Oakfield School, founded at Luckley House
• Ludgrove School, moved to Wixenford House in 1937

Churches:

• All Saints' Church (CofE), transformed from a chapel-of-ease of Sonning in 1190
• St. Paul's Church (CofE), built by John Walter III in 1864

Manors:

• Evendon's Manor
• Ashridge Manor (now in St Nicholas Hurst)
• Beche's Manor (burnt down 1953)
• Buckhurst Manor (now St. Anne's Manor)
• Norreys' Manor

Literature

In the 18th century, the ballad of Fair Molly Mogg was written in Wokingham. Molly was the barmaid daughter of the publican of the old Rose Inn (not on the site of the present one). She was well known to local Binfield man, Alexander Pope, who, during a storm, found himself stranded at the inn with his friends, Gay, Swift and Arbuthnot. They wrote the ballad extolling her virtues to pass the time.

Notable People

• Tom Burrows, cricketer
• Claude Duval, highwayman who owned a house in the town
• Thomas Godwin, Bishop of Bath and Wells who was born and died in Wokingham
• Frederick Lucas, founder of The Tablet
• Henry Lucas, founder of the Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics at Cambridge University
• Anne Snelgrove, MP
• John Walter III, local benefactor and proprietor of The Times Newspaper
• Prince William of Wales, pupil at Ludgrove School
• Will Young, singer

Sport and Leisure

• There are public parks at Barkham Road Recreation Ground, Cantley Park, Chestnut Park, Elizabeth Road Recreation Ground, Elms Field, Riverside Walk and Waverley Park.
• There are leisure centres at the Carnival Pool, Pinewood and St. Crispin's.
• The local football team is Wokingham and Emmbrook F.C..
• Wokingham Library is in Denmark Street.
• Wokingham Cricket Club (founded 1825) play at their ground on Wellington Road.
• Wokingham has a King George's Field in memorial to King George V

Twin Towns

Wokingham is twinned with:

• - the city of Erftstadt in Germany
• - Viry-Châtillon in France

External links

• Wokingham Town Council
• Wokingham District Council
• Welcome to Wokingham
• The Wokingham Times
• Royal Berkshire History: Wokingham

Towns in Berkshire | Wokingham | King George's Field

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