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254

W ALLINGFORD.

BERKSHIRE.

190a b y the Rev. Sam u el A lfred C ox M .A . of T rin ity
C ollege, D ublin, and chaplain to W allin gford union.
T h e W esleyan chapel, St. Leonard’s square, is an edifice
of brick, erected in 1870, and has 250 sittin gs. The
B aptist chapel, T ham es street, erected in 1794. is of
stone, and has 350 sittings. Jireh P a rticu la r Baptist
chapel. Wood street, is a buildin g of flin t and stone,
w ith 160 sittin gs. Th e P rim itive M ethodist chapel, St.
Mary’s street, erected in 1888, is a stru ctu re of red
brick w ith stone dressings, and will seat 200 persons.
The B rethren have a m eetin g room in C astle street. The
G eneral C em etery, opened for all the parishes in com ­
m on, com prises 2^ acres, well laid out and planted
w ith trees and s h r u b s ; it has two m ortu ary chapels,
and is under the control of the town council, actin g as a
burial board.
The Town H all, w hich stands on the south side of
the m arket place, w as b u ilt in 1670 and repaired in
1822 and the in terior restored and g re a tly im proved in
1887, and is a plain b uildin g w ith high" pitched roof
and dorm ers, supported on stone pillars, coupled at the
angles, and has a balcony of w rou gh t iron w ork on the
north front, from w hich the resu lt of P arliam en tary
elections was form erly p ro claim ed ; the hall and council
cham ber occupy the first flo o r; in the form er the
q u a rter sessions and borough courts were h e ld ; the
la tter serves for m un icipal b u sin ess: the p etty sessions
are now held in the large h a l l: on the upper floor is a
large room, form erly used as a kitchen on the occasion
of m unicipal banquets, now as a ladies’ cloak roo m ;
behind the open space under the hall are other rooms
appropriated as a w a itin g room and lavatory. Th e Hall
contains m any p ortra its, in cludin g those" of W illiam
S eym our Blackstone M .P. for the b o ro u g h ; Jacob, 2nd
E arl of Radnor, high stew a rd ; Sir F ran cis Sykes bart.
M .P. and high sheriff, -and Justice Blackstone, h ung in
the large hall, and to these have now been added a
p ortrait of the late Q ueen V icto ria, painted b y Mr.
Jam es H ayllar, of the C astle P rio ry, W allingford, and
Mr. G. D. Leslie R .A . and presented by them to the
town as a jub ilee o ffe rin g : also two landscapes, one of
W allingford bridge as seen from the S .E . side and
another of G rim s Dyke, about
m iles S .E . of W al­
lingford, the form er painted by M r. G . D. Leslie
R .A . and the la tte r b y Mr. Jam es H a y lla r ; these were
presented to the town by H. H awkins esq. a form er
m ayor. In the coun cil cham ber are h ung the por­
traits of R. de B eauvoir, A rchbishop Laud, John A lln att
H edges esq. Charles A therton A lln a tt esq. Thom as
F rederick W ells esq. and Edw ard W ells esq. six tim es
m ayor of W allingford and M .P. for the borough, 1872 to
1880; elected high stew ard 9th Novem ber, 1889; this
p ictu re was painted and presented b y Jam es H ayllar
esq. : th ere is also a p ortrait of Mr. F ran cis Bunting, a
generous contributor of £1,000 to the W allingford A lm s­
house fund, painted by M r. H ayllar and presented to the
town by p ub lic subscription in 1880. Th e m unicipal
insignia include a great m ace, m ayor's chain and badge,
borough seals, and a lovin g cup : the m ace, of silv er g ilt,
h is a rich ly chased shaft, w ith two large and highly
ornam ented knops, and a spreading one at the base
adorned w ith tw o oval tablets, representing the ancient
and p rivate seals of the tow n : scrolled brackets support
the head, which bears the national em blem s, crowned,
and is surrounded by a crestin g of crosses and fleurs-delis, from w hich sprin g narrow depressed arches, form ing
the crown, surm ounted by an orb and cross : on the flat
top, w ithin a la u rel w reath , are the royal arm s of the
S tu arts and the cypher C . R. : the shaft and base date
from 1650. b u t the head was re-m ade or altered at the
R estoration : the m ace was r e g ilt in July, 1769, at a
cost of £ 15 8s. : the chain and badge are of gold, the
form er consisting of plain oblong lin k s united by small
c ircu lar o n e s : the badge exh ib its in relief the ancient
borough seal, surrounded by foliage and surm ounted by
a portcullis : there are also oth er badges worn by the
m ayor and alderm en, suspended from a broad blue
rib b o n : these are heart-shaped, and display a portrait
of H er late M ajesty Queen V ictoria w ithin an oak
w reath, surm ounted by the royal crest. The town
b ailiff’s badge is an oval silver p late b earing the borough
arm s w ithin a w reath of laurel, and beneath on a
ribbon the word W A L L IN G F O R D : it dates from
I 7 5 ° ‘ SI ancien t seal of the 15th cen tury has an
equestrian figure of th e k in g in full arm our, w ielding
a sword, and carryin g a shield w ith the arm s of France
and England q u a r t e r ly : the horse is represented as
crossing a ford, and his hoofs extend into the m argin,
which bears the legend SIG IL L V M -C O M V N E -D E W A L IN G FO R D : th is seal is a copy of a s till earlier one
of Edw. I. : the la ter seal of 1733 is oval, w ith the
borough arm s and a m argin al inscription.
In the

[ k e l l y ’s

| centre of the m arket place is an obelisk bearing the
i arm s of the town, and around it a paved rin g of ligh tj coloured stones called the “ B ull R in g .”
A guild* of
! m erchants or traders, “ G ilda M ercatorum ,” with
' liberties, law s and custom s secured to the inhabitants
by royal favour, existed here from the tim e of Edward
the C o n fesso r; it was re-established 20th Septem ber,
1667, by letters p aten t from C harles II. Th e C orn E x ­
change, on the east side of the m ark et place, was
erected in 1856 by a join t-sto ck com pany, and is a
structure of brick, w ith stone dressings, in the Italian
s t y le ; it has a pedim ented front, supported by flat
pilasters w ith foliaged caps, and a roof of iron and
glass ; the in terior is furnished w ith stands and desks,
and a stage for concerts and th eatrical en tertainm ents :
the gen eral control of th e exchange is vested in a body
of tw elve directors: the arm oury of the local territorials
is now situated in
the b u ild in g : previous to its erec­
tion the corn m ark et was held in the open
space
beneath th e town hall, first as a sam ple and in 1817 as
a pitched m arket.
T he m ark et day is F riday, at 12.30
p.m. for corn (w eekly) and cattle (fortn igh tly). T here
is on the 29th of Septem ber a fair for pleasure and
h irin g of servants. There are two banks— Lloyds Bank
L im ited, form erly
the old bank of M essrs. ’ H edges,
Wells, M orrell and Co. and a branch of the London
C ounty and W estm inster Bank L im ited. The T em p er­
ance H all, in St. M ary’s street, was erected in 1887;
Jam es G utterid ge, hon. sec. A Police Station for the
division of W allingford was erected in St. M ary’s street
in 1857, a t a cost of £ 1,15 0 , and is of blue brick w ith
stone dressings. The Free L ib ra ry and L ite ra ry In stitu te,
erected in 1871 on the north side of S t. Leonard's square,
is available for concerts, and d ram atic and other enter­
tainm ents : it contains an adm irable stage, erected
by subscrip tio n ; a drop scene, representing W allin g­
ford bridge in mediaeval tim es, has been presented
to the D ram atic Club by Mr. G. D. Leslie R.A. ;
adjoining is a subscribers’ room.
The large reading
room is open to the p ublic from 12 to 2 p.m .
and 6 to 10 p.m . d a ily ; and the library now contains
about 5,000 volum es. A newspaper, called the “ Berks
and Oxon A d vertiser,” is published here on F r id a y s ;
there is also an agency here for th e “ Reading M er­
cury and Berks C ou n ty P aper.” The Royal Berkshire
H orticultural Society was established in the year 1831
under the patronage of the late Queen V icto ria and his
late Royal H ighness the Prince C o n so rt; a show is held
annually in A ugust. The M orrell M em orial Hospital,
situated in the Reading road, on a site given by Henry
Hawkins esq. som etim e m ayor, owes its origin to the
late Miss M ary M orrell, of W hite Cross, who died in
June, 1880; it has eight beds, w ith apartm ents for the
m atron and nurse, and is supported by volu n tary con­
tributions : a sum of £1,000 towards th e b u ild in g fund
was contributed b y Mr. and Mrs. H erbert M orrell, of
H eadington H ill, Oxford, and a bed has been endowed
as a m em orial to the late Mrs. H elen M ary W ells by
the in vestm en t of £1,0x0, subscribed b y her friends.
Mr. and M rs. A. C . Fraser, of M ongewell Park, gave
£1,000 in com m em oration of th eir golden wedding, for
a sim ilar purpose, and Mr. F raser another £1,000 to
endow a bed in m em ory of his w ife.
Th e A lm s­
houses, near the entrance to the town, on the east
of the Reading Toad, w ere b u ilt and endowed in 1681
by W illiam A n geir and M ary his s is te r ; t h e ‘ income
am ounts to about £100 a y e a r: the inm ates, six
widows, have com fortable apartm ents and a garden,
w ith a weekly allowance of 5s. 6d. each. This charity
has received a donation of £1,000 from Mr. Francis
Sim m ons Bunting, of St. M ary’s street. S ir Thom as
Bennett kt. mentioned above, founded 17th January,
1616, a ch arity of £20 yearly, payable out of an
estate at K irton , Lincolnshire, and vested in the
M ercers’ Com pany, of London, upon t r u s t : by a deci­
sion of the C ourt of E xchequer, 30th M ay, 1826, the
C h a rity tru stees of the borough are entitled to onesixth of the net proceeds of the estate, am oun tin g in
I9I3£ S 2 l8:5- id- from w hich, together w ith dividends
arisin g from m oney in Consols, fifteen poor persons re­
ceive £ 4 a year each. M ajor B ig g ’s ch arity consisted,
up to the year 1835, of a net annual sum of £20 paid by
the M erchant T aylors’ C om pany, of London, to the C or­
poration, and arisin g out of an extensive range of
buildings on the south side of Soho square, conveyed
to th e C om pany by the donor, W alter B igg, for the
erection of a g ram m ar school and th e relief of ten
poor p erso n s: a rep ort of the M aster of the Rolls, based
on a decretal order dated 29th July, 1835, and con­
firmed by th e C ourt, assigned to the ch arity two equal
third parts of the n et annual incom e of the p ro p e rty :
the ten poor persons in dicated in the bequest now