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| Wokingham | |
|---|---|
| Market town andcivil parish | |
    .jpg) | |
  Wokingham | |
| Area | 0.9 sq mi (2.3 km2) |
| Population | 38,284 (Parish, 2021)[1] 50,325 (Built up area, 2021)[2] |
| OS grid reference | SU8068 |
| • London | 39 mi (63 km) ENE |
| Civil parish |
|
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Areas of the town | List
|
| Post town | WOKINGHAM |
| Postcode district | RG40, RG41 |
| Dialling code | 0118 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Royal Berkshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Wokingham Town Council |
| 51°24′37″N0°50′36″W / 51.4102°N 0.8432°W /51.4102; -0.8432 | |
Wokingham (/ˈwoʊkɪŋəm/ ⓘWOH-king-əm) is amarket town andcivil parish inBerkshire, England. It is the main administrative centre of the widerBorough of Wokingham. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 38,284 and the wider built-up area had a population of 50,325.
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Wokingham means 'Wocca's people's home'.[3] Wocca was apparently aSaxon chieftain who may also have owned lands atWokefield in Berkshire andWoking in Surrey.[3] InVictorian times, the name became corrupted toOakingham,[3] and consequently theacorn withoak leaves is the town's heraldic charge, granted in the 19th century. Geologically, Wokingham sits at the northern end of theBagshot Formation, overlyingLondon clay, suggesting a prehistorical origin as a marine estuary.[4] The courts of Windsor Forest were held at Wokingham and the town had the right to hold a market from 1219.[3] TheBishop of Salisbury was largely responsible for the growth of the town during this period. He set out roads and plots making them available for rent.[3] There are records showing that in 1258 he bought the rights to hold three town fairs every year.[5]
From the 14th to the 16th centuries, Wokingham was well known for itsbell foundry which supplied many churches across theSouth of England.[3] During the Tudor period, Wokingham was well known as a producer of silk.[6] Some of the houses involved in these cottage industries are still to be seen in Rose Street.[7] In the years 1643–44 Wokingham was regularly raided by both sides in theCivil War. These raids would involve the looting of livestock and trading goods, and over thirty buildings were burnt down, accounting for nearly 20% of buildings in the town at that time.[5] It was not until the early 18th century that Wokingham had fully recovered.
Wokingham was once famous for itsbull-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 onSt. Thomas' Day (21 December) each year.[3] 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.[3] In 1808, 55-year-old Martha May died after being hurt by fighters in the crowd.[3] The cruel 'sport' was prohibited by the Corporation in 1821 but bulls were still provided at Christmas and the meat distributed to the poor.[3] Bull-baiting was banned by Act of Parliament in 1833.
In 1723, the 'Black Act' was passed inParliament to make it an offence to black one's face to commit criminal acts. It was named after an infamous band of ruffians, known as the 'Wokingham Blacks', who terrorised the local area until 29 of them were arrested after fighting a pitched battle withGrenadier Guards inBracknell.[3] The formerly important industry ofbrick-making has given way tosoftware development,light engineering andservice industries, and the population has greatly increased.
There are two tiers of local government covering Wokingham, atcivil parish (town) andunitary authority level: Wokingham Town Council andWokingham Borough Council. The town council is based atWokingham Town Hall in the Market Place, which was built in 1860 on the site of an earlierguildhall.[8][9] The borough council is also based in the town, having its headquarters at Shute End.[10]
Wokingham forms part of the widerWokingham constituency. ItsMP isClive Jones, aLiberal Democrat, who won the seat at the2024 general election.
Wokingham was historically part of theancient parish ofSonning.[11] Wokingham became achapelry in the Middle Ages; its church of All Saints was built in the 14th century, probably on the site of a 12th-century chapel.[12] The chapelry of Wokingham was a separate civil parish from an early date, but remained part theecclesiastical parish of Sonning until 1812.[11]
The town was also anancient borough. Its date of becoming a borough is unknown, but it may have followed the grant of rights to hold a market at Wokingham to theBishop of Salisbury (aslord of the manor of Sonning) in 1219.[12] The town's first knowncharter was issued byElizabeth I in 1583.[12][3] The civil parish of Wokingham was subdivided into threetownships, being Wokingham North, Wokingham South, and a Wokingham township covering the central part of the town, the latter township being presumed to correspond to the original borough.[13] The Wokingham North township covered the area north-east of the town centre, including All Saints' Church and the Ashridge and Dowlesgreen areas; that township was a detached part ofWiltshire until it was transferred to Berkshire under theCounties (Detached Parts) Act 1844.[14]
By the 1830s, the borough extended beyond the Wokingham township to cover most of the parish. The borough wasleft unreformed when most ancient boroughs were converted intomunicipal boroughs in 1836.[13] The borough corporation continued to exist, but as Wokingham was not a municipal borough, local government functions were gradually given instead to theboard of guardians of the Wokinghampoor law union. TheMunicipal Corporations Act 1883 directed that unreformed boroughs such as Wokingham were either to be converted into municipal boroughs under a new charter by 1886, or would be abolished. Wokingham then secured a new charter converting it into a municipal borough in 1885. A new borough boundary was drawn, covering the built up area as it then was and some immediately adjoining areas.[15][16]
Under theLocal Government Act 1894, parishes were no longer allowed to straddle borough boundaries. The parish of Wokingham was therefore split into a 'Wokingham Within' parish covering the same area as the borough, and aWokingham Without parish covering the parts of the old parish outside the borough boundary.[17]
The municipal borough of Wokingham was abolished in 1974 under theLocal Government Act 1972, with the area merging with the surroundingWokingham Rural District to become a newnon-metropolitan district called Wokingham. District-level functions formerly performed by the borough council passed to the new Wokingham District Council.[18] Asuccessor parish called Wokingham covering the area of the former borough was created in 1974, with its council taking the name Wokingham Town Council.[19] Wokingham District Council became a unitary authority in 1998 when it took over county-level functions from the abolishedBerkshire County Council.[20]
Wokingham is on theEmm Brook in theLoddon Valley in central Berkshire situated 39 miles (62.8 km) west ofcentral London. It sits between the larger towns ofReading and Bracknell and was originally in a band of agricultural land on the western edge ofWindsor Forest. Thesoil is a richloam with asubsoil ofsand andgravel. Wokingham has a town centre, with main residential areas radiating in all directions. These includeWoosehill to the west,Emmbrook to the northwest, Dowlesgreen,Norreys, Keephatch and Bean Oak to the east, and to the south Wescott and Eastheath. Older names include Woodcray and Luckley Green.
Wokingham has grown extensively since the mid-20th century. Woosehill and Dowlesgreen were built on farmland in the late 1960s and early 1970s, along with Bean Oak. Keephatch was built in the early 1990s. TheNorreys Estate was built in the 1960s; however, Norreys Avenue is the oldest residential road in that area, having been built in the late 1940s as emergency housing following theSecond World War. Norreys Avenue has a horseshoe shape and occupies the site of the demolished Norreys Manor. Much of the road contains 1940s-styleprefabricated houses, although there are some brick houses along with three blocks of 1950s police houses.
In 2010, the council set up WEL (Wokingham Enterprise Limited) to manage a £100m regeneration project to redevelop the town centre with new retail, leisure and residential facilities, parking, roads and open spaces.[21] Several major expansion projects around the town are planned over the next decade, including a major redevelopment of the town centre, new north and south relief roads and at the former military base at nearbyArborfield Garrison.[citation needed] As of 2015, the redevelopment of the railway station and surrounding area is complete, and large scale housing construction is underway to the north-east and south-east of the town.[citation needed]
The Wokingham built up area now extends beyond the parish boundary. Following the 2021 census, theOffice for National Statistics has defined a Wokingham built up area which covers most of the parish of Wokingham and parts of neighbouring parishes, notablyFinchampstead to the south andBarkham to the south-west.[2]
TheA329(M) motorway, accessible from the east of town, connects Wokingham toReading and the rest of the motorway network at junction 10 of theM4. The Wokingham junction is where the A329(M) ends and becomes theA322, forBracknell and theM3.
Wokingham railway station is at the junction of theWaterloo to Reading line with theNorth Downs Line.South Western Railway manages the station and provides services, along withGreat Western Railway.[22]
Most local bus services are provided byThames Valley Buses, but the services from Wokingham to Reading and Bracknell are operated byReading Buses, afterFirst Berkshire & The Thames Valley closed theirBracknell depot in the summer of 2015. There is also a football bus run onReading FC match days byStagecoach South to theMadejski Stadium.
Wokingham is served by four state secondary schools.
Westende Junior School is aco-educationaljunior school established in 1974. The school caters for children from the ages of seven to eleven. The school is near the town centre in Seaford Road and is bordered bySt Crispin's School and theKing George V playing field. The majority of children at Westende come from the nearbyWescott Infant School, and the two schools share a jointParent Teachers' Association. In September 1995 the school opened 'The Acorns', the first junior school resource in Berkshire for pupils with a diagnosis ofSpecial Educational Need forautism spectrum disorders (ASD).[29]
The town's local newspapers includeWokingham Today which is also online.[30]
In the 18th century,the Ballad of 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 localBinfield man,Alexander Pope, who, during a storm, found himself stranded at the inn with his friends,Gay,Swift andArbuthnot. They wrote the ballad extolling her virtues to pass the time.[31] Wokingham is the setting ofLars Iyer's 2019 novelNietzsche and the Burbs. The character of Tom thechimney sweep inCharles Kingsley's classic childhood storyThe Water Babies was based on the life and times of a Wokingham boy called James Seaward, who was a boy sweep inVictorian times. In his later years, Seaward swept the chimneys at Charles Kingsley's home at the Rectory inEversley, Hampshire. Seaward was electedAlderman of Wokingham from 1909 until his death in 1921. He had 12 children.[citation needed] The Water Babies are the subject of Wokingham's first public sculpture, installed in 1999, which graces the upper-level entrance to Wokingham Library.
The 1971 filmSee No Evil, also released under the titleBlind Terror, was filmed in and around Wokingham, with scenes shot at the since-redevelopedWokingham railway station.[32] Scenes for ITV seriesPrimeval were filmed at Wokingham's Red Lion pub.[33]
Wokingham istwinned with:
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