Wootton Bassett Museum

Wootton Bassett Museum is a local museum in the market town of Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, England. It is housed in the town hall which is a Grade II listed building.[1]

Wootton Bassett Museum
The old Town Hall, now the Wootton Bassett Museum
LocationRoyal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, England
Coordinates51.5417°N 1.9049°W / 51.5417; -1.9049
Built1690
Listed Building – Grade II
Designated17 January 1955
Reference no.1363658
Wootton Bassett Museum is located in Wiltshire
Wootton Bassett Museum
Shown in Wiltshire

History

The town hall was a gift to the town from Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester, who had served as Member of Parliament for Wootton Basset, and was built in 1690.[2] The design involved an open ground floor and an upper storey supported on 15 tapered oolite columns.[3] The ground floor was the venue for local butter and cheese markets[4] and the upper storey served as both a council chamber and a courthouse.[1] Facilities on the ground floor included a "blind house" under the staircase where drunkards were held until they were completely sober[5] and a storage facility for the hand-worked fire engine.[4]

Wootton Bassett had a very small electorate and two dominant patrons, John Villiers, 3rd Earl of Clarendon of The Grove, Watford and Henry St John, 4th Viscount Bolingbroke of Lydiard Park, which meant it was recognised by the UK Parliament as a rotten borough.[6] Its right to elect members of parliament was removed by the Reform Act 1832,[7] and the borough council, which had met in the courtroom, was abolished under the Municipal Corporations Act 1883.[8]

By the late 19th century, the building was in an extremely dilapidated state and under threat of demolition, before being extensively restored by the socialite, Lady Meux and her husband, in 1889.[1][lower-alpha 1] The restoration included the removal of both the "blind house" under the stairs and the storage facility for the hand-worked fire engine, thereby creating a completely open space on the ground floor.[4]

The town hall was used as a meeting place by Cricklade and Wootton Bassett Rural District Council until 1972, when it fell vacant after the council converted the old primary school building in Station Road into a Civic Centre.[11] Following an initiative by Dr Alan Stebbens, the then Chairman of Wootton Bassett Historical Society,[12] the Wootton Bassett Museum was established in the empty town hall later that year.[13]

The museum subsequently built up a photographic collection covering life in Wootton Bassett during the 19th and 20th centuries[14] as well as a ducking stool dating from 1686,[15] geological items, stocks, and a whipping post.[13] It also created a scale model of Wootton Bassett railway station as it would have looked before closure in 1965.[16]

See also

Notes
  1. Lady Meux's husband, Sir Henry Bruce Meux, 3rd Baronet, who came from a brewing family, owned a large estate on the Marlborough Downs[9] as well as the Royal Oak Hotel and many other properties in Wootton Bassett.[10]

References
  1. Historic England. "Town Hall, Wootton Bassett (1363658)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  2. Clarke, Bob (2013). Royal Wootton Bassett Through Time. Amberley Publishing. p. 11. ISBN 978-1445613321.
  3. "Historic Wootton Bassett pics". BBC. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  4. "A Walker's Guide to Royal Wootton Bassett". Royal Wootton Bassett Town Council / Wootton Bassett Historical Society. p. 7. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  5. "Town Hall Museum". Royal Wootton Bassett Town Council. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  6. "Parliamentary Reform Bill, For England". Hansard. 30 May 1832. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  7. "The History of Politics: The Rotten Boroughs of England". Julia Herdman Books. 21 April 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  8. Municipal Corporations Act 1883 (46 & 46 Vict. Ch. 18) (PDF). 1883. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  9. "The auction sale of the Meux Estate". Upper Kennet News. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  10. "Our Building A brief history". Old Bank Antiques. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  11. "The National School, Wootton Bassett". Wiltshire Community History. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  12. "Question: Beaman's Lane, Wootton Bassett". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  13. "Museum could go to the wall". Gazette and Herald. 25 June 2003. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  14. "Wootton Bassett Museum". Days Out Guide. Archived from the original on 16 April 2010. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  15. "Early 20th century colour postcard - a reproduction of a picture of an election procession in Wootton Bassett in 1808, featuring Peggy Lawrence, a woman ducked for scolding". Museum of Witchcraft and Magic. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  16. "Autumn Tour". Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre. 16 October 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
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