The Old Guildhall
Wallingford's Charter was granted in 1155, allowing the town the right to have a Guild of Merchants to regulate a market. From this developed the office of Mayor - the head of the Guild and, with his Aldermen, guardian of the liberties and customs of the Borough. The Mayor was also magistrate of the Borough Court and, by the 16th century, Borough Coroner. An insult to the Mayor was considered to be an insult to the whole Borough. The symbol of the Mayor's status and the original seat of the court was the medieval Guild Hall, later replaced by the present Town Hall.

Medieval documents suggest that the Guildhall stood south of the present Town Hall, on the southern side of St Mary's church. It apparently had shops or stalls beneath the main building. One court record describes how a town Reeve (one of the Borough's officers) was accused of ripping up the floorboards of the Guild Hall to steal goods from the shop below!

History of the present building
The present Town Hall was built in the reign of Charles II, this time north of St Mary's Church (which is the civic church). It is a timber-framed building, rendered to give the appearance of stone. Its Venetian windows on the north are particularly attractive and have been copied in a number of later buildings around the Market Place. In 1670 there were no outside steps to the building, the main entrance being through a door underneath the Town Hall. The sturdy original door can still be seen immediately inside the present ground floor door. It now leads to the cellar but it would previously have led to a steep flight of stairs to the first floor.

At the back of the building, on the ground floor, was the original door leading to a cellar beneath the Town Hall which was used as the town lock-up and a debtors' prison.

On the first floor was the courtroom, a smaller adjoining chamber and the stairs to the next floor. The main room was much as it is today, with the exception of the ceiling and the dais. The original room had another floor above it, so the ceiling was much lower than it is now. The dais was boxed in with panelling, and it was here that the judge sat during the Quarter Sessions and Borough Court cases.

At the Market Place end of the Courtroom is a window leading to a balcony. Here, important public announcements were proclaimed, such as the results of elections. From the earliest Parliaments in the 13th century, Wallingford was represented by two MPs. This continued until the Great Reform Act of 1832 reduced the number to one, and finally, with the redrawing of constituency boundaries in 1885, to none. In 1956, as a final part of the celebration of the 800th anniversary of the granting of the charter, Queen Elizabeth 11 visited Wallingford and appeared on the balcony of the Town Hall to be cheered by the waiting crowds.

The smaller room, now enlarged by a later extension, was used as it is today for town business. This Committee Room was also originally used by the magistrates to hold the Petty Sessions for the Moreton Hundred. A large fireplace with a chimney which runs through the upper floor to the roof, would have been the only source of heat.

Upstairs, on the second floor of the original building, was another large room which was above the main chamber. It had a big fireplace, suitable for cooking for the Mayor's annual feast for the Corporation. This custom was eventually abandoned "the expenses attending the feast given by the Mayor on his quitting office, being an unnecessary burden upon him, and highly improper on account of the high price of provisions and the extensive scale upon which the feast is conducted " (Corporation Ledger, February 25th, 1797). This upper room was also used for some years as a school room, where six Wallingford boys were taught by a master paid for by the benefaction of a local man called Waiter Bigg in 1659. This was the forerunner of Wallingford School, which still benefits from the Bigg Charity. After the opening up of the main chamber roof in 1887 as part of the celebrations for Queen Victoria's Jubilee, the upper room was much smaller. It is now used as a kitchen.

In 1933 substantial alterations were made when the outside steps were added and the inside stair rebuilt as it is today. The removal of the old stairs allowed the Committee Room and kitchen to be enlarged and toilet facilities added downstairs. The ground floor alterations included a new entrance door and a change of access to the cellar which was no longer needed as a lock-up.

In 1955, as part of the 800th anniversary celebrations, Wallingford was officially granted a coat of arms, the shield of which hangs above the door at the top of the outside steps. The portcullis, long used as the Borough insignia, is surrounded by 11 gold coins called Bezants, representing the century of the original charter (1155). The full grant of arms is on the wall in the Committee Room.

Town Hall Treasures
The walls of the main chamber of the Town Hall are decorated with boards listing the Mayors of Wallingford from the earliest known in 1231 to the present day. It is well worth taking a good look at these names, many of which are family names repeated over several generations - Adeane, Poilington, Wells, Wilder, Payne and many more. These men (and, in our generation, women too!) were the leaders, of the town throughout its long history. The boards also reflect the events of English history - for example in the 1640s the office of Mayor was suspended during the Civil War. William Loader was Mayor in 1647, but was thrown out of office because of his royalist sympathies after the castle and town had been taken over by Cromwell. He re-appears after the Restoration of Charles II when the 1662 Act of Uniformity made it impossible for any true puritan to hold office.

The paintings in the main room and the Committee Room depict many people associated with the town, including the 18th century Judge William Blackstone who lived at Castle Priory and is famous for his Commentaries on the Laws of England, which became a standard law book and were much used by those drawing up the American Constitution in 1776. The portraits at the back of the dais are by the Hayllar family who also lived at Castle Priory and who were well known artists. The large portrait of Queen Victoria which hangs in the Committee Room was painted by James Hayllar and George Dunlop Leslie RA (another well known local artist), to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887. Queen Victoria gave the town a gift of a shawl she had made, which is also displayed. The portrait of Sir Francis Sykes Bt is reputed to be by Gainsborough but is more likely to be an early 19th century copy of Sir Francis's figure only, the original, much larger painting with his groom, two horses and a dog, having been destroyed by fire in 1874. A more important painting is the 1806 portrait of Jacob, Second Earl of Radnor (High Steward of Wallingford) by Sir Thomas Lawrence PRA.

The glass display case in the Council Chamber has a splendid collection of the Town Plate, including the magnificent silver-gilt mace which cost £46 18s 3d when it was made in 1650; the Loving Cup, passed round during the Mayor-making ceremony each year; and the Silver Shield made in 1750. The portcullis insignia appears on all three.