Wootton Bassett Museum

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. The design involved an open ground floor and an upper storey supported on 15 tapered oolite columns. The ground floor was the venue for local butter and cheese markets and the upper storey served as both a council chamber and a courthouse. and a storage facility for the hand-worked fire engine. Its right to elect members of parliament was removed by the Reform Act 1832, and the borough council, which had met in the courtroom, was abolished under the Municipal Corporations Act 1883. By the late 19th century, the building was in an…