For purposes of Assizes, Berkshire is on the Oxford circuit, and the Court is held at Reading. County Courts are held from time to time at the various towns. The County Court circuits are quite different from the Assize Court circuits.
For Parliamentary elections the county is divided into three divisions, Abingdon, Newbury, and Wokingham, each of which returns one member to Parliament. Reading also returns a member to Parliament, and so does Windsor, but the Parliamentary borough of Windsor includes a considerable tract outside Berkshire.
23. Public and Educational Establishments.
The municipal buildings at Reading were erected during the period 1875–1897, and consist of two Town Halls, the Borough Council offices, a Free Library, the Museum, and an Art Gallery. On the walls of the reading-room there is a good collection of views of Reading and of the river Thames.
The Town Hall at Windsor was built by Sir Christopher Wren. On the exterior there are statues of Queen Anne and her husband, Prince George of Denmark. The Town Halls at Wokingham and Newbury are modern brick buildings. The Cloth Hall at the latter place, now a museum, is very interesting. It was built by the Guild of Clothworkers of Newbury, which was incorporated in 1601, and has a picturesque wooden cornice and wooden pillars, and a red tiled roof.
The Town Hall at Wallingford dates from 1670, and is supported by pillars, leaving an open undercroft. The Abingdon Town Hall has also an undercroft and dates from 1677. It is said, however, to have been designed by Inigo Jones, who died in 1652. There is an interesting old Town Hall at Faringdon.
The Cloth Hall, Newbury
The Royal Berkshire Hospital at Reading was opened in 1839, and there are many hospitals, homes, and orphanages in various parts of the county.