The Mayoral Chain is designed to accommodate fifty-seven shield medallions, but as the first Mayor was installed in 1885, the number of medallions on the Chain would make it far to heavy and cumbersome to be worn; therefore the following system is adopted:-
At the end of a Mayor’s period in office, the oldest medallion is removed is removed from the Chain and one, bearing the name of the retiring Mayor, is affixed in its place on the Chain.
The medallion that is removed from the Chain is placed in a small, wall mounted, glazed oak display case in the Mayor’s Parlour.
There are two of these cases, one to contain the larger medallions and the other to contain the smaller medallions. The latter was presented to the Council by Councillor J L Earnshaw in 1997 at the end of this Mayoral period.
Wokingham Town Museum Unique Identifier: WTH0155