In this fascinating account of Christchurch's old Town Halls, Bill Hoodless has delved deeply into the records to unearth the human as well as the historical story. Much of the content is previously unpublished.

Here is set out the traumatic process of removing the 1746 Town Hall to a new position in the High Street in 1860. The ‘Mayor's Parlour' was certainly born amidst an extraordinary amount of conflict, determination and humour. Yet before and after this operation, there were many surprising events and controversies to be described, from ‘losing' a hall in 1826 to the 1961 skeleton mystery!