The Old Town Hall is a municipal building in the Market Place,

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...

, England. It is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

History

The current building was commissioned to replace an earlier "moot hall" on the site which dated back to 1345. The new building, with commercial facilities on the ground floor and assembly rooms on the first floor, was completed in 1669. It was extended to the east with an extra section incorporating a

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...

in 1717 and to the west with an extra three-storey section in the 19th century. The market cross in front of the town hall, which was designed by Thomas Machell and carved from stone by Thomas Addison, with its

sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a f ...

and a lion holding a scroll with the city's coat of arms, was erected in 1682. In 1853 the first

pillar box A pillar box is a type of free-standing post box. They are found in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories, and, less commonly, in many members of the Commonwealth of Nations such as Cyprus, India, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Malta, New Z ...

in the United Kingdom was installed nearby and a replica "Penfold" pillar box, in the style of the original post boxes designed by William Penfold with acanthus leaves, balls and the Royal coat of arms, was subsequently erected outside the town hall to commemorate this. The original clock in the tower of the town hall, which had been made by John Sanderson of Wigton, was replaced with a modern mechanism, made by Potts of Leeds, in 1900. The assembly rooms were used for the

courts of assize The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ex ...

until 1881 and

magistrates' court A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings. Courts * Magistrates' court (England and Wales) * Magistrate's Cou ...

s were held there until 1941.

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

, accompanied by the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, was a substantive title that has been created three times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not prod ...

, visited the building to mark the city's 800th anniversary and signed the visitors' book there in October 1958. The building remained the headquarters of the County Borough of Carlisle until the council moved to Carlisle Civic Centre in Rickergate in March 1964. After the building became vacant, a

tourist information centre A visitor center or centre (see American and British English spelling differences), visitor information center, tourist information center, is a physical location that provides tourist information to visitors. Types of visitor center A visi ...

was established on the first floor. A major restoration of the building, involving

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

removal, repairs to the roof and improved disabled access, was carried out at a cost of £0.5 million in 2013. A 17th-century court book was discovered in the clock tower during the restoration work. Further improvements, involving restoration of the original wood panelling and fireplaces, was carried out in the assembly rooms in 2017; the assembly rooms hosted the first wedding in the building's history later that year.

References

{{reflist City and town halls in Cumbria Grade I listed buildings in Cumbria Government buildings completed in 1669 Buildings and structures in Carlisle, Cumbria