The current structure was commissioned to replace an old market hall which dated back at least to the mid-18th century,[2] but was substantially rebuilt in the late-18th century.[3]
The new building was designed in the French Renaissance style, built in rubble masonry and was completed in 1871.[1] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with a two-stage clock tower facing southeast onto the Market Place; there was a doorway with a wrought iron gate flanked by brackets supporting a canopy in the first stage, a blind niche with tracery surmounted by a pair of trefoils in the second stage and, above that, a mansard roof with projecting clock faces.[1] The tower was flanked by full-height turrets surmounted by conical roofs. Internally, the council chamber on the first floor was accessed by way of a staircase in the right hand turret.[1] A lock-up for petty criminals was established at the rear of the building.[4]
On account of the relatively small population of the town,[5] the borough council, which had met in the town hall, was abolished under the Municipal Corporations Act 1883.[6] The building was subsequently transferred to a specially formed entity, the Marazion Town Trust, with the mayor, Thomas Lean, becoming the first chairman of the trust.[7] The building comprises the council chamber and St Thomas's Hall on the first floor,[8][9] whilst the ground floor of the building was originally a market hall, but became the local fire brigade headquarters (from 1892)[10] and later a seed merchants, with a bank branch at the front (from 1891)[11] and the two town lock-ups at the rear (until 1927). The bank became a sub-branch of Barclays Bank.[12]
In 1992 the ground floor of the building was converted for use as a local history museum. Items included in the collection included a 17th-century cooking pot from a foundry near Taunton in Somerset[13] and an exhibition associated with the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship, HMS Warspite, which ran aground under tow on rocks near Prussia Cove, 3 miles (4.8 km) to the east of the town, in 1947[14] and was subsequently broken up on Marazion beach between 1950 and 1956.[15] The local parish council became Marazion Town Council in 1974, which meets in the council chamber in the town hall,[16] although it chose to use the more spacious All Saints Church Hall as the meeting place during COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, but continued to post notices of its meetings on the notice board outside the town hall.[17]
