It was designed in the Italianate style, built in ashlar stone and was officially opened by William Benson of Allendale Hall on 25 April 1878.

The central bay, which slightly projected forward, featured a doorway flanked by Tuscan order pilasters supporting an entablature and the foundation stone, with a sash window with an architrave on the first floor.

[1] A memorial, in the form of a simple cross designed and sculpted by Beattie & Co of Carlisle and intended to commemorate the lives of local service personnel who had died in the First World War, was unveiled to the immediate west of the town hall in 1920.

[9] An extensive programme of refurbishment works, funded in part by the Millennium Commission, was carried out at both the town hall and the Women's Institute building in 1998.

[10] The Women's Institute building was converted into a hostel for tourists and cyclists known as "the Bunkhouse" in 2016,[11] and a concert was held at the town hall to celebrate its 140th anniversary in November 2018.