It is one of the oldest surviving non-conformist chapels in Cornwall, with only the Marazion Quaker Meeting House being older, and the one in Kea being of similar date.

Following the implementation of the Municipal Corporations Act 1835,[4] the mayor, aldermen and burgesses of Falmouth were replaced by an elected council which met in the town hall to discuss issues such as the response to the cholera pandemic of September 1849.

[6] In 1866 the corporation moved to larger premises on The Moor, now the Palacio Lounge,[7] and the old town hall was sold to the Odd Fellows.

However, it continued to be used for judicial purposes: in 1884, it was the venue for the initial hearing, before magistrates, of the case of R v Dudley and Stephens, the trial of two sailors accused of cannibalism, having eaten the cabin boy when marooned at sea on the yacht, the Mignonette.

[12][13] Significant works of art in the gallery include a painting by the local artist, John Opie, depicting a beggar boy.