[1] Following significant population growth, largely associated with the status of Ilfracombe as a market town, a local board of health was established for the area in 1851.

[2] The new board decided to commission a town hall to serve as its headquarters: the site it selected was on the north side of the High Street.

The building was arcaded on the ground floor so that pedestrians and horse-drawn vehicles could pass through vaulted passageways to the long pannier market stretching down to Wilder Road behind.

The ground floor, which was rusticated, featured three openings (one for pedestrians and two for vehicles) flanked by Doric order columns supporting a cornice, while the first and second floors were fenestrated by round headed windows with architraves also flanked by Doric order columns supporting cornices.

[7] The building remained the local seat of government until 1931, when the urban district council relocated to the west wing of the Ilfracombe Hotel on Wilder Road.