[2] The first municipal building in the town was a 14th-century moot hall in the Market Place which was originally built as a defensive structure against the Scots and later became a courthouse for county court hearings.

[5] In the mid-19th century, the lord of the manor, Wentworth Blackett Beaumont, proposed the removal of some old tenement buildings just to the east of the remains of the abbey wall.

[6] In response a group of local businessmen led by a local solicitor, Charles Head,[7] formed a private company to raise the money to erect a dedicated municipal structure for the town: the old tenement buildings were demolished and a wooded area just to the west of the remains of the abbey wall was cleared of trees to make way for a new street which became known as Beaumont Street.

[10] A new group of businessmen, led by Thomas Herbert Scott, formed a new company to acquire and re-open the building: the south wing became a cinema in March 1921 and the central section became a ballroom known as the Queen's Hall in 1924.

[16] A collection of 10,000 books, which had been presented by a local grocery chain proprietor, Joseph William Brough, in 1948, was relocated from the moot hall to the new library in 1983.