The building, which was extended to the north in the Tudor style in 1850,[2] was the venue for the inquest into the death of John Parsons Cook who was murdered by Dr William Palmer in 1855.

The lord of the manor, Thomas Anson, 2nd Earl of Lichfield, whose seat was at Shugborough Hall, offered to provide a site for a new building.

[1] The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto the Market Square; the central bay featured a clock tower with an arched doorway on the ground floor and a tall section with louvres and clock faces all surmounted by a spire; on the right, the building curved round into Anson Street to form a single-storey section which was fenestrated by arched windows and surmounted by a parapet.

Beyond that there was a two-storey-section which was fenestrated by arched windows and featured gabled end-bays, and, at the north end, there was a section which was formed by the reconstruction of the mid-19th century extension to the original town hall.

[6] One of the first acts of the new council was to implement a public water supply and a plaque was subsequently placed on the wall of the town hall to commemorate this innovation which was completed in 1895.