[1] The first town hall was a medieval structure which was burnt down by French forces under the command of the Admiral of France, Jean de Vienne, in summer 1377 during the Hundred Years' War.

[2] A second structure was erected on the site in Market Street to accommodate the courts when they relocated from Rye Castle in the early fifteenth century.

[3] The current structure was designed by Andrews Jelfe in the neoclassical style, built in red brick with Portland stone dressings and was completed in 1743.

On the first floor, there were five segmental sash windows with architraves and keystones and, at roof level, there was a parapet and a central panel which contained a carving of the borough coat of arms and was flanked by pilasters supporting a broken pediment.

A small museum store was established in the attic: items collected included a gibbet cage which was used to display the hanged body of the murderer John Breads in 1742,[6] and a pillory which was last used to punish a local publican, who had assisted the escape of the French General Armand Philippon, in 1813 during the Napoleonic Wars.