[2] The foundation stone for the building was laid by the Lord Lieutenant of Somerset, Viscount Portman, on 14 August 1855.

[2] It was designed by William Bonython Moffatt in the Gothic style, built by a local contractor, George Pollard, and completed in 1858.

[1] The design, which was crenellated, involved an asymmetrical main frontage with eleven bays facing onto Shuttern; the central section, which slightly projected forward, featured a large archway on the ground floor with a balcony and an oriel window on the first floor and an oculus in the gable; there were turrets at roof level.

[2] Shortly after the building opened, a bust of the locally-born naval commander, Admiral Robert Blake, by Edgar Papworth was installed in the reception area.

[6][7] A bust of the locally-born novelist and dramatist, Henry Fielding, was unveiled by the American Romantic poet, James Russell Lowell, on 8 September 1883[8][9] and a bust of the locally-born soldier, Colonel John Chard VC, was unveiled by the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, Field Marshal Viscount Wolseley, on 2 November 1898[10] The Shire Hall continued to be used as a facility for dispensing justice but, following the implementation of the Local Government Act 1888, which established county councils in every county, it also became the meeting place of Somerset County Council.