[2] The first municipal building in Godalming was an 18th-century market hall in the High Street which was used to accommodate French prisoners following the capture of Belle Île in June 1761.

The current building was designed by John Perry in the neoclassical style, built in brick with a stucco finish at a cost of £865 and was completed in 1814.

[3] Meanwhile, at the Pepperpot, a new cantilevered stair tower was added in the 1890s,[1] and the room on the first floor was used to accommodate the Godalming Museum from 1921.

[1] The museum remained on the first floor until 1987, when it moved to a larger building on the south side of the High Street.

[10] The architectural historian, Nikolaus Pevsner, described the Pepperpot as "an admirable public building for a small town",[11] the horticulturalist, Gertrude Jekyll, described it as "the latest building in Godalming which has that precious quality of character",[12] while the guidebook author, Oliver Mason, described it as a "much needed focal point" for the town.