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Moot Hall, Keswick
Moot Hall
Street:-   Market Place
locality:-   Keswick
civil parish:-   Keswick (formerly Cumberland)
county:-   Cumbria
locality type:-   town hall
locality type:-   market hall
coordinates:-   NY26632343
1Km square:-   NY2623
10Km square:-   NY22

photograph
BOJ83.jpg (taken 12.12.2007)  
evidence:-   old map:- OS County Series (Cmd 64 6) 
placename:-  Town Hall
source data:-   Maps, County Series maps of Great Britain, scales 6 and 25 inches to 1 mile, published by the Ordnance Survey, Southampton, Hampshire, from about 1863 to 1948.
evidence:-   old text:- Clarke 1787
item:-  bell
source data:-   Guide book, A Survey of the Lakes of Cumberland, Westmorland, and Lancashire, written and published by James Clarke, Penrith, Cumberland, and in London etc, 1787; published 1787-93.
image CL13P101, button  goto source
Page 101:-  "... The bell in the market-hall has 1001 upon it, and King Edward did not begin his reign till 1272. Some tell us this bell came from Monk's-Hall, and that it belonged to Furness Abbey; this, however, cannot be the case; for Furness Abbey was founded by King Stephen, who began to reign, A.D. 1130; nor are we much nearer, if the opinion be true that he founded this Abbey in 1127, when he was Earl of Bullen. Perhaps the most probable conjecture is, that this bell came from the Island, and was the dinner-bell of the Derwentwater family, who built this hall."
evidence:-   old map:- Clarke 1787 map (Der) 
placename:-  
source data:-   Map, uncoloured engraving, Map of Derwentwater and its Environs, scale about 13 ins to 1 mile, by James Clarke, engraved by S J Neele, published by James Clarke, Penrith, Cumberland and in London etc, 1787.
image
CL152623.jpg
building in the Market 
item:-  private collection : 169
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old print:- Green 1822 (plate 19) 
placename:-  Towns Hall
source data:-   Print, uncoloured etching, Towns Hall, Keswick, Cumberland, by William Green, Ambleside, Westmorland, 1822.
image  click to enlarge
GN0819.jpg
The building in the right corner is Otley's up t'steps in King's Head Yard. 
Plate 19 in Forty Etchings from Nature. 
printed at bottom:-  "TOWNS HALL, KESWICK. / Etched from Nature by William Green, &Published at Ambleside, Feby. 1, 1822."
item:-  Armitt Library : A6644.19
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   descriptive text:- Ford 1839 (3rd edn 1843) 
item:-  turret clock
source data:-   Guide book, A Description of Scenery in the Lake District, by Rev William Ford, published by Charles Thurnam, Carlisle, by W Edwards, 12 Ave Maria Lane, Charles Tilt, Fleet Street, William Smith, 113 Fleet Street, London, by Currie and Bowman, Newcastle, by Bancks and Co, Manchester, by Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, and by Sinclair, Dumfries, 1839.
image FD01P051, button  goto source
Page 51:-  "..."
"[Keswick] ... The Town-Hall was built in 1813, on the site of the old Court House; the bell on which the clock strikes was removed from the seat of the Radcliffes, on Lord's Island, and is inscribed 'H. O. R. O., 1001.' This building is used both for a court-room, and also for marketing"
image FD01P052, button  goto source
Page 52:-  "and other public purposes. ..."
 notes about bells
evidence:-   database:- Listed Buildings 2010
placename:-  Moot Hall
source data:-  
courtesy of English Heritage
"THE MOOT HALL / / MAIN STREET / KESWICK / ALLERDALE / CUMBRIA / II[star] / 71780 / NY2663223436"
source data:-  
courtesy of English Heritage
"On island site at south end of street. Original building was 1571, rebuilt 1695. Present building 1813. Lime-washed stone and slate walling with stone dressings and quoins. Square tower on north end with round-arched doorway up double flight of steps with wrought iron railings, a half-moon window, and clock face or blind circle above; top cornice and pagoda roof with windvane. Side facades have 3 round- arched windows up, and 3 round arches below, formerly open, now barred. Scheduled AM."
evidence:-   old print:- 
source data:-   Print, uncoloured engraving, Derwentwater, from Keswick, Cumberland, engraved by Paterson, 1900s?
image  click to enlarge
PR0324.jpg
On page 285 of Our Own Country. A view of Keswick roof tops with the lake in the distance. 
printed at bottom:-  "DERWENTWATER, FROM KESWICK."
item:-  Dove Cottage : 2008.107.324
Image © see bottom of page
hearsay:-  
 Built 1813, replacing a 16th century court house. The earlier building was the Receiving House where copper was stamped with the queen's mark in the reign of Elizabeth I. The building is said to have used stone from the ruins of the Radcliffe mansion on Lord's Island. The turret clock is one handed, dated 1610, and is possibly from the Radcliffe ruins.
The ground level was once open, for market stalls. It was once a prison.
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