The Pepperpot

The town of Godalming was incorporated as a borough by a charter issued in 1575 from Elizabeth I. 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. After the old market hall became dilapidated, the borough officials decided to commission a new building. 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. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto the High Street. It was arcaded on the ground floor, so that markets could…