Moot Hall

Venue Type & Location

Town Hall

Site Name: Moot Hall
Location: Carlisle
County: Cumberland
Location Type: Town - in town at determined location

Overview

The town or moot hall was located on the N side of the marketplace near the junction of Rickergate and Fisher Streets.

ca. 1560 'Entered by an external flight of steps up to its first floor, it was one of the few secular buildings in the city to be built on more than one storey. The council would have met on the upper storey, perhaps in the room clearly shown to have had a leaded glass window, as would the city court, while the ground floor would have been occupied by shops, as in the fifteenth century, or perhaps by a lock-up for unsuccessful litigants, or both' (Summerson, Medieval Carlisle 2.698).

Performance History

It is likely that the 'high chamber' or upper storey of the moot hall was the venue for many performances before the mayor recorded between 1602 and 1642.

Current Status

Demolished.

History of the Venue

7 December 1668 City agreed to demolish the moot hall (Carlisle Record Office: Ca5/1/47).

1717 Present town hall erected.

Record Source

REED Cumb/Westmld/Glouc 65--125

Bibliographic Sources

  • Gosling, P.F. 'Carlisle: An Archaeological Survey of the Historic Town.' . Archaeology in the North: Report of the Northern Archaeological Survey. Clack, P.A.G., and P.F. Gosling, eds. Newcastle: Northern Archaeological Survey, 1976.
  • Lysons, Daniel and Samuel. Magna Britannia; being a concise topographical account of the several counties of Great Britain. 6 vols. London: T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1806–22.
  • Summerson, H.R.T. Medieval Carlisle: the City and the Borders from the Late Eleventh to the Mid-sixteenth Century. Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, es 25. 2 vols. Kendal: Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 1993.