This imposing building now houses the Keswick Information Centre. The present Moot Hall is dated 1813, but there was a building on the site long before the beginning of the 19th century. In 1572 Keswick was at the centre of the area`s copper mining industry. Richard Dudley of Yanwath was appointed copper collector by Queen Elizabeth. He needed a base to carry out his duties and settled on the building in the Market Square. The history of the Moot Hall is patently one of ruin and rebuilding.The present Moot Hall, dated 1813, was erected by trustees of the Royal Greenwich Hospital. Records show that in the 1820s the lower floor was used as a market. Upstairs, the Moot Hall continued its traditional function as a court house In 1873, the Keswick Literary Society - now the Lecture Society - resolved they should take steps to form a museum. In 1896 the Town Council bought the Hall from the then Lord of the Manor, Mr. Marshall,
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