Wiveliscombe Town Hall was built in 1841 for Baron Alexander Baring, landlord of the Wiveliscombe and Fitzhead Estate, one time MP for Taunton and founder of the London banking house, Baring Brothers & Co. The building was completed in 1842 and was initially known as the Assembly Rooms.

At the front of the Assembly Rooms was a large portico through which, in an area now occupied by the Co-Op, West Country Guns and the proposed library, lay The Shambles; an extensive open market that housed stalls selling fish, meat and other produce. To the rear was a pig market together with stables and a coaching house.

The upper floor formed the town’s Assembly Hall which was reached by a grand oak staircase rising from the Lion Hotel’s courtyard. The Hall was used for over 100 years for performances, concerts, balls, a cinema, reading rooms and other public events and activities. Meanwhile, there was a large balcony over the portico from which newly elected MPs made their electoral address to their constituents.

After 52 years at the heart of Wiveliscombe’s society and commerce the building was sold by Baring’s heirs following poor investments which lead to the family bank being rescued by the Bank of England. At some point the portico was removed and the access route through the Lion Hotel was lost, necessitating the new access from The Square. In 1929 the building was bought by the Cooperative Society with the last public use of the Assembly Hall taking place in 1958, since when it has lain empty and unused. The whole building (ground and first floors) was listed in 1984.

The clock is owned by the Parish Council which retains the right to enter the building to keep it wound, twice a week.