The little stone-pillared Market Hall in the centre of the village is one of Hawkshead's oldest surviving public buildings, dating from the early seventeenth century. Originally an open arcade where wool and yarn were sold on market days, the ground floor was later enclosed and now houses a small information point.
The upper floor was once the village schoolroom and is now used for occasional exhibitions. It is the cluster of these old slate-roofed buildings — the church, the grammar school, the gallery, the market hall — that gives Hawkshead its distinctive concentrated charm.