The Town Council has been in existence since 1974 when the time of the boundary changes by the Government brought about the county of Cumbria. Prior to this, the Council was a Municipal Borough Council and Appleby was the ancient county town of Westmorland. The Council is made up of a maximum of 16 Councillors from whom the Town Mayor is chosen yearly. The Moot Hall was built, we believe, somewhere around the end of the sixteenth century as a council chamber. The Town received its first charter in 1179 from King Henry II.