The following extracts are courtesy of David French

A Walk round Deddington (Deddington Map Group 1998

An earlier town hall (probably built on this site in the late 16th century) had an upper room which sat above open arches within which were shops and market stalls; it was used for vestry meetings and as a court house. The hall was rebuilt in 1806 and in 1858 the arches were bricked up to provide a shelter for the parish fire engine where it stayed until the 1930s.

We now backtrack and go along the Stile ... to Goose Green. . . .  The stone building at the bottom of the green (now Baerlein House) was built in 1849 as a coal house for the Deddington coal charity (see below) and was later used to house the parish fire engine - which was previously kept in the church!

Town Hall - Grade II

In June 1837 a Feoffee meeting at the Town Hall "it was agreed thereat to build a coal house for the poor in the Tchure and a privy for the use of the school - also an engine house under the Town Hall adjoining the cage used for prisoners" There is also mention in the Diaries of the Revd Cotton Risley of the plan to house the parish fire engine under the Town Hall. This involved bricking up the open archways that supported half the upper storey. There is a small puzzle here. In H.M. Colvin’s History of Deddington, the fire engine is noted as occupying this space in 1856. Could it really have taken 19 years to augment the original suggestion made at the Feoffees’ meeting? The bricked up arches provided a shelter for the parish fire engine up until the 1930s.

Trustees' minutes: In the same year [1926] the Parish Council rents 'the undercroft' to house the steam fire engine, modern successor to the mighty engine of 1856.

Victoria County History

Town Hall: Originally it stood on open arches beneath which were three stalls used by butchers on market days, but in 1858 they were bricked up to form a shelter for the parish fire engine, hitherto kept in the church.
Baerlein House: The stone barn in the centre of the green was built in 1849 as a coal-house for the Deddington coal charity, and was later used to house the parish fire engine until a new fire station was built on the Banbury road.

Extracts from Rev. Cotton Risley's Diaries, Vol.2, p.418

4 October 1858: Works to Town Hall: "... inclosing the open part underneath & removing the old Lock up - so as to make a proper place for receiving & keeping the Fire Engines in - rather than allow them to remain as they have done too long & most improperly under the Belfry of the Church."