The Town and Market Hall in Cowbridge once stood, as was traditional, at the cross roads on the town's main thoroughfare. As traffic through towns increased in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries most of these halls across the country were demolished to clear the route. Cowbridge's hall was demolished early in the nineteenth century when the completion of Swansea Prison rendered the Glamorganshire House of Correction obsolete, and the town was able to renovate its building to house the new Town Hall(NPRN 31908).
The earlier hall served as a Market, Town and Guild Hall, and is likely to have comprised a covered area below for market stalls, with an upper room for public business.

Source: Cadw Listed Buildings Record

K Steele, RCAHMW 23 January 2009