[1] In the mid-19th century, the educationalist, William Penny Brookes, launched an initiative to commission a combined corn exchange and agricultural library, which would be financed by public subscription and would not only protect market traders from inclement weather, but also provide a forum for the education of farmers and their labourers.

A cartouche, which was inscribed with the date of construction and encircled by the words "Corn Exchange and Agricultural Library", was installed on the front of the building.

[2] Brookes used the room on the first floor to accommodate the books of a lending library, which he had recently established and whose members, he had named as the "Wenlock Agricultural Reading Society".

[1][7] The use of the building as a corn exchange declined significantly in the wake of the Great Depression of British Agriculture in the late 19th century.

[9][10] The County Library moved into the first floor of the building in 1962,[2] and, following local government reorganisation in 1974, Much Wenlock Town Council established its offices there as well.