[5] Henry II of England (1154–1189) confirmed the Abbey's control of "the town of St Albans with the market place and every liberty a borough ought to have.

[2] In the thirteenth century, many of the stalls gave way to permanent building and shops and by 1355 large parts of Market Place had been built over.

As part of the dissolution of the monasteries, Henry VIII closed the Abbey in 1539 and took possession of the market, it remained crown property for the next fourteen years.

[10] In 1553, Henry’s son Edward VI sold the right to hold the market on Wednesdays and Saturdays as well as three fairs on: to a group of local merchants and landowners.

[13] The new mayor acted as clerk of the market overseeing the setting of prices, the accuracy of weights and measures, and presided over the court of piepowders.

[15] Following the restoration, St Albans received a charter in 1664 affirming the town's right to "hold markets and fairs as well in the waste and open streets and places ... as elsewhere" and to "erect shambles and stalls and there buy, sell and expose to sale, wares, merchandise, corn, grain, cattle, horses and other saleable things ... and take and levy tolls, stallage, and other profits of saleable things".

"[16] The cross erected in 1703 was an octagonal building with a roof supported upon eight columns above which was the figure of Justice, and within it was the town pump worked by a large wheel.

[11][13] The eighteenth century saw a decline in the number of markets in England with Shefford and Toddington in neighbouring Bedfordshire disappearing completely.

Despite the decline in revenue and reputation, the fact that St Albans remained at the centre of a transport hub meant it could still be described as "one of the greatest in England".

[13] By the early nineteenth century the St Albans Turnpike Trust reported that in the year from June 1808 alone, over 45,000 carts and carriages and 260,000 market-bound animals were recorded at the local tollgates.

At the Midsummer court sessions of 1812 (24 June) a man was convicted of unnatural assault, a euphemism used then for same-sex sexual activity.

He was imprisoned for twelve months, but also condemned to the pillory, on a market day, in St Albans for one hour before noon.

[26] In 1888 a commissioner arrived in St Albans gathering evidence for the Royal Commission on Market Rights and Tolls (1889–1891).

According to a newspaper report of the time, the market was stated as taking place between the Clock Tower and opposite the White Horse pub (now a Marks & Spencer store).

One or two stall-keepers who have the reputation for doing very lucrative and large trade in the market on Saturdays were purposely charged more, Mr Fisher, butcher, paying 6s.

It was explained to the Commissioner that this was all done designedly inasmuch as the market committee felt a duty to take cognizance of the fact that as much as £60 and £70 is taken every Saturday by certain stall-keeper, who is a stranger to St AlbansThe then market manager, Mr Pointon, was privately letting out stall equipment to the same traders that he was renting pitches to on behalf of the city.

Local farmers started sending their cattle to Hertford, Barnet, Hemel Hempstead, Watford, and Hitchin markets.

In the spring of 1872 Town Councillor Edwards was active in promoting the change of the cattle and corn markets to Wednesdays.

Sale of horses, carriages, carts, harness, implements was transferred to the St Albans Wednesday Cattle Market from Harpenden in 1890.

In 1892 among the 14 individual sellers two were women and four were members of parliament (two as members of the House of Commons and two as hereditary peers in the House of Lords) including the then Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil: The cattle market was note entirely restricted to animals, hay and straw are also mentioned as well as a portable steam engine that sold for £50.

In 1926 the Wednesday cattle auction was moved from outside of the Town Hall (now the Museum + Art Gallery) to a site on Drovers Way that is now occupied by a multi-story car park.

[32] Better storage and refrigeration facilities saw the gradual end of the trade in live animals for food and in 1976 the cattle market was closed.

[31] Sometime in the later part of the twentieth century the Council began erecting their own stalls using trailers and tractors and storing their equipment in a yard next to the Cattle Market on Drovers Way.

The boom in coach excursions that had sustained St Albans and many other provincial markets faltered towards the end of the twentieth century due to an ageing clientele and competition from rail travel.