The present-day plaza was, up until the 15th century, a large esplanade lying outside the walls of the Medina of Cordoba, where mule drivers and traders used to meet and which was occasionally used to celebrate bullfights and jousts, activities which explain the present-day name of the plaza [Corredera: List Field].
The plaza was modelled on the main squares of Castile, in a Baroque style, whereby the main points of access lie on the vertices of the rectangle.
The plaza has served as a prison and house of correction, as an important hat factory in the 19th century and, subsequently, as a marketplace.
Today it continues to house the market, in addition to other municipal buildings.
Moreover, as with all squares of Castilian origin it was used for festivals, a practice recalled in the calleja del Torril that opens up in the centre of the east side.
The calleja was built with brickwork and is austere in decoration.
