It is the former site of a priory that was dissolved in 1547 and a row of Georgian townhouses that were demolished in the 1880's.

The square was created as a sunken traffic island when Priory Queensway was built in the 1960's. It was criss-crossed by pedestrian subways and contained a mural by Kenneth Budd.

It was refurbished in the early 2000's when pedestrian routes were raised to surface level, new greenery was planted, decorative rails were fitted and the Tony Hancock Memorial was installed.

It contains the main entrance to the Bullring malls and was created by submerging St Martins Queensway so that pedestrians could reach the Bullring without having to walk through concrete underpasses.

The square provides a setting for the Rotunda: a newly-refurbished 81-metre cylindrical tower, and contains a life-size sculpture of a turning bull and three decorative carbon-fibre masts.

It contains St Martins-in-the-Bullring, three cube fountains and the Digbeth entrance to the Bullring malls.

The malls, which are built into the Birmingham Ridge, are divided by a pedestrian boulevard that terminates at the Nelson Memorial above St Martin's Square.

Pedestrians can descend via landscaped terraces from the Nelson Memorial to St Martins Square.

Until recently one of these terraces contained a cafe with a spiral design resembling a snail's shell.

This cafe has been demolished and will be replaced by an extended viewing platform and 3 restaurants (News Archive 04/01/11).

The developers will pay for the installation of a 12-metre tree sculpture in St Martins Square which will be made with recycled copper from the spiral cafe (News Headlines 28/08/11).