England Occupations Markets and Fairs (National Institute)

Markets and Fairs
Markets developed from early times in most British towns, some of which later became industrial cities but others declined to the status of villages. Population increased during the 12th and 13th centuries but declined dramatically at the visitations of the Black Death in the 14th century, with the result that many towns were no longer viable trading centres. A subsequent cause of decline of smaller centres was the increasing mobility of the population, especially when the railways developed in the mid-19th century.

People were able to go to larger centres to benefit from wider selection and more competitive prices. A similar scenario plays out today as we see local shops disappear in favour of regional supermarkets and even global online shopping.

A town needed either a prescriptive right or a crown charter in order to hold a weekly market and an annual three-day fair, and to gain revenue from charging tolls of the traders. Royal charters were first granted for markets in the late 12th century, but prescriptive rights date from an earlier period, often going back to Norman or even Anglo-Saxon times. Most fairs were founded between the Norman Conquest (1066) and the end of the Black Death (roughly 1500). County histories will give the dates when markets and fairs were established for particular towns, and trade directories note the day for the weekly market and the date of the annual fair, often on the saint’s day for the local parish church.

Contemporary guides to fairs across the country were available, the most popular being William Owen’s 18th century Book of Fairs. These gave all the pertinent dates and places for fairs and markets, with the range of goods and livestock offered for sale. Many larger towns had by then several fairs each year, specializing in different items each season.

Certain towns became famous for particular markets, and some of these remain today, for example in London it was Billingsgate for fish, Smithfield for meat and Covent Garden for vegetables, fruit and flowers. Some towns’ fairs became very famous and still continue to this day, for example the Appleby, Westmorland horse fair. Many itinerant tradesmen and pedlars followed an annual route doing a circuit of fairs and markets.

Town-produced goods were on display and services offered, and all the local farmers would bring in their crops and animals on the hoof for the weekly market. Bartering as well as sales for money would have taken place, and in the early modern period the use of trade tokens was also widespread. The latter were produced by over two thousand shopkeepers to fill a shortage of small coins until copper halfpennies and farthings were introduced in 1672. A few of the brass and copper tokens were valued at one penny (1d), but most were a halfpenny (1/2d) or a farthing (1/4d). The issuer’s name or initials, his trade, and business address were shown on the tokens which were accepted by other local merchants. Goldsmiths and silversmiths issued shillings in those metals during the metal shortages caused by the Napoleonic Wars (Prudence Bebb). A list of 17th century trade tokens was made by Boyne and many others are now known; those interested should consult the local archives.

Many early markets were held in churchyards, with the market place becoming an extension of it, until the early 14th century. Mediaeval new towns had planned market places as a central feature. They were typically square, rectangular or triangular, with the burgage plots containing the homes and businesses of the wealthier merchant citizens (burgesses) arranged around them, each being long and narrow with its own small frontage onto the market place. There was often a central market cross, the stump of which may be all that now remains in villages. Later there was usually an open-sided market hall offering shelter for traders of butter, eggs, cloth etc.

These were originally timber-framed structures completely open on ground level, but with rooms upstairs used for meetings, a school or office. It was here that many guilds and town councils met to conduct their business. During the 18th-19th centuries, in particular, large new market halls and corn exchanges were built fronting onto the old market squares. Over time the official business of the market place was transferred to the new corn exchanges.

Drawings or paintings of market places can be found in local histories, and the many recent books of photographic collections such as the Batsford series entitled Victorian and Edwardian [county or town] from Old Photographs feature plenty of market squares.

On market days livestock occupied temporary pens in this space, and as the town grew the surrounding streets may have become specialized for different animals or products and often retain names such as Sheep Street and Butter Lane.

Some towns became famous for specialized fairs, particularly for horses, cattle and sheep, and these would attract sellers and buyers from far away. Dunster in Somerset still has its attractive, octagonal, oak and stone-built and tile-roofed Yarn Market where my Dashwood forebears sold their wool from shortly after it was built in 1589.

The stone market cross which sheltered stalls in Chichester, Sussex is still the city centre with North, South, East and West Streets radiating from it out into the countryside as main roads along which the local farmers, including many of my rural ancestors, made their weekly journeys.

Today market places contain shops, banks and hotels catering to the weekly market day throng but the open space is usually utilized as a car park on other days, or may be a pedestrian area and social space. All that remains of the market may be stalls with greengrocery, flowers, and inexpensive clothes and household goods.

The hiring fairs or mop fairs at the end of the farming year were held at Martinmas, signalling the end of the annual contracts between farmers and their servants. Some fairs continued to be held according to the Julian calendar long after 1752, so those celebrated on Old Martinmas were on 23rd November, and those on New Martinmas on 11th November. In 1677 an Act of Parliament endorsed the yearly bonds made at Martinmas so these fairs were also known as statute (or statty) fairs. The fairs brought all the local farmers and hired servants together for an annual exchange of labour. Those with good situations were keen to renew, and other servants were warned of employers who offered inadequate wages or harsh conditions.

Those seeking work carried with them a token of their calling, for example a shepherd fixed a tuft of wool in his hatband, a carter a piece of whipcord, and a groom a piece of sponge. Others carried a pail, broom or mop and so forth. Hiring fairs continued into the 20th century but there were few after the First World War.

Labouring families were highly mobile and the family historian needs to consider the location of nearby market towns and their catchment areas for the possibility of a change of job, and thus the site of a new family home, in November each year. Typically a 15-mile radius would be a market town’s catchment area, thus a man could easily move up to 30 miles each year, find a wife in the new area, and move the family on again some years later as he advanced in skill.

Contracts were sealed by means of fastening pennies, sums of money, in the late 19th century 1/-to 5/- depending on status of employee. Some of this may well have been spent at the associated funfair, often a highly spirited affair! Couples often met at markets and fairs, another reason for the genealogist to know which were the local market towns and seek an elusive marriage there or within its catchment area. If the new servant stayed the whole year with his new master and received his full wages then he gained a new settlement in the parish of employment.

Thus many people, especially the more mobile, younger, unmarried ones might have gained a series of settlements in different parishes, each one replacing the former. Children who had gained a settlement of their own by apprenticeship or service were no longer considered dependant upon their father but could look to their parish for assistance.

Today there is less need for the traditional markets and fairs, but many continue to be held as funfairs, (midways), on their traditional dates. For these contact the Fairground Society, the Fairground Association or the National Fairground Archive. Further information on markets and fairs can be found in Hey (The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History. Oxford University Press, 1996), Wymer (English Town Crafts. A Survey of Their Development from Early Times to the Present Day. Batsford, London, 1949) and the Public Record Office leaflet D33, and illustrations of the features of market towns in Hogg (Market Towns of England. David and Charles, 1974), and Allen (Buildings as History: Market Towns. Adam and Charles Black, London. [ Juvenile literature with plenty of illustrations.],1979). Richardson (The Local Historian’s Encyclopedia. Historical Publications. [There is a new edition], 1985) lists all the market towns by county and notes which also had fairs.

Occasionally records of those hired at Statute Fairs can be found, such as the 95 lists that survive for the Holland, Lincolnshire area from 1792-1900, some of which give the name of the previous employer and his or her address Camp (Diary of a Genealogist. Family Tree Magazine Vol 10 #4, page 7, 1994). Wilson (The English Market Town. Paper 437 in World Conference on Records: Preserving Our Heritage. Vol 6 part 2. Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,1980) is a good source on market.

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